PARLIAMENTARY.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12508, 21 October 1904, Page 4

PARLIAMENTARY.

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, October 20. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The Council met at 2.30 p.m. ' MONDAY SITTINGS. The Attorney-General gave notice to move that the Council sit en Monday aftersoon. Replving to Mr Baillie, the AttorneyGeneral said that from the satisfactory way the business was proceeding he thought the session might close in a fortnight or thereabouts. THE ISLANDS BILL. The Cook and Other Islands Bill was committed. An amendment by the Attorney-General to make the Act permanent was agreed to. Clause 5 (constitution of Island Councils) was "amended to provide that the members of the' Council shall be elected as at present. A new clause was added at the instance of", the. Attorney-General, empowering the Crown to take over any lands iu the islands required for public purposes. She Bill was reported as amended. PAYMENT OF MEMBERS' BILL. The second reading of the Payment of Members Bill was agreed to without discussion. = ■ _. . LOCAL ELECTIONS BILL. JFhe Local Elections Bill was further considered?; in committee. . The Attorney-General moved a new clause providing that where on, inquiry the Magistrate is of'opinion that any irregularity has wilfully committed by any person, he shall direct the police to take proceedings;fpr. the prosecution of such pert». The Bill reported as amended. THE 'LICENSING BILL. Consideration of the Licensing Bill was resumed in committee.. At clause 46, dealing with prohibited persons, Mr Lee Smith thought the clause ought to be'struck out. Prohibited persons had no difficulty in getting liquor. Mr Jones said that the regulations were a failure. " Licensees were not properly notified as to who prohibited persons were, ■and how could they know? When it was necessary to make such restriction against citizens, it was time for total abolition of the traffic.

The Attorney-General said that the provision was ah improvement on the existing law. It provided that a prohibited per•son being iound drinking liquor or having it in his possession shall be sufficient evidence of his having procured it in breach of the law. He was surprised to hear Mr Jones talk of the abolition of liquor. How was it going to be abolished? People would gSt it or manufacture it, if they wanted it.

The Attorney-General carried a new subclause extending the effect of a 'prohibition order to the railway refreshment rooms. Mr Feldwick moved further sub-sections to the effect that an application made by a • person. for a prohibition order against himself may bet granted by the Magistrate without dealing with the case in open Court, and that when any person-has been three times convicted of diunkenness within six months the Magistrate may make a prohibition order against him without formal application being made for the same. Both sub-sections were agreed to on the Voices, and the clause as amended passed. The committee adjourned at 5 p.m. The Council resumed at 7.30 p.m. In clause 47, Mr Stevens objected to the word " gambling " being retained. . He asked for a definition of gambling. The law ought to define what were unlawful games. Ms Arkwright moved to strike out the word " gambling " from the clause. The Attorney-General said that the Gaming and Lotteries Act or common law could be brought to bear to define unlawful games. Upon a division the word was retained rotes to 11 votes, and the clause passed. At clause 52, which provides that it shall not be lawful for the owner or landlord of any licensed premises to demand or receive any payment or consideration for his consent to sub-lease or transfer the premises, Mr Eigg moved to strike out the word " owner" in order to insert the word " tenant." The motion was lost.

At sub-clause 3 of the same clause, which provides >"that in the case of an assignment of sub-lease of a lease executed after the passing" of this Act, the landlord shall not arbitrarily or unreasonably refuse such consent, Mr Eigg moved to strike out the words "executed after the passing of this Act," ■-

The motion was lost, and the clause parsed. - At clause 53 (clubs liable to the provisions of the Licensing Act), Mr George moved to strike out the words requiring clubs to be closed at the same hours and be subject to the same provisions of the Licensing Acts relating to gambling as if clubs were licensed premises. He said that clubs protested against being put in the category of licensed houses. The provision had not been asked for, except by a large portion of the trade. He had proposed to move to fix the hour of closing of clubs at midnight, but would be prepared to make the hour at 11 o'clock to meet the views of several hon. members. The Attorney-General said that he could not accept the amendment, but would point out that.if it were carried it would practically sanction the carrying on of gambling in. clubs. ■ Mr Stevens suggested that the amendment should be restricted to eliminiting the wtords which provide for the closing of clubs at the same hour as licensed premises for the sale of liquor. Mr Jones said that the clause had been carried in another places by 48 votes to 21 votes, and be supposed at the direction of -the constituencies. He read a letter from a life member of a working men's club indicating that these clubs were not fulfilling their original purpose, and were failures from a social reforming standpoint. They were rushed by working men after closing hours of hotels and drunkenness in them was not unknown. Mr Bigg saw no proper cause for the clause and his attitude towards it would be to assist to amend it and then to reject it. ' >-' Mr Jones asserted that clubs, wuether •working men's or gentiel, were nothing but tlrink shops, and, therefore, the clause •was-necessary. '■ Mr Maedonald considered it was the ffaveat political blunder the Government as" made to attempt to interfere with the personal privilege of 20,000 club members. Why, he asked, should men who build their ewn, house be told that they shall not drink in that.house at any hour of the day or night they like? He would support Mr George's amendment and all amendments which do away with interference with these clubs. The clause was playing into the hands of the namby-pamby party, and the designers would be whipped with scorpions tor bringing it' down. The Attorney-General said that according to Mr George the Government brought in the clause at the request of the trade, and now Mr Maedonald asserted that it •was due to the opposite party. This demonstrated that the Government were considering the great middle party, the moderates. As a matter of fact the Government were endeavouring to consider the great mass of the party of the colony, and not one sid» or the other. He urged members not to make any amendment in the clause.

