Parliamentary Note

Southland Times, Issue 15058, 30 September 1901, Page 2

Parliamentary Note

(By Telegraph.) | (fbom oub special repobteb). Wblunotox, Bcpt. 27. I A HEURI'TTABLE DISPUTE. There i* mucli comment here, and probably in other places also, upon the debate which occurred last night on the item in the Estimates, granting £247 to Mr Rhodes, Mayor of ( -iristchurch, in reimbursement of expenses incurred by him in entertaining the Duke and Dachess of York. The unpleasant debate which occupied the House for so long a time was e.n example of the trouble whioh may arise from want of care in the nse of words and the construction of sentence-. The item as it appeared on the Estimates wa» ambiguous. It appeared as if Mr Rhode* was a cliimant for £247 to reimburse him for expenditure he had been pot to. The truth, as levealed by the explanation given by Ministers, could never have t>een i ascertained or suspected from the wording of the item. The tact was that this small sum represented expenditure which was incurred by the Government when they entertained their Royil Highnesses in the house placed at their disposal by Mr Rhodes. For some reason the accounts of the tradespeople were rendered to Mr Rhodes and the money had therefore to be paid to him. Why the Government clid not deal directly with the tradespeople in this case as they did in other vas^jf was not made clear, but it wa* made clear that this expenditure was not personally incurred by Mr Rhodes but by tlie Govnrnment, itna Minis ten fell back upon the defence that the voucher would not have been passed by the Audit Offioe in any other form. The explanation seemec. to be rather lame and the whele thing wan exceedingly unfortunate and unpleasant, bat if the nt ailments of Ministers are clearly understoxl no disparaging construction will he put ujM'ii tht language of the estimates. tub paES-NCE or death. Only 8 Hhort time ago I commented upon the frequency with which Death had made his presence felt in Parliament this session, i and I askod, in conclusion, how long Par 1 iament would be permitted to continue it* work without interruption from the last enemy. The answer has not been long withheld. To day in both Chambers motions were pa-ised in connection with the death c-f an old c *>lonist and an old parliamentarian, the Hoc Matthew Holmes, and adequate tributes wore paid to his great record. With his death one of the most prominent figures in the agricultural world disappears fro ti the colony. The name of tbe Hon. Matthew Holmes is m< >st intimately associated wii,h enterprise and perseverance in introducing prize stock, and it is said that there are few noted i't r ai_s of blood in the south to-day which cannot be trac-jd to the importations of the deceased gentleman. The honour that was his due was paid to him by friends of long standirg; by thof-e whote experienoe qualified them to Bpeak of the value of hia se vices as a squattsr, and by thoso who knew him in politics. Both Ch-mbei- adjourned to mark their re- ' spect ami so mother melancholy duty was done. A MEMORIAL. By the s.s. Wakanui a marble bust of Uir Harry Atkinson arrived from the Old Country The memorial was subscribed for by the constituents of the departed statesman and it is to be set up in the Parliamentary buildings, probably m the lobby. THE BBTUBSED COX-ING_-i__. Ever since th. session commenced __.re has bene a succession of questions relating to returnud troopers. Again and again mtmbers have asked why trooper- were not paid promptly ; why efforts were not made to find employment for returned troopers, nnd the tike. As a rule the Minister of I totaiee has b-tn able to return a sat_B__ct"*ry answer- -sati* factory to the extent, stleest, that Mr Seddon was able to show that he was no:, neglecting the returned aoldiore. Still member-' solicitude for the interest* of the young New Zealanders who have re* turned from South Africa has not baen wholl'* allayed and to-night Mr Massey seized his opportunity, when an Impi-tt Supply Bill was brought down, of bringing forwai _ a question about which it is moet desirable that there should be a clear unclerderstaniiug. When the various conlintingeutti left New Zealand many of the men took v.'ith thorn horses which tney had provided themselves or which friends had r>ro» vided for them. The questions therefore arise — to whom did the horses belong ? To the _rowi i or to the troopers, and if they belonged to the troopers, had the troopers been paid for them ''. Mr Massey has had this question upon the Orler Paper for sometime: Is ita fact thnt tht Now Zealand Government lave been .t edited by the Imperial Government with i'2B, or other price per head, for all ' horse 3 used by New Zealand trooper., in ©OUOtl ___..- -which, were fit for -i_r___r e.rvi<*e and handed over te Imperial offiasTS 1 when our men returned to the colony, and 1 if so, will the Premier, in justice to the men concerned, pay to each trooper who f eand 1 his own horse the price received for the anim.il ? This question practically embodies 1 the sribstance of Mr Maasey'i grievance. ' The point, Mr Massey said, bad been raiaed in South Africa just before the Fourth '.bntingent returned and the oomman ling ' officer, either officially or unoffieiidly, informed the troopers that the h<*r_e_ were being handed over to the Imperial authorities for remounts; that the Nf.Z. Government was receiving £28 for each horse, and t hat that sum would be handed to tlie owner. Mr Massey further complained of the delay in reaching N.Z. to which the men who returned by the Harlech Castle were compelled to submit in Australia. To some of them who were a_*aons to return l>y another steamer when the Harl.( h Castle went into dock permiision was given, but they were greatly sarprised when ".hey found that the amount of their p__B_g. had been deducted from their pay. Mr ilnssey thought this treatment was eontemp ti ble, and he hoped the Premier _ .old announce his intention of paying the men for their horses and refunding the pa-Mage monoy— Mr Se.ddon gladly seized the opportunity of explaining the position. He maintained that by the conditions under which the Fourth Contingent nndeirtook Bervic(> tho horee-, without cxeeittion, became tho property of the {Sovereign, and in ths opinion Mr Seddon had the House almost unanimously with him. Among thoso who supported the Premier wius Mr McNab, who said that so far as Otag. and Southland were concerned there waa not a single case- in which it was not thoroughly understood that the horses were given to the down. It rftust have been so since the contingent* were given to the Im]*erial authorities, fully equipped. Mr Seddon went on to *ay tliat in cases where troopers had tako a spare horses, or had purchased horses in [South Africa, they would be entitled to sell fib em. He denied that Colonel Itevies said bhe men would receive £28 for their horso'i, and gave an emphatic denial ih> the -Utnnent 1 hat the Government of New Zealand had received any money for any of the horses; which had been handed to the Imperial authorities, neither did tbe Government, intend to make any claim for them. With regard tc the Harleoh Castle the Premier said that somo oi the men desired to romain in Australia to see the Commonwealth celebrations : ia fact they took French lea-re for that purpose and voluntarily agreed to pay their own passages. Finally Mr Seddoi said he would see that the amount of the fare wai refunded. A feature, singular in one a*pect, of the. debate was that members agree*" that candidates for the contingents who had their owu horse* were given the preference,, and that they understood that that was their compensation. It is curious that the oompennation tor presenting the country with a hone should be the opportunity to fro to South Afri :a and fight with the risk of being killed in it . service, and yet it is true that there was _ compensation, for so eattet- were hundreds and thousands of young New Zealanders to bake up arm- that they w«e preparud to gi ve all they posses-ed for A place in tho contingents.