TUESDAY, AUGUST 8.

Otago Witness, Issue 2683, 16 August 1905, Page 17

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8.

In Hhe House of Representatives on Wednesday, after formal business, the report of 'the Labour Bills Committee on the Shops and Offices Bill was received. Contrary to anticipations, a motion to go into committee of Supply was moved, and thus the fighting members of the New Liberal party were deprived of the opportunity of going into the matter of the alleged voucher, of which so much has been heard lately, as the debate on the first item on the Estimates was brought to a close before the House rose. Mr Herdman sprung a surprise on the Government by N proposing an amendment to reduce the first item by £1 as an indication that the present method of making appointments to the Legislative Council is unsatisfactory. The surprise was nearly being a success, as the Government only escaped defeat by the narrow majority of two votes. Had the absent members of the New Liberal party been in their places and voted for the amendment it would have been, carried. THE VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT. On the motion to go into Committee of Supply for consideration of the Estimates, Mr J. ALLEN said that unless something was done to improve matters in regard to Volunteering the movement might have a very serious set-back. A good deal, he admitted, had been done for Volunteering of late years, but owing to the way the Under-secretary's department was conducted there was a good deal of friction with the officers. They were attic things, but they mounted up until the irritation was intense. Mr Allen went on to quote several of the Volunteer regulations which were considered to have caused friction, and which, he alleged, were unworkable. He felt quite sure that much more good effect should be secured trom the money now being spent on defence. He thought the higher Volunteer officers should be taken more into the confidence of the Government in regard to the scheme of defence of the colony. . . « Mr FOWLDS leferred to the friction tvith some of the offioers of the Auckland Navals. Mr M'LACHLAN objected to a- Volunteer officer (Mr Jas. Allen) being allowed, as a member of Parliament, to criticise the Defence Department. Mr BA.BMJJ uvftscl thai ,un^ss VoluiJtfe^

, officers who were members of Parliament ; spoke on such matters the House and country would not be able to understand I what was wrong. Messrs, RUTHERFORD and BUCHANAN i urged that more assistance, by way of free ammunition, should be given to rifle clubs. After further discussion^ ■ The Right Hon. Mr SEDDON replied. He said he had done his best to obviate , friction and make' things run smoothly, j In a. weak moment he agreed to thefcdiyi.sion v of the Defence Department into mili- . 'tary and secretarial branches. Since uhen "ne had had nothing but trouble, and his mind was made up % to bring them again into one department.. He knew what was ] underlying the trouble at Auckland. It all arose out of > the promotion of an officer which was not approved of by the ofcbers, and a deplorable condition of things resulted. The Premier went on to state : that "he would have inquiries made, and if it was found that-the minimum- strength of , companies to entitle them to capitation ■ ■ was too high, it would be his duty to re- ; duoe it. He had been advised to complete the harbour defences of Auckland and Wellington first. He had been advised also to dismantle the defences at Dunedin ' and Lyttelton," but he thought it was better to-'k'eep them there and go on as well as they -could. He did not think much of our harbour defences. Great care had to j be exercised in keeping secret the scheme of defence, but he would impress on the Commandant the desirableness of con- j fidence being established between the Cozn1 mandant and 1 the officers. THE ESTIMATES. The House then went into Committee of Supply for consideration of the Estimates. In xepl-. to Mr Massey, | "Mr SEDDON said he would endeavour ] to bring down ttie Public Works Statement and Estimates not later than three weeks I from date. 3 I In the course of a lengthy discussion on the first item of the Estimates, i Mr HERRIES pointed out that the Estimates did not in some cases show how much had been spent on the various items in the previous year. He objected to this departure of concealment. i Mr JAMES ALLEN remarked that last ' year the sum of £30,000 was voted for the South African '«ervice, and £35,000 was 1 spent. Who, he asked, was interested in the service that th* over-payment did not ' appear on the Estimates as they were brought down this year? Mr Allen went on ' to refer to the admission of the Lyttelton Times that the Premier's Pahiatua speech ( had been sent to it as a " memo.," and he ' entered a protest against these speeches I being sent to selected Ministerial papers. I The House and country were entitled to know who paid for these memos. \ j Mr HAWKINS said members of the House had told him that when they sent ! telegrams to Ministers on public qxiestions they made them collect, and they were j franked at the other end. If, contended ( Mr Hawkins, this privilege was allowed to supporters of the Government, it should be- j 1 allowed to all members of the House s irrespective of party. I j At this stage Mr E. M. Smith, who has j been seriously ill, took his seat, and rei oeived a round of applause. j Mr SEDDON read the regulations of the Post and Telegraph Department dealing with "collect" telegrams, and wanted to know if members were not to be allowed to use that regulation the same as anyone else. I Other people besides members had sent "collect" telegrams to Ministers, and the i practice had gone to such an extent that it had been lately decided such " collect " telegrams from private persons to Ministers should not be accepted by the telegraph officers. Mr W. FRASER thought members ought to be satisfied with the privilege of being able to send 36 words for sixpence. They ought to be debarred from sending " collect " telegrams to Ministers. | Mr SEDDON said he did not question . Sir John Hall's denial in regard to j " memo?.," but he (Mr Seddon) declared that many Ministers had exercised tha nifvao. system to communicate with their wives and daughters before this Government came into office. And, after all, what was there in it? It entailed no extra ' expense on the country. Mr HAWKINS: Overtime has to be . paid. Mi* SEDDON went on to urge that telegraphing had to be done, and the occasion of the overtime was the bxisinesa of the country. Mr T. MACKENZIE urged the necessity of increasing telephonic communication in j3lis back-blocks, aaad also asked what stgns.

