RAILWAY PRIVILEGES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14050, 21 July 1916, Page 8

RAILWAY PRIVILEGES.

WEALTHY MAN'S CHEAP TRAVELLING. STRONG COMMENT IN PARLIA-' • .'•• ; MENT. . ' fFr'om Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. It may riot be generally known that tb'e sons and daughters of meriiblers of the Legislatm^e, no matter . how. old, Vre able to travel on the railways at reduced rates. The matter was brought out by a question to Mr. Herries from •Mr.. lsitt r who asked if, it were true that. a. railway ticket at a reduced fare irom- Napier to Wellington Was recently issued. io a married gentleman of about 50 years of age, on the ground thafc he was the son of a member of th© Legislature. - ' y " The m replying, said a railway ticket at reduced rate was issued tt ; :.the son «f a. member of th© Legii-s---kture on the 11th inst. This is m accordance with the regulations of tho Railway department, and the arrangement has- been m operation for many years. . There is no age, restriction so far as the concession to sons and daughters, of members of the Legislature are concerned. In the case m question the gentleman presented the usual certificate, signed by - his father, and was given the concession to which l}e was entitled.. * ""'■ Mr. Hindmarsh, commenting on. the answer, took . strong exception to *a con.-, cession , ticket.: being issued to sucli a man, especially at this time. Ill r. Wilford : Who is it ?', Mr. Hindmarsh mentioned th© name. Ho added that tho incident was a scan' dalous abuse of a privilege given -.to members of Parliament, arid it was- his duty to call pubjic attention, especially as the member of the Legislative Cburi, cii 'concerned was one of the wealthiest men m the country. He hoped, if there was any patriotism amongst the people of New Zealand, particularly the slieep,fafmers of Hawke's Bay, the man wouloV })e_ boycotted and made to feel his position."' He' could riot imagine a worse bit of bad taste from /one of the wealthiest men m the Dominion, whom years ago be had heard held up as a statesman, though the speaker believed he had no statesmanlike qualities about him. Mr. .Speaker called attention to tho rule that members of the Upper House could not be referred to like this. . ,Mr. Hindmarsh. retorted that he had pleasure m putting on record the name of the man who did such a mean, Shabby act; , , , . Mr. Speaker ordered the Labor mem-ber-to resume liis seat. . Mr. Brown later remarked that he wished to refer to the question. ] He had not hoard Mr. IJ^indmarsh's speech. ■He did not know anotlier member- except Mr. Isitt who would ask sucTt a question^ He liked to be a sport. That nian was entitled to his ticket. The member asking the question would be sorry he had asked it. Mr Isitt said that he had hesitated some time before asking th© question, but thought that as it was an abuse of the privilege and a very grave departure from the spirit of concession for any mairied man r in an independent position to get the concession to attenit races or do business iri«the city, he felt sure the Minister of Railways and the majority of members would agree with him that the concession ought to be limi&d.^ Mr. Herries, Minister of Railways, said he would not like it to go about that anything extraordinary had beenJ dorm by . the Railway Department. All the requirements had, been carried out m the. case. He quite agreed that the concession was not "intended for such cases as alluded to m the question. It was difficult to draw the line, anii difficult .to put, dQWri cenditipris- whjch were not open to some , abuse. ( He did not think the Councillor . should have asled for the concession for his' son, but a clause ,to prevent -. that might well pre\ jent a genuine- application that ought to bo. granted.. He must therefore leave d*. to the good taste, of „• members. He thought, however, Mr. Isitt would have done better had,, he. gone .to . b,im prJU vately without giving so' iniich publicity to the matter. ■ ■