HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Southland Times, Issue 15057, 28 September 1901, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

THE SSTIHATES. After th^ telegraph office closed this morning, " mi 9( ellaneouH services of the' Colonial. Secretary 'f. Department," were further considered. On the hero 'payment to Router's Tele gram Corapany for special telegrams, £900,' Mr Hetrieti complained that telegrams sent' by the Government through this agency were tinged with political colour, and he moved to reduce the item by £1. — Sir J Ward said all telegrams were not sent to newspapers. Many of them were for public purposes, )ut not for pnblicatiou.— Motion negatived by 30 to 12. On the item "general contingencies, £4o00," Mr Hutchoson moved a reduction of £161, being the cost of photos in connection with the Premier's Pacific Wanda trip. —Mr Seddon raid this expenditure was authorise! and liqui-lated la«t year. It was not included in this year's contingencies. — Mo tio a negatived on the voices. The remaining items of " miscellaneous services " pass<ja unaltered, and the tots! vot9 of £183,183 for the Colonial Secretary's Department wo a agreed to. Progress was then reported, and the House rose at 2.45 a. in. Afternoon Sitting. The House met at 2.30. PETITIONS A>'D NOTICES. Petitions ware presented praying thut barmaids be exempted from the provisions of the Shops and Offices BilL Mr Hfi.ll- Jones gave notice to infcroduijc an Inspection of Machinery Act Amendment Bill. . MrO. J. Smith gave notice to ask the Govnmmsnt whether, in making appointments to the Legislative Council, they will remember that the mercantile community is under-represented in that branch of the Legislature. THE IATK HON. M. HOLMES. Mr S>cldon moved that tbe House adjourn till 7.30 us a mark of respect for the memory of the lite Hon. Matthew Holmes. He said Mr iJolm js was a very old and highly respected member of Parliament, who nid done gruat service to the colony in y«.ra gone by, not the least of which was his inti-o-auction nf pedigreed stock from the Mother Country —Mi J. W. Thomson, in seconding the motion, said Mr Holmes had been a good and enterprising colonist.— Mr Duncan bore testimony to the great services rendovd by Mr Holmes to the agricultural and pastoral industries. He was the pioneer of some or the best breeds of sheep introduced into tiw colony, and he had helped viiry largely i v brii \ging agriculture to a state of perfect ion in the South Island. The motion was agreed to and the House rose at 3.40. EvEjiuro Sitting. The House resumed tt 7.90. imprest supply bill (No. 4). for £510,000 was introduced by Governor's message and read a first time. On the motion for itn second reading Mr hlisaey said he took this opportunity of complaining of the treatment of troopers who hail returned from South Africa, especially those who had supplied their o*m horses. Members of the Fourth Contingent had not received any allowance for their mounts, as promised. He also complained that rt.ember-H of the First and Second Contingent* hail been kept an unduly long period in Australia on their way home, ircd that (.hose who asked for leave to ocme home from the other side had their fares deducted fro n their pay. Mr Soddon s»id one of the conditions under which the men were enrolled iras that thoir equipment* were to be the )>roperty of tho Crown. Many of the men supplied their own horses, some of wliich were afterwards bought from them by tne Imperial Government. The New /lealand Government was not being paid for the horses haadod over by troopers to the Imperial Government, but where those horses had l« longed to troopers themselves personally in the first instance he should not object 10 the men being paid for them by the Irajwrial authorities. The troopers who returned by the Harlech Castle wanted to remaia in Australia for the Commonwealth celebrations and he eventually gave way, although soDie of the men had simply tttken French leavo. Those men who wanted to come back New Zealand and not wail) for Che others were allowed to do so on signing an agreement to pay their own fares, which were to be deducted from their pay, bat he would nee that the men were now refunded the amounts that had boon so deducted. Tht tiecond reading waa agreed to and the bill jwased through committee without amendment. On the motion for the third reading a short 'icbate took place with regard to troopors' horses, several members pointing out that ma ly of the men supplied their own fcoreea in order to get into the oootingents. On the motion to go into C OMMITTEE OF SUPPLY Mr Bollard moved as an amendment; " shat it is d&iirabla that the Government should formulate, this session, proposals for the further superannuation and classification of the railsvays'irvice in order that tho necettiary provif ion be made on this year's Estimates." He urgid th it railway servants were underpaid &nd that they should be, at any rate, raised to the same standard as the sabries of tht officers of the Postal Department. Mr Wilford said that last session he kid a distinct protnise^from the Minister of Itail* ways tliat a superannuation sohome