PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13482, 5 July 1907, Page 6

PARLIAMENT.

! [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION'.] j i -, ! LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. j Thursday. I l '(The Council met at 2.30 p.m. ] The Hon. T. PAUL, in moving the Ad-Idress-in-Reply, stated that while the conn- ; try had been undoubtedly prosperous the workers had not, had their fair share of I the general prosperity. It was gratifying ; to note in this connection that the Government proposed to amend the tariff in • the direction of reduction of taxation. He : I would take the present occasion to congratulate Dr. Findlay upon his elevation to ! [the Attorney-Generalship, a position which 'the speaker considered was well deserved. ! Having spoken in complimentary terms ofj |the work done by Sir Joseph Ward at] the Imperial Conference, he entered a protest against the way some of the Piemiersi from democratic countries had played into, ' the hands of the reactionaries at Home.j ' He heartily agreed with the Premier's pro-] posal to alter the term "colony" to "dominion " Referring to the proposal to in-1 crease the workers' homes, be held that the }greatest necessity for the workers in the (cities was cheap rents. He repudiated: the allegation that had been made by some! during the slaughtermen's strike that the !Arbitration Act had failed. "The people (of this colony," he said, "are stronger [than ever in upholding the Act." The! j proposal to institute a wages board was la wise one. Anything that tended to lining about conciliation was better than! .bringing matters before the Court. On] j the land question the speaker maintained! •that there was to-dav a greater hunger fori 'land. * ! "THE TURNING POINT." | The Hon. Captain TUCKER, seconded! the motion. Having somewhat exhaustively referred to the past history of the colony, and contrasted the depression of 20 I years ago with the present prosperity, he . said the turning point of our fortunes was ; due to the visit of Mr. Ward (now Si) j ! Joseph) to the financiers of the Old Conn-J ■ try, and arranging for a constant stream 'of cheap money into the colony. He; : ! thought the change of designation from] : "colony" to "dominion" might be an im- ' provement, though it could not affect the ■ facilities of commence or bring about any 1 material benefit. He congratulated the ■ Attorney-General on his appointment. On . the land question he maintained that a 1 j tenant with a purchasing clause would do more with his property than a tenant who had no such advantage. The native land !question was a difficult one to deal with; but it would be mutually advantageous to j the native owners'and the community if the large areas that were unutilised were placed in the occupation of those requiring lands for settlement. j The Hon. H. SCOTLAND moved the adjournment of the debate. I The Council rose at four p.m.

j HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

: Thursday. The House met at 2.30 p.m. ; The following Bills were read a rirr.fc . time:—Coal Mines Act Amendment Bill, I Mr. J. Colvin : Municipal Corporations Act | Amendment Bill, Mr. H. 0. Ell: Town ' Districts Act Amendment Bill, Nelson In- . stitute Bill, Mr. J. Graham; Accountants Bill, Mr. A L. D. Frase.r;. Products Export Amendment Bill, Sir Joseph Ward ; Rotorua Town Bill, Sir Joseph Ward ; Public Trust Amendment Bill, Sir Joseph 1 Ward. i RAILWAY MEN'S GRIEVANCES. Mr. T. M. WILIORD, in resuming the l debate on the Address-in-Reply, considered that the House was deeply indebted to Mr. Hornsby for bringing forward the railway grievances in the manner he hau done. He could not understand why n! railway man in the second division," on falling sick, forfeited his pay during the! period of the illness, whilst a man in the first division, absent through sickness, received his usual pay. This anomaly ought not to exist. He instanced the case of an officer in the second division who was absent from duty owing to sickness for a period of eight months, and on his return to duty, after working a month, was entitled to receive £9 4s; but had £6 4s deducted as contribution to the superannuation funds. Referring to naval matters, he was of opinion that the fate of New Zealand, if ever threatened, would be decided in the English Channel, and all that New Zealanders would be called upon to do would be to fight a, sort of guerilla war with warships detached from tlm enemy's fleets for the purpose of withdrawing British ships from the chief base. For that reason he was opposed to any increase of the subsidy paid by New "Zealand to the British navy. lie advocated the amendment of the divorce law in the direction of providing that, habitual drunk-j enness and insanity be grounds for divorce.! THE PERPETUAL LEASE. Mr. MALCOLM, referring to Mr. Hornsby's attack on the administration of the railway service, stated that he had shuffled out of his attack on the Ministers by placing the responsibility on the subordinates. He argued that not only men whose duty i it was to carry out regulations should be put on trial in case of accident, but also the men who framed the regulations ! Dealing with the land matters motion, he! ; contended that the State, had made a very' i bud bargain when it granted the 999 years' lease. He asserted that no member! , of the House took a greater interest , in the welfare of the State than he ' and other supporters of the freehold. Re- ; ferring to the Chinese question, lie quoted i Mr. W. E. Gladstone's remark that it ■ was not. the vices of the Chinese that, the I British people feared, but their habits of , thrift and industry. The same might be ' said of New Zealanders. He retrgnised ' that (he race feeling was so strong that he 1 was reluctantly (impelled to agree with ' those who considered, it necessary to limit I the entry of these aliens to the colony. i RAILWAY METHODS DEPRECATED. •j Mr. 0. WITTY deprecated the methods II of Mr. Hornsby in bringing railway matters (before the House, as it was unfair to at- , tack any Civil .servant in that House. 11 where he had not the right or the oppori tunity to reply. Referring to the Bankside collision inquiry, he contended that ani official of the railway service should sit i on all similar Commissions. Mr. A. W. HOGG thought the debase! ( was going to fizzle out until Mr. Hornsby , made his remarks on railways, with which ' he agreed to a very great extent. Still, I on the whole, lie congratulated the Ministry on the efficiency of the railway service, '. which had improved considerably since the time it had been taken over from the , Commissioners ; but he maintained that the ' Minister for Railways should be able to devote the whole of his time to the service. , Referring to the w;iges paid the lower ranks, he considered the rates of pay , should be increased, and that youths of the age of 21 ought to be paid a minimum • wage of 8s per dav. Mr. C. H. POOLE followed. He said the difficulties under which settlement in the North Island had taken place' were ' such that He thought the claims should be | granted. He believed much good had been ' done by the Ministers visiting the North, and seeing for themselves the resources of that portion of the country. Referring to the mail service, lie said lie was in favour of an " all-red" route, but San Francisco I was the shortest route, and they must not I, forget that for several years they were ; served excellently and well by that route. J • The loss of that .service had been keenly 1 felt. -When the "all-red" route was • brought into force, which would enable the mails to be put aboard the train at Auckland for Wellington, a great cheer would • go up. Referring to railway matters, he was convinced that there were cases of mis- ' management with which the Minister whs 1 unacquainted. There were high officials occupying positions in the Railway Depart-

