THE NINE CHARGES FINDING

Evening Star, Issue 14524, 28 November 1910, Page 5

THE NINE CHARGES FINDING

THE REPORT. HISTORY OF ThITdELIBERATIONS. [From Our Parmamkntaky. Repobteh,] WELLINGTON, November 28. The Select Committee of the House which investigated the Hino allegations spent two days deliberating. The minutes of these interesting proceedings, though not laid on the table of tho House when the report was presented, were "formally received, and are therefore public property. From them can be extracted the history of the preparation of this important State document. The first step was to extract from the mass of evidence the well-established facts j and the conclusion to be drawn therefrom. | This was done by the chairman, Mr J. A. Hanan, who on Thursday, according to the minutes of the Committee's proceedings, presented a draft report on all the cases except that relating to the purchase of the Flaxbourne estate. The charges (were discussed separately, that against Mr Major, in rospect ot the receipt of commission on the sale of the Toko property to the Government, being taken first The Committee accepted without division the opening portion of tho finding as drafted by the chairman.: — Our Committee are theref ore of opinion that as regards the first charge tho evidence taken did not show any breach of the law. In the original draft the words " or parliamentary practice" appeared, but Mr Massey took exception to the last few words, and moved their deletion with a view to the insertion of the following words:—"But a direct contravention of a resolution of the House agreed to on July 14, 1886." This was accepted and added to the finding. Tho resolution quoted was adopted by tho House of Representatives without division on the motion of the then Premier, Sir Robert Stout. It.reads : " This House desires to oxpress its opinion that members of tho Legislature should nQt act as agents in negotiations or any transactions in which the Government are directly or indirectly a party, cither as a buyer or seller." THE SYMES CHARGES. The statement of the evidence and the findings in the first two charges against Mr Symes were adopted without amendment, but there were differences of opinion over the charge that Mr Symes threatened a newspaper that unless his candidature was supported bv it ho would use his influence to prevent Government advertisements being granted to it. The finding, as originaly drafted, opened as follows : " The Committee find that the charge of threat is not established." t • The first business in the second days deliberations was consideration of the finding in the charges against Mr Symes. Mr Allen asked the chairman to rule whether the Committee were tied to the individual words of the charge, or whether it was not their dutv to decide upon the general impression of the charge. The Chairman ruled that the Committee had to consider and find on each charge as it was specifically set out, and there could be no amendment to alter the specific charge and substitute a new one. Mr Massey moved to omit the words stating that a charge of threat had not been established, although tho letter might have been susceptible of that construction. The motion was negatived by 6 to 4. On the Prime Minister's motion, by 6 votes to 4, it was resolved to strike out the following words : —" While finding that the charge has not been established the Committee sire of opinion that the letter in question was unfortunate in its terms." THE KAIHAU CASE. The draft of the evidence was amended on the motion of Mr Allen to indicate that the payment by Mr Kaihau of the costs of counsel who appeared with him before the Native Appellate Court had amounted to £SOO. The Committee divided on the clause affirming that no influence had been exerted by Mr Kaihau either on the Government or tho Native. Land Purchase Department to induce the Government to purchase the 1,300 acres, or as to the price or other terms of purchase. The paragraph wa6 retained by 6 votes to 4. Mr Allen moved to strike out the word "not" in the first line as an expression of opinion that Mr Kaihau did. while a member of Parliament, conduct tho sale to the Government of a portion of tho Te Akau block, but the motion was lost "by 6 votes to 4. A further motion by Mr Allen, affirming that Mr Kaihau had agreed with the natives to conduct the sale, was also negatived by 6 to 4. Mr Allen proved to insert the words : "A majority of the Committee," as an indication that the Committee were not unanimous in their finding, but the chairman ruled the motion out of order. Mr Massey moved to delete the finding that nothing done by Mr Kaihau in the transaction amounted to a breach of parliamentary practice, but the motion was lost by 6 to 4. Mr "Allen wished to'move that the action was in contravention of a resolution of the House, but the chairman ruled tho words could not be inserted. The finding in tho second charge that the receipt of payments by Mr Kaihau was improper was agreed to. —A Minority Report.— Mr Allen put in the following report, and asked that it should be placed on record re Te Akau : W r e dissent from tho finding because in our opinion it should have been stated in the finding—(a) That Mr Kaihau did agree with the natives to conduct tho sale to the Government of the Te Akau block; (b) that Mr Kaihau did receive from the vendors the sum of £2,000, which included commission for the sale of tho To Akau block; (c) that Mr-Kai-hau's action was in contravention of a resolution of the House agreed to on July 14,1886 W. F. Massey, J. Allen, W. Fraser, W. C. Buchanan. On a point of order the Chairman ruled that a minority Teport or dissent might be put in, the Prime Minister and Mr Millar recording their protest against the ruling. At a later sitting the Chairman stated that, after consulting Mr Speaker and authorities on the point, he must reverse his ruling, and order the minority report to be struck out. THE FLAXBOURNE CASE. The minutes of tho FJaxbourne deliberations show that the Prime Minister refrained from voting throughout. The first three motions proposed by Mr Massey and Mr Allen were in tho direction of striking out all reference to the Seddan Government or Mr Seddan in the draft report, but they were rejected by 5 votes to 4. Mr Alleh moved to add the words " without remuneration" to the reference to the appointment of Mr Macdonald as assessor tj the Crown, but tho amendment was lost by 5 votes to 4. ,Mr Allen then moved to add to the summary of tho evidence the following paragraph : 'live evidence as to the timo spent by Mr Wilson on the estate is contradictory. Mr Griffen states that Mr Wilson spent two and a-half days on the estate. Mr Wilson asserts that he was at Flaxbourne from Sunday mid-day to the following Saturday morning. Accepting Mr Wilson's statement, the (Committee are of •pinion that the time given by Mr Wilson was not sufficient to make a complete investigation and valuation. The clause was rejected by 5 votes to 4. The Committee divided on the clause stating that Mi Wilson had carried out his work and had been paid £165 for his services, and the clause was retained by 5 votes to 4. Mr Allen moved the addition to the finding that the Hon. T. K. Macdonald, being a member of the legislature, had been appointed assessor without remuneration, but the amendment was rejected by 5 votes to 4. Another amendment to the effect that Mr Wilson had been a partner of Mr Macdonald, and as such received tho £165, was «ko negitived.

