COSTLY COMMISSION

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 August 1925, Page 5

COSTLY COMMISSION

LYSNAR ENQUIRY BILL.

“MONEY ABSOLUTELY WASTED.”

(Special, to “Star.”)

WELLINGTON, August 28.

The amount set down on the Agricultural Department estimates in respect to the cost of the Lysnar Commission, aroused the curiosity of the Members of the House to-night. Rer gret that the Government should have allowed £3500 to be spent on the Commission was expressed by Mi Lee. To make such a grant in order to permit certain individuals to speak for five or six days appeared to him to be it mistake when the money could well, have been spent on something useful, such as , experimental plots; It would have' been better to do that than to make an allowance lor the cleaning up of dirty linen. Mr Ransom agreed that the money had been absolutely wasted in whitewashing the Minister of Agriculture. Mr Nosworthy: I did not require white-washing. “It looked like it,” replied- Mr Ransom, “it was nothing but a family quarrel on the Reform side of the blouse. One of the members had the audacity to criticise the Minister of Agriculture, and at once the Prime Minister demanded an inquiry, .so that the Minister might be whitewashed 1 . If he had the ability To have the Department of Agriculture placed in his hands, surely he should not have had to be white-washed. Any ordinary man would have been capable of dealing with it. J. feel it is a gross waste of public money.” The Minister of Lands (Mr McLeod) considered that Mr Ransom’s remarks were entirely unfair. 'I he question involved was whether the Meat Board was. functioning in a direction beneficial to the producers. The Leader of the Labour I’art.y (Mr Holland) agreed that serious charges should be inquired into, nut one began to wonder when a commission ol such short duration cost £3500. He would like to have details of the Bill. All that had been proved was that the statements of the member for 1 Gisborne were not correct-

“Wo are getting to the stage now, when we will have to- set up a Royal Commission to investigate the cost of Royal Commissions,’’ saijd Veitch. Parliament should deal with such questions itself, and members should be prepared to sit on the recess. committees, so that Parliament might function properly. The sum involved was appalling. Although the Commission had been set up to investigate charges made by Mr Lysnar, it was not long before Mr Lysnar himself had been on trial. It had been merely a petty family squabble in the Reform Party, .and no one outside was interested. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Forbes) asked for details of the vote of £3500, which he thought an extraordinarily large sum of money, considering that the commission had sat in Wellington. The Minister said he had not the details of tho cost yet. The aniouns had been set down in anticipation of what the inquiry would cost, The Commission was not in Wellington all the time, for it was to sit also in Gisborne. It was not intended to cover tho expenses of the member lor Gisborne. The Bank and Meat Control Board vote was merely in anticipation of what the Government might have to pay in expenses. Mr Nosworthy said he look upon himself the responsibility of setting up the Commission to inquire into the charges made. The member for Gisborne drove him into setting up the Commission. The late Prime Minister backed him (the Minister) in his action.

Mr Masters said he was not satisfied with the Minister s repiy. *fe should have sonic knowledge of . detailed costs. They had the extraordinary position of the Government paying £3500 to defend itself against charges made by a member of its own party. The Minister knew before no started out what the result of the Commission would be, and that he would be white-washed.

As a protest, Mr Masters moved that the amount of the item be reduced by £lOOO.

Mr Atmore .said that the- Minister should disabuse his mind that the charges were personal. The chair- . man was not the gentleman sitting in the chair, but two counsel dictated the course of the proceedings winch were a farce. The member lor Gisborne had foolishly allowed himself to be put on trial, and he had not received a fair hearing. It had been said by the Government that no trust would be allowed to enter the Dominion, and on this point Mr Lysnar had proved his case and should not have to pay his own expenses. It was right that members should protest against the cost of the Commission. Because of the weak c>.-.. man, Mr Lysnar had been put, on trial for alleged inconsistency, and lie was foolish not to have protestedThe three strongest counsel were there to defend the Government. The uov-

eminent s policy on trusts had been reversed, and the House was entitle, to an explanation. 'J he sum of £3suo was too large a sum to pass without further explanation. The Prime Minister stated tjiat the Crown was paying for the services ol only one counsel. It was incorrect to say that the State was paying tor all counsel engaged. He thougnt it unfair to describe the chairman of the Commission as a weak man. Mr Alexander was a man of high char•acter, and President oj; the Auckland Law Society, and admitted to bo larr. Mr Lysnar had not been badly advised as his counsel was a very able lawyer. Whether anything would be done in connection with Mr Lysnar’a expenses he was not prepared to say, u..i u- be remembered that a

public man should be careful in nis statements. The speaker was not aide to give the legal lees, as the Attorney-General bad them. Neither could he say what Ihe accountants [p C 3 would bo. There were three Commissioners whose lees would work; out at £8 8s a day each. The chair- I man worked for SO days, from eight o’clock in the morning until midnight. His fee would be about £7OO. It was expected that one Commissioner would get £3BO, and another £412. There were six reporters) engaged at 31/6 per day, plus overtime at 4/6 an hour. Their fees would run to about £5OO. The secretary’s fees would come to about ) £260. The secretary thought the cost would come to' a little over £3OOO all told. That did not include Mr Atmore’s suggestion that Lysnar’s expenses should be paid by the Government. After the muller bad been Ihraclmd out at greater (length, Mr Masters' amendment was defeated by 27 to 21.