the Government intended to take to test and develop deep-sea fishing off our coasts. Mr SEDDON said he had never transacted his private business by the memo, system. Mr R. M'KENZIE thought the time had arrived for the establishment of a State news agency, under which small papers could be supplied with the leading news of the day. The Hon. W. HALL-JONES said the Pcatmaster-general was doing a. great deal towards providing telephonic facilities in the back-blocks, and did .not insist on a guarantee where payment* of it would be a hardship. In regard to deep-sea fishing, he did not think we ought to go further afield m search of fishing grounds, seeing that there are &uch good grounds close to our coasts. Mr DUTHIE complained that serious inconvenience- was caused to the mercantile ; community and the general public by the loading of the wires with- "memos." ! Mr SEDDON, replying to Mr Maseey, ; denied that any partiality had been shown in the distribution of the Government advertising. Ministers did not know anything , about the advertising ; it was left to heads of departments. His own opinion was that there was too much advertising by the Government, and the cost was becoming . too heavy. • | Mr MOSS pointed out that Ministers' travelling allowances were only chargeable when Ministers were travelling within the 1 colony, and that the Minister kad no right to charge £75 for his Mapourika trip, which was made outside of the colony. Mt SEDDON said if ho had been the Minister the amount would never have been charged. A mistake was made in charging that amount against Ministers' travelling allowances. I Later on the Hon. C. H. MILLS stated , that he intended to go fully into this matter on another occasion. I Mr HAWKINS referred to the system of distribution of Government advertisements Ito the Pahiatua papers, and said when the public, money was used to pay papers for beslavering the Government it was time for members to speak out. j Mr GUINNESS, ieferring to the State I coal mine, complained that the Government had declined to pay a single nenny to the Gieymouth Harbour Board either for rent, the special rate oa coal exported from Greyrrcuth, or wharfage. The opening of the State coal mine had been the cause of decreasing the output from some private mines which would have paid the necessary rates. , a The Hon. J. M'GOWAN said the Greymouth Harbour was really a Government harbour. Notwithstanding all that had been wiid about the State coal mine, it had been worked prudently and wisely, and i it would be of advantage not only to the district, but to the whole colony. He believed that all the coal harbours should be the absolute property of the colony, and it \ would be to the advantage of the State I if the Government took over the oontrol of these harbours. I Mr SEDDON, referring to rifle clubs, said that, as Minister of Defence, he looked I upon rifle clubs as of great importance in I the defence of the colony. They now had a status and concessions which were not given to them previously, but he did not agree with them having the same right in regard to railway passes as the Volunteers. Mr HERDMAN said the action of the Government in competing in the open market with coal from the State coal mine before the requirements of the State departments had been met was practically illegal. He moved as an amendment that the first item be reduced by £1. as an indication "That the present method of making appointments to the .Legislative Council is unsatisfactory." He quoted the Premier's own remarks on the Council in support of his motion, and remarked that appointments to the Council were now made for political services rendered to the present Administration. Mr SEDDON urged that the amendment should be withdrawn. No good purpose would be served by carrying it. A bill (Sir W. J. Steward's) dealing with the question was on the Order Paper for to-morrow, and would afford a better opportunity of coming to a conclusion in the matter. The proposal made by Mr Herdrnan was trifling with a large question. At this point the Chairman (Mr Millar) ruled the debate on constitution of the Legislative Council out of order, as there was on thn Order Paper a bill dealing with the subject. On a division Mr Herdnian's amendment was negatived by 26 to 24. After further cTebat-e the first item was Bassed* and progress was reported.