PARLIAMENTARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13888, 24 October 1905, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Monday, October 23. MORNING SITTING. Tho House met at II a.m. THE WALTHAM ORPHANAGE. Mr Bavey asked th© Premier whether he. had read the report of a meeting of tho North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board, at which it was alleged that two young Roman Catholic girls had been wrongfully treated. The Premier said ho had rc-ad tho report. Tiiore seemed to he good ground for an inquiry, and in the interests of all parties concerned the Government would take steps to s-e© that an inquiry was held. SOUTH AFRICAN SERVICE. After formalities, tho subject of the Scuth African service was raised by Mr Taylor, who, apropos of a paper on the subject of tho volume of trade, tabled by Sir Joseph Ward, asked tho intention of the Government in regard to the continuance of the subsidy. Mr Horries objected to. any renewal, as the subsidy encouraged Now Zealand’s rivals. Mr Massey said that ho preferred a direct service at half tho present cost. Mr Seddon deprecated any discussion on the question without notice, point-

ing out that all the particulars asked would be given in due course. Air T. Alackenzio supported tho present service as having kept up grain prices and given an outlet for meat. Sir Joseph Ward said—(l) The present company intimates that it will not take on the service; (2) that it impossible to get a refrigerated direct service to South Africa for £15,000 a year, and perhaps not for £100,000; (3) that tho present contract was properly tendered and accepted; (4) since th© announcement that tho Government was not renewing the contract, the Government had been inundated with remonstrances and 'petitions; (5) that tho conditions attached in support of these remonstrances were impossible; (6) that tenders will be invited for a direct refrigerator service, and for any other service no. subsidy can be paid. Ho agreed that the service had' benefited the agricultural community. THE SUSPENDED POSTAL OFFICIALS. When the report on the Christchurch, postal officials was laid on tho table Sir Joseph Ward, in answer to 'Mr Fisher and Air Taylor, said that no deoison had yet been made- by the Government. Ho moved that the report should lie on the table. Air Bedford moved an amendment that the House directs the Government to decide tho men’s fate immediately. Air Fisher denied that these officers had broken their declarations, _ and asked for the punishment of Williams, an operator who had intervened, as offending equally with the others. He also urged that copies of the regulations wore in this case too scarce for the officers to understand them. Ho was agreeably surprised at the impartiality of the Commission, but objected to the political character of the vquestions asked of tho officers implicated. Ho thought the men were entitled to a prompt decision by Government and tho recognition of the fact that, having played their part in a big light, their evidence remained unshaken. The Premier thought it was a case of “save me from my friends.” The facts were that th© whole of the officers admitted that they had broken th© regulations. These circumstances required consideration, and it was not desirable to inflame tho minds of Ministers before deciding. They had, moreover, boon too busy to touch it. Furthermore, another situation was pending. Under such circumstances the references mad© in the House bordered on indecent language. He failed to characterise the conduct of Air Fisher referring to th© officers’ conduct as “a shove in a big fight.” The amendment was lost on the voices, and the debate was interrupted by the luncheon adjournment. AFTERNOON SITTING. Monday, October 23. The House resumed at 2.30 p.m. THE SUSPENDED POSTAL OFFICIALS. Sir Joseph Ward replied on th© motion that the report of the Commission on th© case of th© Christchurch Postal officers do lie on tho table. He declared that no harshness .had boon shown towards these officials, and they had not been prejudged by the Government. Ho was glad to hear during the debate that morning that th© partiality of tho Commissioners had not been in any way questioned. It was regrettable, ho thought, that tho debate had not been deferred until the Government had been able to go carefully into the. report and evidence. He (Sir Joseph) had not yet had time to read tho evidence. With regard to what Air Fisher had said about political questions having been put to th© Commission, he wished to make it clear 'that no instructions whatever were given the Commission by any member of the Ministry. If there was any wrongdoing in any public department, the proper course for the official who found it to pursue was to communicate tho facts to his superior official, and not to an outsider. Any person should be able to use any of th© Departments of State without being afraid that his private business would be disclosed. Ho wont on to quote from th© evidence to show that the theory that the four officials woro not thoroughly conversant with the regulations would not hold water. With regard to a telegram sent by Mr Williams, a telegraph official at Dunedin, to Air Fisher, that was merely th© sending of a question as to whether Mr Fisher’s reflections on th© service referred to Dunedin. That was quit© a different thing from committing a breach of th© regulations. He added that the Electric Lines Act Amendment Bill had nothing to do with th© officers who had been the subject of inquiry. It was not retro-active, and it would not in any way interfere with any officer who had committed a breach of existing regulations. The report was ordered to lie on the table and be printed. The M to Z Public Petitions Committee reported on a petition presented, praying that fqll public inquiry into tho alleged improper payment to Captain R. J. S. Seddon, that as a Royal Commission had been set up, th© committee had no recommendation to make. Mr Taylor said the Commission would not allow full and unrestricted access to tho official records, and there was, therefore, no prospect of proving whether the four Christchurch officials wore right in their statements or not. Those officials were, by th© decision of the Audit Commission, once mor© foiled in their efforts to get at the information' they required. Th© Executive should remove all grounds _ for belief that concealment was desired. He moved to refer the matter back to tho committee. The premier reviewed th© position at length, urging that th© Government had granted all that th© petitioners asked, and declaring that there had been no alteration of the order of reference of Hi© Audit Commission. Every payment made to Captain, Seddon was under inquiry, and nothing could be adder than that. The people must realise by now that the inquiry was full and complete. Air Fisher said ho had now got to establish tor the people of New Zealand the defects in th© audit system, and ho did not think it was right, with that burden on his shoulders, that he should have to pay the expenses of the witnesses he desired to summon to give evidence before the Audit Commission. After further discussion the- motion to refer th© report back to tho committee was lost on the voices, and the report was ordered to lie on th© table. LEAVE OF ABSENCE. Leave of absence was granted as follows:—Air Skley three days and Air Lawrenson two days, on account of

