PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 147683, 31 August 1911, Page 6

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,

THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

j_BT TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

Wellington, Wednesday. Tiik Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m. , The Imprest Supply Bill No. 2 parsed all its stages undiscussed. The Attorney-General (Sir John Findlay) gave a resume, of the subjects dealt with by the Imperial Conference. Ho pointed to the danger of encouraging the view that the Oversea Dependencies were a "loose collection of nations that could at any time sever from the Mother Country.

Hon. J. R. Jenkinson (Wellington) moved, " That this Council having heard from the Attorney-General a synopsis of the subjects- dealt with by tho Imperial Conference. records its appreciation of the services rendered to the Dominion of New Zealand" by the Prime Minister and the At-torney-General as its representatives at that Conference." *

Tho debate was' adjourned and the Council rose. ,

HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES.

CORONATION INVITATIONS.

The House of Representatives cat. at

2.30 p.m.

The Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) made a statement, in connection with the invitations j'or the , Coronation. Statements had been made, he said, at various times that lie had: received invitations, and had not' communicated the same to members.. He received invitations marked "secret," and was . not in a position to disclose their contents. He had an interview with Mr. Massey on the matter with the full concurrence of the Governor, to whom the document was sent. Mr. Massey saw the document which was; really in the form of an inquiry made by the Homo Government with a viow to sending the invitations later. ; He had suggested k> Mr. Ma&sey that three Opposition and five Government members should go. His interview had been strictly confidential, and later on an article appeared in the Dominion dealing with the matter. Someone had committed a gross breach of confidence. He had informed Mr. Massey that he was prepared to give facilities to every member to go Home at his own expanse, and suggested postponing tho opening of Parliament till early in August, and putting off the elections till February. Mr. Massey later informed him that he had discussed the matter with his party, and they had decided that they could not accept the invitations. As the outcome of that he asked the Government to cable Home to see if the matter 'could not be brought before Parliament. The reply he received was that arrangements had not progressed far enough to allow the ( matter to go ,before the House. A premature statement, would .cause great, inconvenience. ~He read a , letter from the Under-Secretary for the Colonies, which "Stated that the Lords and Commons Committee had forwarded the - invitations on February 23. He - sent telegrams to members immediately on receipt of that communication.; Only one member (Mr. Rhodes) expressed his willingness to go Home. He then sent a message . Home saying that : the time was too short to accept the invitations, and that there had been, no response from .members. The first time he had received any invitation was on February 23, the -same time as 'the other Governments had. »

r Mr. Massey (Leader of the Opposition) said-he had had an interview with Sir Joseph -Ward, and regarded it as confidential, and he had always respected that confidence. Sir Joseph Ward had made conditions on the acceptance of the invitations. They "were: That Parliament should be postponed - until the beginning of August, and that it would not be possible to have the elections till February. ; His party came to the conclusion that they could not take the responsibility of postponing. Parliament ' and; the elections, and that, therefore, the Opposition members could not go. Sir Joseph Ward here stated that he had' made absolutely no conditions when the invitations for eight members were being discussed. His conditions wer« in case all the members wished to go Home. PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM. On the House resuming in .the evening, Mr. Herdman (Wellington North) moved the second reading of tho Public Service Reform Bill, which aimed at the elimination .of political influence ; from appointments, to the Civil Service. Many Departments, he said, were at the present time over-stocked, and many present. Civil servants.should.not. be in the service. The Bill provided for control of the service by three Commissioners, thus reducing the possibility of influence to a negligible 'quantity. 1 -' - . - . - Hon. T. Mackenzie asked if a measure of the description of the Bill under discussion could ever emanate from a good business man. He was ; prepared to have the qualifications of all officers of his Department tested. The whole of the appointments to,the Civil Service were perfectly straight and above board, and the idea of political influence entering into the matter existed only in the minds of a few. v * '' "

Sir Joseph v Ward said that it was of the greatest importance to the humblest and the highest that there should be a good public service. ; The difference between the Civil Service of to-day and when their opponents were in power, was the difference, between paradise and somewhere ehe.

The second reading was rejected by 36 votes to 18.

The House rose at 1.15 a.m.

POLITICAL NOTES.

UNIVERSITY REFORM. [BY telegraph.—special CORRESPONDENT.) j Wellington, Wednesday. ' The Education Committee has commenced to take evidence on the subject of university reform. Every opportunity will be given to witnesses desirous of discussing the question to represent their views to the committee. ' . - , THE HINE CHARGES.' The Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) stated to-day that the recommendation of the special committee which investigated the Hine charges is being considered. If the legal advisers of the Crown decide that the existing law and the Standing Orders do not sufficiently protect Parliament against conflict between a member's duty and his interests, definite legislation to provide that protection will be introduced. LOCAL . GOVERNMENT. The Minister for Internal Affairs an- .• nounced .to-day that a Local Government Bill is in course of preparation. It will be circulated this session. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS. , WHAT MINISTERS WILL DO. [by TELEGRAPH. — 39 ASSOCIATION.] ! . Wellington, Wednesday. Ministerial replies to . questions were printed in a ' supplementary Order Paper to-d'av. The following are included in the list —• - " ! ' ' If the senders of telegrams desire messages with all punctuation marks, capital letters, etc., shown with the same precision as on a printed page, special J

payment must bo made. The Morse code does not provide for a signal for capital letters.

The telephone regulations are now under revision. It was hoped shortly to be able to announce a decision in reference to reduction to country settlers. The whole matter of old age pensions was receiving very careful consideration. There were many cogent reasons why the practice of issuing railway tickets on tho day before a passenger intends travelling should not apply to small stations. It was not necessary for the purchaser of a ticket to travel 20 miles before breaking his journey, though this did not apply to suburban areas.

The capacity of' railway workshops is increased from time to time, as circumstances warrant. It is considered desirable to spend a large sum of money in supplying increased accommodation,' and equipping workshops for the purpose of enabling them to carry out a large building programme, which is dependent entirely on the expansion of business. The Government is empowered to nominate a limited number of cadets for entry at the Royal Naval College at Osborne, through which all naval commissioned officers must first pass. The Admiralty have made arrangements to provide for two nominations annually from New Zealand 1 . Legislation would be introduced this session to regulate the sale of New Zealand wine.

There will not be time this session to deal with the matter of entailed estates. These were very rare in New Zealand.