Another division took place on the finding as a whole, the voting being: For the finding—Messrs Graham. Hanan, Millar, Myers, and Reed; against—Messrs Allen, Buchanan, Fraser, and Massey. THE CONFIDENTIAL LETTER. Mr Myers's motion expressing regret that a confidential communication from Mr Svmes to Mr M'Luggage should have been made public was the subject of two motions—the first to strike out the word "confidential," and the second <m the adoption of the paragraph. In both cases the voting was equal, and the chairman caving his crating vote against the first and for the eecood. Mr Graham voted with t'.'.e Opposition members on' both occasions. A MOTION WITHDRAWN. Mr Reed moved—"That the Committee find that it has been conclusively shown that no charges of any kind have been established in this inquiry against the Soddon or Ward Administrations or any member of those Administrations," but at 1 tho Prime Minister's request the motion was withdrawn. DISQUALIFICATION ACT AMENDMENT. The motion affirming the desirability of passif-g legislation to make it illegal for a member to act on his own behalf or on behalf of any ether person in negotiating the sale of an estate to tho Crown was agreed to on the Prime Minister's motion, | aid the Committee theu rcec. Ministerialists arc incensed at tho 'Prime Minister moving a resolution to extend the Disqualification Act to land agente. The 'Dominion' thinks that instead ot downright condemnation of proved improprieties, the Committee's report is most apologetic in stating tho verdict. When this was antagonistic to any of those found euilty the Committee went out of their wav on cverv possible occasion to insert qualifying references. "No one washes to be uiKlulvWere." it says, "on an offender ooainst law and propriety, but wo cannot condemn too strongly the maudlin sentiment that prompts some people to minimise the faults of an offender against the interests of public morality who has been unlucky enough to he caught while others doinc the same escaped detection. V»e cannot believe that Parliament u willing to treat a matter affecting tno honor of members and the standard of public life so lightly."