LOAFING ON THE JOB

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18265, 7 December 1933, Page 7

LOAFING ON THE JOB

PETITIONS COMMITTEES COMPLAINTS IN THE HOUSE (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. A suggestion that they might put in more time at their work, was given to members of Parliamentary committees by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Ifon. G. W. Forbes, in the House, when replying to an urgent question by Mr. H. T. Armstrong) (Lab., Christchurch East). Mr. Forbes revealed that the Public Petitions -Committees had only sat on eight days in two months. Mr. Armstrong asked if the Government would arrange for important petitions referred by the House to Select Committees to be dealt with before the session ended, or f6r the committees to sit during the recess to deal with them, dp said that the session was likely to end before the committees had an opportunity of dealing with petitions, thus ,iusing disappointment and imposing injustice upon many petitioners. He hail presented six petitions to the House during the first two days of the session, but only one was likely to be dealt with before the session ended.

The Prime Minister suggested that the committees should take advantage of tlie time still left before the end of the session to push on with their work. Ur thought that the two Public Petitions Committees could sit on more days than they had done. In the eight weeks since they were set up each of the two committees had sat, on eight occasions. Had they utilised all the days available thev could have had 16 sittings. Mr. Armstrong: They-must, he loafing on the job. The Prime Minister: I wouldn't say that they are loafing on the job, but where there is a big job ahead they should sit on all available days. If they take advantage of every day available they should have no difficulty in clearing up all the petitions''before them.