WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3547, 7 August 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

COLLAPSE OF FINANCIAL

DEBATE.

MEMBERS,’ UNREADINESS.

(Spefial Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, Aug. 6. The collapse of the Financial Debate in the House on .Wednesda._v ‘is still the subject of more or I':.-».3 flippant discussion about the lobtbies.

901119 men_lbei-é insist they were beH'."£'_\‘Gd into missing the ir oppc-rtuni:,y to .~:.peak on the Budget, others declare fhey had no de.<l'i-e to wa-:te time on rhe Budget. and n'riel‘s acjnin Iranlsly aflmii. they had :~.‘«*1:1'1:; tg, say. The Evening Post fl11d.~: in th; incident further pl'oof of the green? loss the coiuiiry is suffering throng-,}l the ab—sence of Sir Joseph «Ward and S"r James Ailen, “two if its finest finarr cizil ex-iiics for many \'e3l-3',” fmm Parliament. Prpbablg; .fi.s° p.')§'l_?~‘ to the truth of the whole xmitt-fsr. Apart fmni rhe Pl‘illl’c '.‘.lini=te;‘. the-I‘:e is not :1 member of the new Home who _e\'»e2il pretends to an expexi/c; an-.;uain~ taizzce with the filld"(‘€‘S of ‘the Deminion. G EL.-';‘."’l")R£.l. P.EJ“()P.M. Mr Massey, from whom’ the advo-

czres of pi-opar;io.~.2l repr<2s.sntt=,llon have been hoping against hope for some assistance ‘tow:al‘ds their goal, made it quite clear in the House yes}i.E£l‘da._V that he had not the slightest Linlention of interfering with the ‘sys;tem of election which has served him §so well in'the past. Mr D. Sullivan, ‘the Labour member’ for Avon, asked the Minister if he had noticed that the-‘Christchurch City Council, after abandoning by a narrow majority‘ proportional representation in the election of its members had reverted to the system by a. unanimous vote. Mr Massey said ‘he was interested to. learn What the Christchurch City Council had done, but the information did‘. not affect his View in the lellst. He believed proportional representation would «be just as tinsatisfzir.-tor_v in New Zealand as it had been in ‘New South Wales. _ T)'ISPR()POP.TIONéL REPRE‘SEN~ _ .- TATION. The Prime Minister’s allusion ;;_to' New South Wales has drawn a strong and somewhat pointed protest from-’ the friends of proportional representation here." They declare that the use of thegsystem in New South Wales was unsatisfactory only to the length that the insistence upon the electors marking a. preference for every can_di(laire on the ballot paper led to an ‘unusually large proportion of informial votes. This was an innovation ‘grafted on to the system which all the authorities condemned, and, it is stated in round terms, was primarilg; introduced for the purpose of handicapping the Labour candidates. These critics attribute Mr Masse_v’s' opposition to the system to no higher {no-

tives. He owes his position on the Treasury Benches, they say, to vot:=~ splitting,‘»alld he is taking care votesplitting shall continue. And thv Minister smiles. " _ "_‘ STATE CONTROL.

I Mr McCalluln’s State Control of .., ;Lic:ens;es .3111, which was up for its . ‘second reading in the House of Re-%pl'e-sentatives yesterday, gave the _op- I "posing Prohibitionists an opportunity ito poke some rather outrageous fun at the member for Wairau_- ‘Mr .7. [lvlcConlbs,st.igmatis'éd the Bill as a “very green, ill-thought-our measure.” _ taml )'lr_L. M. Isitt suggested it" should be embalmed by the Law Reform A:s- fl Fsocriation as an exam".-‘G of‘ What the ‘legal mind was capab} of doing when A "it was concentrated on legislation. Mr ' !David Jones thought the Bill was ‘ }worth3«' of “Punch” and Mr A. S. Ma!icolm. whose sense of humour is not ‘of the keenest, fell upon the measzure with some heavy denunciation. But i the Bill got its second reading all the same, only. it is feared by its fl‘:.3-”1(1S.. _ to be ruled out of order on its next. ' appearance on account. of its 1':a.xa1".o:1 proposals interfering with the pre-!'og‘f-ll‘l‘.‘-,3 of the Crown.