STRONG OPPOSITION

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 83, 7 April 1936, Page 16

STRONG OPPOSITION

BILL FORCED THROUGH

CLOSURE APPLIED TWICE

ALLrNIGHT SITTING

In the face of a stubborn opposition which lasted until nearly 8 o'clock this morning, the Government secured the passage through Committee of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Amendment Bill, with minor amendments, before the House adjourned for breakfast at 7.50 o'clock. Throughout the night members of the Opposition raised pointed objections to a number of clauses in the Bill, which constitutes the most important section of the Government's legislative programme for the present session of Parliament. Until 7 a.m. the Government offered a passive attitude to the various arguments advanced by the Opposition, but as the clock struck 7 the closure was applied for the first time under the Labour Government, and at 7.35 the Prime Minister (the Hon. M. J. Savage) again deemed it expedient to apply the "gag." Shortly before 8 o'clock the Bill went through Committee, and Mr. Savage iagreed to postpone the third reading ot the measure until 9 o'clock. Strenuous efforts were made by the Opposition to defer the third reading until 9.30 o'clock, but Mr. Savage remained adamant, and insisted on the House resuming at 9 o'clock. Mr. Savage indicated that the House would be expected to continue the sitting until the Bill was passed. Throughout the night the division bells were set ringing sixteen times, but the Government, with its strong majority, emerged successfully whenever it was challenged. The only amendment was an additional provision of a machinery nature, inserted by the Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash). The third reading, was agreed to on a division by 55 votes to 17, and the House rose at 12.15 p.m., after a sitting of nearly twenty-two hours.