family illness; Mr Houston fourteen days, on account of ill-health; amd Mr Witheford for the remainder of the seission, on account of urgent private business. THE VAILE SYSTEM. The Hallways Committee referred to the Government for consideration, the petition of. Samuel Vailo, of Auckland, who asked for a trial of the stage system on some section of the New Zealand Railways. Mr Massey moved —“ That, in the opinion of the House, the time has arrived when the stage system should be given a trial on one of the railway sections of the colony. Mr Massey’s motion was lost by 35 votes to 18, and the report of the committee was ordered to lie on: the table. The House rose at 5.30 p.m. EVENING SITTING. The House resumed at 7.30 p.m. A QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE. Mr Massey raised a question of privilege. Sometime on Friday, he said, rolls of printed matter had been placed in the private boxes of several members without the sanction of the Speaker. That constituted a breach of the privileges of the House. Further than that, the printed 1 matter did not bear any imprint, and he had no hesitation in saying that it was printed at the Government Printing Office. The documents consisted of electioneering material, evidently collected for the use of supporters of the Government, and were a tissue of falsehoods and misrepresentation. He moved that a breach of the privileges of the House had been committed by placing these papers in members’ boxes without the authority of the Speaker. The Speaker said that tliere was no Standing Order or rule to prevent matter of the kind complained oft being placed in members’ boxes. The Premier characterised the action of the leader of the Opposition as childish, and expressed regret that valuable time was being wasted in this way. ,Tho practice complained of might he open to objection, and might be made the subject of inquiry, hut no breach of privilege had been committed. All sorts of papers were put into members’ boxes. He declared that Mr Massey did not know that the documents were printed at the Government Printing Office. Mr Hawkins, said that he would ask the police to take notice of the fact that the papers did not- hear any imprint. The Hon W. Hall-Jones said that he had hot seen the documents, did not know where they were , printed, bad not given any instructions’ in regard to them, and had not spoken to the Government Printer about them. The Premier denied that he had given instructions that the leaflets should be distributed into the boxes. Several Government supporters stated that they had not received any of the leaflets. _ Mr Taylor, _ alluding to the organisation from which these papers were supposed to have emanated, and to the system of espionage which he declared was carried on by it, said he would like the Premier to tel! the House the degree of intimacy between this organisation and the officials of the Telegraph Departments Only that day, he said, he had been told that a copy of a letter sent by him to Christchurch on the subject of the voucher incident, was in the possession of a member of the House. The copy did not come from himself or from the recipient, and the question was how was it obtained? Several other members also spoke, and on resuming after the supper adjournment, Mr Willis brought the discussion to a close by moving “the previous question,” which was carried by thirty-two votes to twenty-four. THE EXHIBITION. A Bill to provide for holding an International Exhibition at Christchurch was brought down by Governor’s message a'nd read a first time. ELECTRIC LINES ACT AMENDMENT. The Orders of the day were reached at 10.30 p.m., the first being the second reading of the Electric Lines Act Amendment Bill. Sir Joseph Ward immediately moved to postpone the Bill. Some misapprehension existed, he said, in regard to the provisions of the Bill, and he would like to have an opporunity of conferring with some of those members who were opposed to it. ,Ho had found, for instance, that there was an impression that the Bill would interfere with existing cable stations, and he wished to make it known that the Bill would apply to the cable stations only in the case of war. Further, h© desired to point out that the Bill was not retroactive. ‘ • Mr Taylor said that there was, an exceedingly strong feeling among some members against the Bill. It seemed to him that the final clauses comprised one long cry for vengeance against the Christchurch postal officials. Sir Joseph*Ward; Oh, no. It will not tench them at all. Mr Taylor said he was glad to hear that, and those who had intended to resist the passage of the Bill would be glad to have a conference with the Postmaster-General. Sir. Joseph Ward repeated that it was hot proposed that the Bill should apply to any telegraph official who had been in trouble in the past. Mr Harding said it seemed to Kim that the Bill was designed to set up a reign of terror for Government officials, and he had been looking forward to another protracted sitting. Sir Joseph Ward retorted that there was no intention to put anything like terrorism into the postal officials. Mr Moss objected to the extraordinary severity of the proposed punishment under the Bill, and suggested the best plan would be to make every offence against the Post Office a capital offence. After further discussion, Sir Joseph Ward’s motion for postponement of the Bill was agreed to on the voices, ELECTORAL BILL The amendments made by the Legislative Council in the Electoral Bill were agreed to. MAORI LAND SETTLEMENT. The Maori Land Settlement Bill passed its final stages. The Hons® rose at 1.5 a.m.