wrald be introduced, nod he knew for a fact that the closest attention was being given to that branch of the subject. He thought this was not an opportune time to bring the nutter forward. He urged the Minister to consider the claims ot' the "permanent casuals," and said that after a man bad been a certain number of years in the service of the Department he should come within the soope of tho imperiinnuation scheme. Mr <«. w. Russell said other members had brought thie matter under the notice of the Minictar and had been assured that he was pushing it ou as fant as he was able/ Mr Neddon raised a point of order thai' any motion to is Grease the cost of th* sei-vice must le brought down by Governor's tow sage. The Government would accept the first part of the motion. The Deputy-Speaker ruled that the Litter. part of the resolution was not in order, viz., " in hitler that the necessary provision be made in thi* year's estimates. —Mr Bollard thereupon v/ithdrew this part of hi* motion. Sit J. VVurd said the subject was very difficult. He had been working very steadily at it for a very long time and it. had also leeu before the Cabinet. It rat a mattat that must be made as perfect as possible before it was submitted to the Houf c A bill had been prepared and bad been under consideration for months, but it was the difficulties surrounding suoh a schernn that had prevented its being brought before tbe Hoaw at an earlier date. Any scheme propounded must be of a lauting chartuiter and the Government, which was responsible for it* working, was not going to give way to pressure and bring down a scheran before they were thoroughly satisfied that it would be unassailable, m yean to come. Under the circumstances he asked that Uie motion be withdrawn. Mr Hutclieson said he felt suns that what could l>e done would be dove by the Minister for Railways. An amendment of the Classification Ac i was more needed for stationmast 3i s thin any other branch of the service. Mi Piran said however much the Minister for Fail way a might desire to do justice to a certain section of railway employes it waa impossible for him to do that unless the Colon ill Treasurer was equally anxious. Therefore io waa a proper thing that the matter should be brought before the House and that members should show the Ministry

they were as fully prepared to support such a scheme as was the Minister for Railways. He deprecated, however, bringing down a scheme at the end of the session, when it could not receive proper consideration. Mr Lang aaid there waaadem&nd throughout the railway service for a classification scheme and he thought the Minister ought to have given a distinct assurance that a bill would be brought down this session. Eventually Mr Bollard's motion in its amended form was agreed to on the voices and the House went into Committee of Supply for the further consideration of THE ESTIMATES. On class 111, the Colonial Treasurer's Department, £44,424 Mr Meredith moved to reduce the salary of the secretary to the Treasury (£800) by £50, the amount of the increasef-Mr Seddon said this officer by his ability had saved the colony thousands of pounds. The Secretary to the Treasury in New South Wales received £1500 a year.— Motion lost by 30 to 15. On the vot« for the Old Age Pensions Office, £2780, Mr Seddon said he found that imposition was being practised with respect to persons drawing pensions, and after the session was over he intended to make a change in regard to the administration and to have official representation, though not by lawyers, when a court was investigating claims. — Messrs Tanner and Hutcheson gave instances of cases in which persons had divested themselves of property and then became claimants as indigent people.— Mr Seddon said the law would have to be amended to meet such cases.— Mr Atkinson : The Premier has given notice of an Old Age Pensions Bill. Is that coming on ?— Mr Seddon : Yeß ;it must.— Mr Guinness did not think there was anything like the amount of fraud and imposition that some members seemed to think. The pittance wu too small and he regretted that the Treasurer could not see his way to increase the weekly instalment to 10s. He | hoped the time would come when the pension would be universal ; at present it wu nothing else than a charitable dole. — Mr Monk said one of the worst features of tht old age pension was the indifference it had infused into the minds of well-to-do children as to the welfare of their parents. The only way to give an honest old age pension was to give it to all.— The total vote pawed unaltered. On the vote for miscellaneous servicee Mr Pirani moved that the item " salary of Registrar of Consols, £50," be struck out. He considered this was an entirely ornamental position.— Messrs Monk and Wilfortl suggested the establishment of a Civil Service Board ; the latter saying that such a board would relieve members from the pestering they were subjected to by billethunters.—After some discussion Mr Pirani's motion was lost by 26 to 19, and the total vote for the Colonial Treasurer's Department was then agreed to without alteration ; progress was reported, and the House rose at 12.35 a.m.