PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144199, 16 September 1913, Page 6

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MORE TIME WASTED, PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON, Sept. 15. Tho House in committee on tho Estimates resumed at 2.30. Mr. 0. Witty moved the reduction of tho vote of £10,073 for the Auckland Menial Hospital by £IOO, as an indication that the accommodation and staff were insufficient for tho requirements of tho institution. Mr. W. D. MacDonald said that they were no further ahead now than on Saturday. They had no reports of tho departments under discussion. The reports did not belong to tho Minister or tho Government, but to the House. If they -were going to prevent maladministration and corruption it was necessary to bare an official report on the .actual conditions and needs of tho institution. Ho arfcued that irrespective of parly support, every member of the House should be independent enough to demand tho officers’ reports. Mr. G. W. Russell commented on thp fact that tho senior medical assistant of tho Avondale Mental Asylum received only £3OO a year, and compared that officer with the appointment recently made by the Government at £6OO a year, tho appointee having had neither university nor degrees to suuport him. Mr. F. M. B. Fisher said that members of the Opposition had extended themselves on tho iniquity of paying a professional £3OO a yc,>r when they themselves put an item on last year’s estimates for a junior medical officer for £250.

Mr. Russell; “I criticised the senior officer, not the junior.” Mr., Fisher stated that the oflicers of the institutions were getting more under their estimates than under the .Mackenzie Government’s Estimates. evening” SESSION. The House resumed in Committee at 7.30. Argument was adduced on lines similar to that of Saturday and this afternoon, no new ground being broken. Mr. T. M. Witford moved to got the Speaker’s ruling on tho chairman, but the Speaker not being present when the question was put, it was lost on tho voices, no one, apparently, desiring the presence of the Speaker, - and the debate was continued. At 11.30 tho procedure was similar to that which has prevailed throughout the extended proceedings. All sorts of peculiar arguments have been advocated in support of tho. contention that tho House should bo supplied with departmental reports before going on with tho Estimates. In the nicantime the Government sits silent. WELLINGTON, 1 a.m. The stonewall is still proceeding with unabated vigour on the part of the Opposition, being met with undiminished patience on tho part of the Government party. Many of the latter have brought rugs and pillows, and are “keeping house” while they slumber on tho benches. The Opposition attack •is mainly devoted to a comparison of salaries paid to officers at tho Auckland Mental Hospital with those paid at similar institutions in other parts of. the Dominion. The speakers were repeatedly checked by tho chairman on digression from the question before Committee, but' tile flow of talk goes on, occasionally punctuated by points of order and an audible snore. The House wms left sitting at 2 a.m. More dreary hours. WELLINGTON, September 16. After the telegraph office closed, tho debate on tho estimates continued, the item under discussion being £10,037 for mental hospitals in tho Auckland district. Tho discussion had been proceeding since 2.30 yesterday afternoon, when Mr. Witty moved to reduce the Horn by £IOO, ns an indication that tho salaries, accommgdation and staff wore insufficient. Tho tone of tho debate was dreary, members suffering considerable inconvenience from the cold. Several speakers addressed the House in overcoats. Mr. Ngata concluded the final speech on tho item at 4.23, when a division was taken on Mr. Witty’s amendment, which was lost by 28 to 10. Mr. Witty immediately' moved to report progress, to give tho Government timo to bring down tho report on mental hospitals. He claimed they bad been fighting for a great principle, and had conducted tho debate in a clean spirit. During the course of his remarks Mr. M'Donald made reference to tho absence of the report, whereupon Mr. Massey said ..the Opposition had had throe copies since Saturday. Mr. M'Donald contended that Mr. Rhodes told the House the report was confidential; and could not be commented upon. Mr. Rhodes denied that ho'made any such stipulation. What ho said was that tho report was an uncorrccted copy. Messrs. Ngata and Poland argued that the report was only a rough printers’ proof, full of errors and wholly unreliable. Ample timo had elapsed, during which a corrected copy could bo supplied. It was not treating Parliament with respect to supply public documents in tho form of a rough proof. Mr. Witty said ho had seen the report for a tow minutes, and was satisfied it contained matter that would not appear in tho finished copy. The Minister explained that ho had removed tho objectionable paragraph. Mr. Witty, continuing, said they should rcuort progress so that they could got tho report in the complete and approved form. Mr. Massey said the attitude of the Government was that all necessary information would bo supplied at tho earliest possible moment. The motion was debated till 6 o’clock, when a division was taken, tho voting being: Ayes 13, uoes 28. Tho item then passed. A fresh contingent of Oppositionists now arrived, and continued the debate.

Mr. Ngata moved an amendment that tho salary of tho r-esident medical superintendent (£600) at Tokanui, bo reduced by £5. The motion was debated shortly, and on a division was lost by 11 votes to 28. Mr. Duddo moved to reduce the salary of tho farm manager at Tokanui by £l, as an indication that the salary was toff low. A division was taken at 7.45. —Ayes 13, noes 27.

Mr. Parata moved a reduction of £1 in the salary of the engineer at Tokanui, as an indioation that a better salarv bo paid. Tho motion was being donated at tho time of the breakfast adjournment. Wellington; Sopt. ie. After breakfast tho debate showed no signs of flagging, a fresh lot of Liberals taking up the running. At cloven o’clock the Chairman put the question of the amendment to reduce the salary of tho engineer at Tokanui. This was lost by 30 votes to 13.