MEMBERS' PLEDGES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 49, 26 August 1931, Page 10

MEMBERS' PLEDGES

SOME CONCERN FELT

1 he action taken by Mr. M'Combs in the House of "Representatives last night m calling f or a division on one of the early-formal stages of the Bill caused considerable surprise, and it is an open secret that many members were greatly concerned over the possibility of having to go into the lobbies before having given the measure due consideration. Relief was expressed on all sides when Mr. M'Combs decider]- not to press the matter to a votf. Interviewed to-day regarding his reasons tor opposing the Bill, Mr. M'Combs stated that his action was prompted by the fact that the majority of the members of the House were-pledged to the retention of the triennial poll. "No organisation in the country," said Mr M'Combs, "has the right to absolve members from pledges marie to their constituents."

It was suggested to Mr. M'Combs that the difficult economic position warranted members in.supporting the Bill, but to this suggestion he replied: "There have been wild statements that the licensing poll would cost the Government £80,000, but we have already been presented with the Estimates, which show that the total cost of running the whole Department, including permanent officers and the cost of the elections this year, will be £78,000. We are, or wore, to be asked to vote £12,000 as the total cost of the licensing poll. It is a mere bagatelle when we arc spending £2,500,000 on unemployment relief, offering work which is not suitable for clerks or women. That £12,000 would not be lost, as the whole of it would be spent in the Dominion, for the most part with those now unemployed and urgently needing assistance." .

Mr. M'Combs .explained that when the division was called for, those who thought the time inopportune had some difficulty in getting others to refrain from dividing the House at that stage. Mr. M'Combs said there was quite a substantial opinion in the House against the Bill, and there was a good deal of resentment that the Prohibitionist members were being "let down" by the New Zealand Alliance.