Iment who were merely passengers occupyjing a box seat, when they ought to be oejtween the shafts. He strongly supported the Land Bill, which would tend to do away with land monopoly'and open up the country to settlement. No man had the right, Ito hold great tracts whilst there were numbers of country people starving. He strongly advocated the reservation of land for endowment purposes, and he supported protection for the purposes of assisting local industries: but he was opposed to anything in any way creating a monopoly. He. was in sympathy with the lion, member for Masterton, who. introducing a Bill having for its object the abolition of the. duty on Hour, j ' considered that due protection should be . given to the ammunition industry in order ' that, the colony should be self contained in Imatters of defence. He advocated ? sup--1 plementary training-ship to the Amokuru, 'j the Government securing a sailing ship of 1500 tons, which would enable boys of the i training-ship to gain practical experience in I seamanship. One such ship could be utilised for the purpose of carrying timber and '.State coal to Australia, and by so doing j would earn money for the colony. I .] Mr. FLATMAN advocated railway guards [being granted an additional shilling a day.! land an increased remuneration given to sta-j itionmasters, who had a. lot of work put- on] 'J to them by the Postal Department. Ke-i ferring to land matters, he characterised; 'Mr. Mas-scy's action in proposing to give) Crown tenants the freehold as an electioneering dodge, when the Leader of the; iOpposition had no policy. It was a most i 'iniquitous thing to do. * The freehold was; never asked for by Clown tenants, but was J first broached bv the Leader of the Opposition. The freeho'd was advocated by the' i Farmers' Union, but that union did not represent the farmers of New Zealand. j I ADDRESS-IN-REPLY UNNECESSARY.' j } Mr. C. M. CRAY considered the time spent in debating the Addrcss-iuHeplv as! 'time wasted. He would go further, and say that in a democratic country like New Zc-a-lland the Address-in-Reply was altogether | unnecessary. Passing on to railway matters| |he considered that there were too many I casual hands employed. He instanced a case at Cliristchurch goods shed where seven • casuals were employed to one permanent: 'hand, and he maintained that the scale of (pay of engine-drivers was not so high as many years ago, and the scale of this class and 'of others should be increased. He did not agree with the proposal of change of name from " colony" to "dominion." | The hitter was altogether unsuitable for a small country. He considered that as a democratic country they should have the right of electing their own Governor. He strenuously advocated the completion of I the Midland railway, which, when finish-' : ed, would earn interest on the cost of construction. He was in accord with Mr. ■ Poole for a revision of the tariff, and : thought the duty should be taken off the necessaries of life. He complained of the : interference with the original Commissioners of the Exhibition by the manager, and should be surprised if the loss on that i venture did not exceed £50,000 or £60,000. NORTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK. Mr. W. T. JENNINGS eulogised the ; work carried out in connection with the North Island .Main Trunk railway. Roadling was a serious question in the North Island. lie knew of settlers who had been lon their sections for 12 years, who even • now had no tracks to their homes. Referring to the balloting for Crown lands, 'he said he knew of instances where the ballot had been stuffed with persons who had used the names of all their relations, ■ in the hopes of securing the ballot. He urged that the Commissioner of Crown Lands and the land boards should be authorised to inquire into the bona fides of all applicants. He had made it his busi- '' ness to inquire of the men from the Old > Country, who were working on the Main 1 Trunk line, and he found many of them 1 were pleased at having come to' New Zea- - land. Some of them said they were con--3 vinced that it.was the best'country on ■ God's earth. They had been starving in > England - but, after being 18 months here, - had now their banking accounts, clearly 1 proving that work was to be had by those desiring it, notwithstanding what had been said by various discontents though the newspapers. i -•* ; A MAIDEN 'SPEECH:, I '' ' ' Mr. OKEY, who made his maiden speech, ' referring to the Land Bill, said if the 1 Hon. Mr. McNab spoke his innermost 1 thoughts, it would be an expression of 1 'sorrow that he had ever brought forth the ' Bill. He thought the labourer could be '■ greatly benefited by taking the duty off the necessaries of life, and anything proposed 'in. that direction would receive his sup- ' port. Dealing with the Chinese, question, he considered it disgraceful to see the 1 manner in which these aliens were sup- ' ported by Wellington. Much could be done by the workers following the action ' of the people of Taihape in refusing to have anything to do with the Chinese. ; If a measure was introduced to increase the poll tax to £200 it would receive his j support. He did not agree to the proposal to change the name " colony" to that of "dominion." He congratulated the Hon. J. A. Millar on the firm stand taken by him over the slaughtermen's strike. He maintained that the employers had met the workers in verv fair spirit. < Mr. R. B. ROSS'said he still supported granting the freehold to Crown tenants lat the original values. On the question lof transferring officials of the railway from the second to the first division, he ■considered that efforts should be made to facilitate this process. Mr. H. J. GREENSLADE moved the adjournment of the debate. The House rose at 11 p.m. The figures quoted by the Premier yes-1 terday as the resulting increase to the revenue from holding the Exhibition should ■ I have been £250,000, not £150,000. I , .