THE GAMING BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18849, 25 October 1924, Page 10

THE GAMING BILL.

In spite of many protestations of heroic determination, the stonewall against the Gaming Bill has col-| lapsed in circumstances that suggest 1 unconditional surrender on the part of the Labour Party. The attitude of ostentatious disapproval of a ruling by the Chairman of Committees is not at all convincing. Mr. Young may have been indiscreet in maintaining his ruling that a division had not been demanded on Mr. McCombs' amendment," which was, after all, only a trivial pretext to waste time, as part of the stonewalling tactics. But, in any event, the Parliamentary code imposes upon members an obligation to maintain the dignity of the chair by acceptance of its rulings. If a member considers himself aggrieved, he has always opportunity to place his case before the House, and to get fair play. . It is, therefore, a confession of that case's weakness when a member or a group of members, protesting against a ruling, withdraw from the Chamber, and reject all conciliatory overtures. That was done by the Labour opponents of the Gaming Bill. Mr. Young gave a perfectly fair and straightforward explanation of his attitude, and readily agreed to the suggestion that opportunity should bo given for a vote on Mr. McCombs' amendmentHe allowed ample time for consideration of the proposal and apparently personally approached the members concerned. They preferred to absent themselves from the further proceedings on the bill. It may fairly be presumed that if there had not been a misunderstanding on Mr. McCombs' amendment, some other excuse would have been found by the stonewallers to avoid the inevitable defeat of their opposition.