HIGH FEELING

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24970, 12 August 1944, Page 6

HIGH FEELING

DEBATE IN HOUSE THE SPEAKER KEPT BUSY (S.R.) WELLINGTON, Friday Feeling ran high in the House of Representatives today and there were many lively exchanges between members of the Government and Opposition benches during a practically all-day debate on the censorship. The Speaker was frequently called upon to adjudicate on points of order as those taking part in the debate —including the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser —were challenged for breaches of the standing orders. Fourteen members spoke, including four Ministers, and every speaker encountered interjections which on occasions, when the Prime -Minister and the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, were addressing the House, became a babble of voices. A number of the remarks were ruled out of order as "personal and uiibecoming." When the sitting commenced at 10.30 a.m. the reports 011 the inquiry under the Public Service Amendment Act into the faults discovered in the Fordoll and Turakina tunnels were tabled by the Minister of Works, Mr Sernnle. The House would be given a special opportunity to discuss the report, stated the Prime Minister in reply to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr S. G. Holland. Urgency was taken for the Imprest Supply Bill, providing for supply totalling £'14,8'19,500 up to March 31 next. The censorship debate delayed its passage and the final stages were hot completed until 6 p.m., when the House rose for the long week-end. ft will resume on Wednesday at 2.30 p.m., when it is intended to continue the debate on the Hudget.

STANLEY BAY FERRY SERVICE TO RESUME OPERATION ON MONDAY After an interruption of nearly two years, tlie Stanley 15ay ferry service '.vill be resumed on .Monday. The timetable will lie almost the same as that operating previously. The final work of demolishing the mooring at the approach to the Stanley Bay wharf was completed yesterday by the Auckland Harbour Board, which started the job in March. It is nearly a since the Cabinet authorised the restoration of the service. "Some doubt existed as to tlm?possibility of resuming this service owing to the critical coal supply position," said the manager of the Devon port Steam Ferry Co., Captain J. Forbes, yesterday. "The company decided' that, so long as that position does not further deteriorate, it must keep faith with the travelling public to whom a resumption of service was promised when the wharf had been cleared." The cessation after tomorrow of the privilege of residents in the Stanley Bay area to travel free in buses to Devonport has been announced by the North Shore Transport Co. This concession was made to the residents by th - Government as compensation for taking the Stanley Bay wharf for war purposes and thus stopping the ferry service. The bus company states that it is acting in accordance with instructions from the Works Department, following the stoppage of the Government subsidy and the resumption of the ferry service. "In the meantime it is proposed to continue the bus service for paying passengers," said Mr A. S. Bailey, manager of the company, last night. About half the passengers carried while the ferry service was interrupted had not come from the Stanley Bay special area and had had to pay in any case.

BRITISH WAR BRIDES EN ROUTE TO NEW ZEALAND (Reed. 0.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Aupr. 11 Twenty British wives and children of New Zealand servicemen have arrived in New York from England. They are en route to New Zealand. PRIVATE HOSPITALS CONTROL OVER FEES Several private hospitals had increased their fees to patients without the authority of the Price Tribunal, said the president of the tribunal, Mr Justice Hunter, in a statement just issued. The raising of fees for services without the previous consent of the tribunal was forbidden by the regulations. The failure to secure that consent appeared to have been inadvertent, resulting from ignorance of the regulations, and it had been decided not to take proceedings in the present instances but to issue a warning, the president continued. If further cases occurred tlio tribunal would feel bound to prosecute offenders. GAOL SENTENCE MANPOWER BREACH Sentence of 14 days' imprisonment was imposed by Mr F. H. Lcvien. S.M., yesterday on a man charged with tailing to obey a direction by the manpower officer. He was Albert Huberts, who did not appear Mr 1. K ronleld. representing the manpower officer, said defendant was a married man. with live children. In March, 1!) 13. lie was convicted and ordered to pay costs for a manpower breach, and on three other occasions he was fined sums up to £5 for persistent failure to obey directions. On April 12 lie was directed to tlio railways as a labourer. He worked for four and a-half hours and did not return, and he had sinco ignored letters. OLD VESSEL SUNK NAVAL PBAOTICE TARGET After being used as a target for minesweepers during gun practice off the east coast of the South Island, the 68-year-old Government steamer Hinemoa was recently sunk with a demolition charge fired in her hull. Brought to New Zealand in 1876 the Hinemoa was used as a Government and Parliamentary yacht. She had a gross tonnage of 542 and in addition to her three masts and sails had two engines. For 30 years tlio Hinemoa was engaged in lighthouse work and searching for castaways. She was laid up in Wellington in 1922 but was later used in the trade to Norfolk and Nine Islands. MANPOWER DIRECTIONS RETAILERS' PROTEST (P.A.) HASTINGS, Friday A strong protest was made at a meeting of the Hastings Retailers' Association against the depletion of staffs bv manpower directions, and the following resolution of protest is to be forwarded to the Controller of Manpower and the member for Hawke's Bay: "That we, while recognising the claims of our hospitals and other essential industries, feel that we are justified in saying that our staffs are being depleted to a very dangerous degree. In view of the possibilities of hostilities ceasing in the near future and the probability that 70 per cent or so of the men will be rehabilitated by private enterprise, we respectfully suggest that if further call-ups have to be made other channels be tapped." DEATH OF INFANT Three hours after he was put to bed, an infant, John Lex Stokes, aged 21 months, was found dead in his bassinet bv his mot her, Mrs 15. Stokes, of 3 Ferguson Avenue. Kllerslie. on Thursday night. The child had rolled over on the pillow and was apparently suffocated. Mrs Stokes, whose husband is on active service with the Air force in the Pacific, sent for a doctor, but the child was dead when he arrived.