POLITICAL NOTES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9788, 11 October 1917, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES

A CALM AND A STORM FISTICUFFS IN THE LOBBY. After tho previous, day’s excitement, tho Houso of Representatives settled down very peacefully to business yesterday. Tho afternoon was taken up with questions and reports of local committees of the House. Quite a variety of subjects were touched upon, from the conveyance of children to and from schools to tho question of padded cells. Tho latter subject had nothing to do with the cxcifement of tho previous day. Members considered that there were not enough padded colls in tho Dominion at present. In the evening tho House went on to discuss further tho War Pensions Amendment Bill. Mr J T. M. Hornsby, one of the two members, other than Labour members, who were absent from the previous day’s caucus, upbraided members lor their blind support to the National Government following on the caucus. His indictment was delivered amidst frequent interjections and some lively little passages. Tho speech had the effect of rousing members somewhat, so that tho atmosphere grew more lively a-s tli© evening continued. Later on tho atmosphere ' became electrical, as the result of caustic remarks by Mr Hornsby, and epithets applied to Mr Pearco, which resulted in a fight in the lobby between rue latter and Mr Roland. Verbal violence raged in tho House for .quite a time, and excitement was intense. Mr Massey appealed to the House to restore order, declaring that the scenes were a disgrace to Parliament. “OUGHITtT BE HANGED r SIR JOSEPH WARD’S EMPHATIC OPINION. “Anybody who wants to go in for a general election at tho present time should bo hanged,” stated Sir Joseph Ward emphatically in the House last night. “While men are at the front, while their blood is being spilled for us, while sprrow is permeating every home, to talk of a general election at a cost of £IOO,OOO or £ISO,OCD, with_ its incidental disorganising of ,tbo trade of the Dominion; 1 say without .offence that people who, talk of such should ho hanged.” ... ELECTOBALBOUNDARIES. The statement by Mr J. T. M. Hornsby in the House of Representatives yesterday that he intended to introduce next sitting day the Electoral Boundaries Commission Amendment Bill aroused a chorus of interjections from members. Mr Hornsby merely smiled and said nothing. AN INTEiiOTNTfETITION. Quite an interesting petition has been presented to tho House by the member for Nelson, Mr T.A. H. Field. It the petition of J. G. Ward and 1610 others, praying that the Imperial system of dress-cutting and dressmaking ho introduced into our schools. LOCAL BILLS. Th© Hawke’s Bay Rivers Amendment Bill and the Dunedin Waterworks Extension Bill were reported Upon By" the Lands Committee in tho Houso yesterday, with iho recommendation that they he allowed to procoed as amended hy th© Local .Bill*' Committee. A similar recommendation was made in respect to the Nelson Harbour Board Empowering Bill. A DIFFERENT OPINION. "I can imagine no more piffling utterance than to say the National Government, with all its horrible bungling;'should continue in power. —Mr J. Payne, in the House last night. •DISCHARGED SOLDIERS. At the request of Mr Massey, in the House of Representatives yesterday, the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Amendment Bill, road a first time the previous evening, was referred to tho Lauda Committee of the Houso. Later the Bill was reported to the House without amendment. CHANGES IN LABOUR LAWS PROPOSED STATE ACTION. MELBOURNE, September 28. Proposals for radical changes in tho Labour . laws are now the subject of communication between Ministers of the various States. Tho idea is _to provide for a common course of action by at any rate a majority of the States. The Victorian authorities have drafted a scheme, and tho Secretary for Labour (Mr Murphy) will leave for Sydney to-morrow afternoon to confer with the New South Wales Minister for Labour (Mr Beeby). It is explained by Hie Victorian Ministers that whatever measures are taken must go right to the root of the recent industrial troubles. A conference of State Premiers and Federal Ministers will bo convened later. “SOMETHING RADICALLY WRONG.” SYDNEY*, October 1. In his presidential address at the annual Inter-State Convention of the Federated Master Builders' Association to-day, the president (Mr James Wall) remarked that in viewing recent ©vents, and considering the numerous strikes of the past few years, it must be admitted that there was something radically wrong with tho industrial laws, and until something could bo done making it as compulsory for employees to obey tho Laws as employers the position would not improve. If there , could he no improvement, why retain all the machinery of industrial legislation if largo sections of workers claimed tho right to accept or reject tho awards of industrial tribunals? The vagaries of the Federal Court, he added, .were so rampant that it was impossible to foresee what might occur.