WASTING TIME

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 October 1924, Page 7

WASTING TIME

THE GAMING BILL. 200 AMENDMENTS. OBSTRUCTION TO MEASURE. (By Telegraph.—Special to; Star.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 21. Opponents of increased permits are depending on delay to prevent the Gam. ing Bill passing this session, and as the House is becoming anxious to end its labours they are playing a strong card. The report of the committee which considered the Gaming Amendment Bill was talked at great length to-day, although, the committee had made.no change in the measure, and thus avoided giving fresh points to speakers. The Government is well aware of the difficulties ahead, but is understood to be quite 'willing to give at least two days to the discussion, an ordeal which may so exhaust the contestants that some compromise may be reached. A hint of the obstructionists’ plan was given by Mr. McCombs, who calmly , announced that something like 200 amendments to the Gaming Amendment Bill have been prepared. Mr. McCombs condemned the Government for bringing forward such a Bill, which would result in. a great waste of time and would not get on to the Statute Book in the end

Several Reform members questioned this assertion, but were hardly so confident when Mr. McCombs said he had prepared a list of 74 amendments, most of them very urgent, and that he knew of another list of ,117, all of which would be moved when the Bill went into the committee stage. There were thus something like 200* amendments. Members (sarcastically) : Not enough.Mr. McCombs followed up his advantage by pointing out that even if there was no discussion on any of the amendments it took ten minutes to carry, through a division, which meant 2000 minutes or 33 hours devoted to voting on the amendments. (Laughter.) Mr. Massey: You cannot block the House like that.

Mr. McCombs, .ignoring the interjection, said lie- was sure some of the amendments would require explanation. (Laughter.). That would, of course, take up a great deal more time. Among the various amendments was one dealing with credit betting, and that would require some discussion. ■ Another proposition he would like to vote against would be the licensing of . bookmakers. He understood this would he moved from the Government side.

Mr. F. J. Rolleston (Timaru) expressed regret that so nyich time was being wasted, especially as it looked as if there would be nothing achieved at the mid of it. There should be no.increase m permits,-but the question of redistribution should be firmly taken in hand, not by Parliament, but by an independent authority. He was satisfied there was ! a large body of public opinion which looked with no favour either on the Bill o.r on. the waste of time which took over it in Parliament. ’ ( A DULL DEBATE. COMMITTEE’S REPORT TABLED. (By Telegraph—Special to Star.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 22. The committee’s report was tabled in the House this morning after the longest sitting 1 of the session. It was a dull debate purely to occupy time, each opponent of the Bill speaking for 40 minutes. Mr Lee at 1 a.m. moved an amendment that the report be referred back to the committee. Mr Potter, from the Government benches, seconded. He affected to be concerned over the apparent indiffert ence of most of the members. There was only one Liberal in the, House, and he appeared to be asleep. Eight Reformers were on duty, and five Labourites, awaited further opportunities to speak. As this showed ffewer than a quorum present Mr McKeen raised a point of order, with the result that a number of sleeping members raised themselves up sufficiently to enable Mr Speaker to decide that there was a minimum of 20 present. Mr Potter announced that hot as a spoilt sport but in the' interests of honest business he was prepared to stay up two nights and two days to.obstruct a gaming Bill. Further speeches ; by the Bill’s opponents were occasionally . interrupted by a count of the House. Mr 'Wright, at ,3 a.m. was talking about the worthlessness of tips, when a Labour member suggested that a lot of members would be tipped to win at the next election. “Wow, wow,” interjected a sceptic. “Rut that dog out,” added another. Mr Wright brought dignity back into the debate with the declaration: “A coward dies many times, but a brave man only once.” Mr Harris took half an hour in giving what he called a few reasons against legislating till the whole position was investigated, as Parliament had already talked. 13 hours, hardly touching the fringe of the subject. The talk suddenly ended at 3.45, though there appeared to be ample resources to maintain the stone Wall. Mr Lee’s amendment was lost on the voices, and the report was tabled. It afterwards . transpired that the opponents of the Bill would have been satisfied with an earlier termination, but several who had undertaken to carry on the debate in the early hours were prepared to exercise their stonewalling talents with a view to a more serious encounter on the next stage of the Bill. The House adjourned till 3.30 p.m.