MERRY MEMBERS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 113, 9 November 1929, Page 11

MERRY MEMBERS

PARLIAMENT IN DISORDER

Members of .the House of Rcprosentatives were in their customary end-of-session playful mood to-day, and they .'again tried their hands at the making of a "mock" Parliament while waiting for Mr. Speaker to return from Government House with the "Appropriation Bill signed. Mr. J. A. Nash was cither elected or made himself "Speaker" for the occasion, and ho had a busy time in keeping the House in "order," a grotesque pair of spectacles borrowed from a "Hansard" reporter assisting him in getting a clear insight into what was being said.

Mr. Wright urged that ajl women m New Zealand should bo given £1 a week for pin money, a proposition which Mr. Jones • regarded as scandalous. Mr. Jones, thereupon moved that the amount should bo increased to £10, an amendment which, judging by the plaudits of the occupants of tho Ladies' Gallery, was apparently approved.

The Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. de la PcrreUe) unsuccessfully sought to havo all ladies allowed five pairs of silk stockings a year, aftra-' which Mr. Howard inquired of the Minister of Health (Mr. Stallworthy) whether the Rest Homes Bill passed yesterday meant "another place," his allusion being to the Legislative Council. Mr. Jordan was anxious to know whether Mr. Stallworthy wanted to go into a rest homo himself, but the 'Speaker" said that as Mr. Stallworthy had in tho course of debate the other day admitted having once been in gaol there was no need to send him to a rest home.

"Bowsers for boosers" in the "dry" Masterton electorate was sought by Mr. Sykes, the representative of that electorate, but the "Speaker" objected to the question on the score of tedious repetition." A point of order was raised by the- Minister of Labour (tho Hon. William Veitch) but was ruled out because "there is no 'Bill 3 before the House." At length the time came for the House to resume its final serious business, and the efforts at humour ceased.