Session Incidents

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 416, 26 July 1928, Page 14

Session Incidents

Queries and Asides (THE SUN'S Parliamentary IZeportcr.) WELLINGTON, To-day. Summer Time has been rejected by the House of Representatives, which took the whole of last evening to discussing Mr. Sidey’s Bill, finally defeating it by 33 votes to 28. Bills introduced and read a first time in the afternoon were the Music Teachers’ Registration Bill (Sir John LuW), and the Workers' Compensation Amendment Bill (Mr. E. J. Howard). Mr Howard’s Bill has been set down for second reading next Wednesday. The Legislative Council passed a motion urging the Government to provide a suitable memorial to Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his brother. The Hon. J. Barr was re-elected Chairman of Committees for a further term of three years. The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Bill was read a first time. The Orchards and Gardens Diseases Bill was referred to the Agricultural and Pastoral Committee. New Bank Bill charge of the London and New Zealand Bank Bill, when the measure reaches the Legislative Council. Mr. Wilford Returning Mr. T. M. Wilford (Hutt) is likely to resume his place in the House next week. He was granted four more days’ leave of absence, and will probably be in his place again next Wednesday. The return of Sir Joseph Ward, his bench-mate, is yet indefinite. Sir Joseph was yesterday granted a further month’s leave of absence. Lodgers Disturbed The Ministers who rushed from morning appointments in order to don special attire for the luncheon to the Japanese officers were not the only ones whose routine has been disturbed by the visit of the two Japanese ships. This morning, when salutes of guns were reverberating over the city, clouds of pigeons, the permanent lodgers in the lofty recesses of Parliament Buildings, flew out in protest, and circled round in agitation until long after the din had subsided. These rapidly increasing pigeons are becoming a nuisance and a problem. It has been suggested that, to deliver them into the hands of ma.n, they be robbed of their sobriety by means of wheat soaked in whisky. But what would Mr. Bellamy say? * Some Incidentals Mr. W. D. Lysnar: I know a man who was of unsound mind. He was at one time a member of this House. (Laughter.) The Hon. J. A. Young mentioned the case of a feeble-minded woman who could not tell who was the father of any one of her nine children. A member: Perhaps she didn’t want to. When the Prime Minister, replying to a question, said the question of issuing workers’ tickets from Waitakere into Auckland was being watched, Mr. P. N. Bartram (Grey Lynn) observed that the Government was like Mark Twain’s watch-dog—it watched, and watched, and watched, until it went stone blind. Consequently, it suffered from lack of vision. * &

Fate of Kowhai School Inquiring of the Minister of Education whether there was any truth in tho rumour that the Kowhai Junior High School is to be closed, Mr. H. G. R. Mason (Eden) yesterday affirmed that he would like to ask the Minister whether he (the Minister) did not think the results achieved by the school had not fully justified its establishment. £ls Caring for the Blind To give effect to the request of inmates of the Blind Institute, Parnell, that they be allowed to elect one member of the board which controls the establishment, would require special legislation, states the Hon. R. A. Wright, Minister of Education, in reply to a question asked by Mr. J. A. Lee (Auckland East). The Government, he added, would be pleased to consider the question. K X * Leaving Racing Alone The fact that it is not the Government’s policy to interfere with the administration of racing by the New Zealand Racing Conference was emphasised by the Acting-Minister of Internal Affairs, Sir Maui Pomare, in informing Mr. J. A. Lee that the Government saw no reason to take action with regard to the recent punishments inflicted on jockeys convicted of corrupt practice at Rotorua. Mr.'Lee had asked whether only the jockeys, who were, he said, only the instruments for wrong-doing, should be punished. Summer Time Deluge As a prelude to the Summer Time debate members of Parliament were today deluged with wires sent by constituents interested in the fate of Mr. Sidey’s measure. Both the anti-day-light saving and pro-daylight saving elements were represented in these last-minute injunctions. Little Men From Nippon Sight-seeing with much gusto, parties of Japanese sailors, quaint little fellows with closely-cropped heads, drifted into Parliament House during the afternoon, and surveyed the proceedings with impassive faces. In a specially favoured place sat one or two groups of officers, each with his small dirk by his side. The scrupulous politeness of the Japanese was conspicuous. Each man, before leaving the galleries, bowed to the unheeding House. One man even added an extra bow for the ladies’ gallery, where his gallantry-was cordially received. ££ ?£ Sartorial Splendour Frock coats worn by Ministers and others lent an atmosphere of sartorial splendour to the House during the afternoon. The wearers had attended the Parliamentary luncheon given in honour of the visiting Japanese naval men. The error of the member who once wore light tan boots with his frock coat was not repeated. Natives and Their Land Whole hosts of petitions recently placed before the House on behalf of native land owners, or natives who do not own land but think they should be considered, serve to commemorate the errors mad© by early administrators in their efforts to place the complicated system of Maori land tenure on a saleable basis. One of the most interesting of the native petitions asks, in view of the higher values of today, for a reconsideration of the price paid to the native owners, many years ago, for the sit© of Rotorua and the adjacent thermal tracts. & rt? New Lynn a Post Office The erection of a post office at New Lynn will be undertaken as soon as circumstances permit, stated the Post-master-Genera 1„ the Hon. W. Nosworthy, in the House, in reply to Mr. H. G. R. Mason (Eden). He added that the erection of post offices was being carried out strictly in order of urgency.