CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10541, 24 August 1910, Page 2

CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES.

MR J. COLVIN APPOINTED. SIR WM. STEWARD STANDS DOWN. By Telegraph. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, August 23. By a majority of 40 votes to 27, or a division between Mr J. Colvin and Mr W. Eraser, the House of Representatives this afternoon elected the Government nominee, Mr Colvin, to the position of Chairman of Committees. The practical withdrawal of Sir Wm. Steward, whose nomination, up till the last had been expected, averted the possibility of a split in the Liberal ranks and the election was a fairly colorless function. ] —The Prime Minister's Nominee. — In accordance with previous notice the Prime Minister moved that Mr Colvin should be appointed Chairman of Committees, and in doing so enumerated the public positions, that the member for Buller had held. Mr Colvin, he said, had been a member of the House for eleven years, and for some time he had been Chairman of the Goldfields Committee, for ten years lie had been a member of the Westport Borough Council, and for two years Mayor of Westport-. He had been a member of the Westport Harbor Board for twentythree years and chairman for five years. He had been on the Buller County Council for sis years and had been a member of the Buller Licensing Committee.

The Prime Minister added that he

fully recognised that there were a number of members on the Government si(,le of the House well qualified to fill the important position, but only one person could be elected. He felt that in selecting Mr Colvin, a gentleman would be placed in the chair who certainly would do his utmost to preserve the high tone which the Parilament of New Zealand had always maintained.

Sir Wm. Steward (Waitaki) said that he was surprised to find that he had not been selected by the Government, seeing that he was the oldest member of the party and that he was known to have sought the office on two occasions but had stood aside for other members, and on the present occasion he had sent a note to each member of the House stating that he was willing to act, but not exacting a pledge from anyone. He had intended to place himself entirely in the hands of his friends, but he was informed that the appointment of Mr Colvin was to be made a party matter. The Prime Minister: No so far asi I am concerned. Sir Wm. Steward: I am told that his non-appointment is going to be regarded as a defeat of the Government. Sir .Joseph: Not so far as I am concerned.

Sir Wm. Steward stated that he was not a strong party man, but he was not willing to be carried into a. position by the votes of the Government's opponents. He would therefore entirely relieve the gentlemen who had undertaken to be his proposer and seconder from their obligation. —The Opposition Nominee. — Mr Massey, the Leader of the Opposition, moved an amendment that the name of Mr Colvin should be struck out with a view to inserting the name of Mr \V. Fraser. Mr Massey remarked that Mr Colvin had not an enemy in

the House, but ho bad never been able to see why an important appointmentsuch as the present should be made a. party question. Air Fraser was a. parliamentarian of 17 years' standing, and possessed all the qualifications necessary for the position of Chairman of Committees.

—The Executive Criticised. — Mr T. E. Taylor said that lie did not propose to criticise the fitness of the nominees for the position, but he wished to draw from what had happened a few' lessons on the necessity for some radical changes in connection with the system of government in New Zealand. The House had degenerated in such a way

that the Government majority was useful only to protect the Executive from the consequences of its folly. It was useless to say that the party element had Jiot entered into the present election, and it- had been used to try and exclude Sir Win. Steward from the contest. The dominant party itself, and not the Executive, should select by caucus the members on whom it wished to bestow its favors. Mr J. Allen said' that the election, should be freed entirely from party feeling. The delay that had taken place in the election this year should not have occurred. It was certainly not creditable to the House.

—The Prime Minister's Reply. — Sir Josopli Ward said that it was clear to anybody that the Opposition would 'certainly not support a man on the Government side, but would vote solidly for its own candidate. The Opposition had been exercising its ingenuity to bring about a split in' the Government ranks and get its own man in. Sir Win. Steward was quite en-

titled to aspire to any position in the House, but lie should recognise that there were many difficulties in the way of solving the difficulty. He would ask the member for Christchurch North whether it was better to have a division in the open and in the sight of all men or to secretly decide the matter in caucus. The resignation of the former Chairman of Committees was not handed in at the beginning of the session, but on July Bth, and since then there had been a long debate 011 the Financial Statement, so that 110 inconvenience had occurred in the absence of a Chairman of Committees. 011 a division the amendment- was rejected by 45 votes to 27, the voting being entirely on party lines. All the members of the Opposition and Messrs T. E. Taylor (Independent) and D. M'Laren (Labor) voted for the amendment. —Mr Colvin's Thanks. — In returning thanks for his election Mr Colvin stated that whatever partisan attitude he had taken up in the past, once he took his seat in the chair lie hoped to discard all partisanship and act straightforwardly without party feeling. He would act with thoroughness and courtesy, and- would endeavor to live up to the high traditions of his predecessors.