DECEASED LEGISLATORS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 257, 27 September 1933, Page 2

DECEASED LEGISLATORS.

MANY TRIBUTES PAID. MORE NEW BILLS. Per Press Association: WELLINGTON, Sept. 26. When the House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. to-day, notice was given of intention to introduce the following Bills : —Arbitration Clauses (Protocol) and Arbitration (Foreign Awards) Bill (Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes), Trustee Amendment (Hon. J. G. Coates). A. and P. Societies’ Amendment (Hon. C. E. Macmillan), Judicature Amendment (Hon. J. G. Cobbe), Law of Libel Amendment (Hon. J. G. Cobbe), Marriage Amendment (Hon. J. G. Cobbe), Scenery Preservation Amendment (Hon. E. A. Random), Nurses and Midwives Registration Amendment (Hon. J. A. Young), National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum Amendment (Hon. J. A. Young), Gaming Amendment (Mr E. F. Healy), Fire Insurance Companies Liability Bill (Mr A. M. Samuel), ' Auckland Harbour Board Empowering Bill (Mr W. E. Parry). Moving the customary motion expressing appreciation of the services rendered to New Zealand by the late ALr J. McCombs, and expressing sympathy with his relatives, Mr Forbes said it was with a feeling of sadness that he had received the cabled news of Mr McCombs’s death. Mr McCombs had l>een a keen and very able debater. He had held strong views and bad expressed them, strongly. He had believed most sincerely in the opinions lie held and the things be stood for, and bad been a man to whom one could listen with a good deal ol interest and respect. Despite differ ences in shades of political opinions, one had come to regard Mr McCombs as an old comrade. Mr H. E. Holland (Leader of the Opposition), seconding the motion, said Air McCombs had joined the Labour Party at a time when the road of a Labour advocate was not an easy one and was more likely to lead to prison than to Parliament. His greatness of character had never been more outstandingly demonstrated than during the war years, when he had never subordinated principle to expediency. It was interesting to recall that, Mr McCombs had been the first member to introduce a Bill to give women the right to sit in Parliament. His temperament had been permanently buoyant and cheerful. “It is fitting,” Air Holland concluded, “that she who was his helpmeet in life —and to whom he owed so much of his success —should come to represent in this House the people he loved and served; fitting, too, that she should occupy the place he filled with such outstanding capacity and distinction. He sleeps tlie long sloop of death in Waimari Cemetery. The skies were leaden the day we laid him to rest, but in the hearts of those who stood around that open grave there was no bewildering sensation of doubt or despair, for we knew that he had not lived in vain. His monument is the record of his life’s work, written into the annals of the nation and engraved imperisliably on the hearts ol the men and women with whom and for whom he laboured.” Tributes were also paid _by Afessrs D. G. Snl)ivnn, H. S. Kyle, A. J. Stallworthy and E. J. Howard. • FATHER” OF DAYLIGHT SAVING. Moving a similar motion in respect of the fate Sir Thomas Sidey, Air Forbes said Sir Thomas had always been a most searching and helping critic, whose views had always been the outcome of the most searching examination and study. He had always been scrupulously fair, and had been trusted implicitly by members. Throughout his long fight for daylight saving legislation he had been devoted to the cause of education and, in particular, had-regarded his services to Otago University as a sacred duty. - Seconding the motion, the Leader of the Opposition said Sir Thomas Sidey had had a wonderful record. He had been keenly interested in everything related- to education, and had also been deeply concerned about the welfare of women and children. He had in every possible way advanced the interests of art and science, music and literature, and.had always been extremely courteous to everyone with whom he had come in contact. Tributes were also paid by other members. Aloving a similar motion in respect of Hon. G. M. Thomson, Air Forbes said he had devoted a lifetime to a study of scientific questions. He had left behind a very admirable record ol service to the country. The Leader of the Opposition also paid tribute to Mr Thomson’s services to science and education. The motions were adopted. Similar motions were passed in respect of-the late Alessrs A. AlcNicot and AViremu Rikihana, members paying tribute to their services to the Dominion and the manner in which thev had carried out their duties. The House adjourned at 4.48 o’clock as a mark of respect to the deceased legislators. lr _ _