Replying to Mr Stevens the Attorneygeneral said that under this Bill no policeman could enter a club but only an inspector appointed by the Colonial Secre-

tary. The question Vas then put that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the clause—ayes 19, noes 16. The words were retained. ■' Divisionlist—Ayes—Baldey, Bolt, Camcross, Gourley, Harris, Hollies, Jenkinson, Jones, Mkhuta, Marshall, Pinkerton, Pitt, A. L. Smith, W. C. Smith, Thompson, Trask, Twomey. Noes—Arkwright, Baillie, Beehan, Bowen, Feldwick, George, T. Kelly, Louisson, Macdonald, McLean, Miller, Ormond, Rigg, Seotland, Stevens, Williams. After further discussion, the clause was passed with structural amendments, and progress was reported. The Council rose at 11.50 p.m. HOUSE OF REPRESEiVTATITES. The House met at 2.30 p.m. ;/ PETITIONS. <*The Petitions Committee referred to-the Government far favourable consideration petitions from Newtown licensees praying lor compensation on account of their licenses having been withheld by the licensing committee.

SECONDARY EDUCATION. The Education Committee reporting on secondary education, recommended that any pupil attending a school in charge of a sole teacher who attains a certificate of proficiency though over the age of 14 years, might be specially recommended for a free place subject to the approval of the governing body, and that as the regulation with regard to free admissions has not been generally observed, no alteration in the age limit should be made until a fair trial na * D «n given to the present system. Air T. Mackenzie urged that the age limit operated very unfavourablv in remote districts where the facilities for receiving education were not so great as in a The "1 an age tended to a system of cram, and acted prejudicially to the health of the chUdren He moved that the report be iXred back to the committee in order that it might deal with the question of the age limit wl le Sf th % disc " ssion - the motion was lost by 27 votes to 18 votes, and the

report was referred to tha Government for favourable consideration. EDUCATION BILL.

When the Education Act Compilation Bill came ud for its third reading, Mr Graham pointed out that the compilation was not quite accurate. In clause 56 the present Bill provided that the Boards accounts shall be audited by "an auditor appointed by the Government," whereas the Public Revenues Act provided that they shall be audited by the Audit Office. The Minister for Public Works moved to recommit the Bill to enable the Audit Office to b* inserted in the clause.

This was agreed to. The Bill was recommitted, and the proposed amendment made, together with a new clause proposed by the Premier providing that all the provisions in the Bill shall De subject to any provision contained in the Acts from which it was compiled. The Bill was then read a third time, and passed. SHOPS AND OFFICES BILL.

The adjourned debate on the Shops and Offices Bill was resumed by Mr Graham, who pointed out that the employees of wholesale warehouses were already objecting to be included in the Bill on the ground that they are at present under better conditions than they would be if they were included in the" provisions of the Bill. He hoped that the clause would be amended before the measure became law. Mr Duthie said that neither the House nor the country had expressed any desire for the amendments proposed to the existing law. He would be very glad to see a statutory half-holiday, but it was impossible to conserve the interests of everybody, and after all it was the duty of shopkeepers to consider the interests of the general public. Mr Houston declared that this stirring up of strife by the Labour Department was causing a sood deal of nnrest in the colony. He objected to the Bill being made to apply to country districts. Mr Mander urged that each community should .have the right to choose that day for the half-holiday which suited it best. Mr Smith said that he had voted against the Saturday half-holiday referendum in accordance with the desires of his constituents..

The debate was interrupted by the 5.30 p.m. adjournment.

The House resumed at 7.30 p.m. Mr Lawry spoke strongly in support of a universal Saturday half-holidav, but urged that the proper thing for the House to do was to pass a law to that effect, and not shelve its responsibility by referring the question to a referendum. • Ir Synies, referring to the Saturday half-holiday proposals, said that legislation was not brought down in the interests of the labouring classes, but in the interests of agitators, of inspectors, and of the Labour Department for the purpose of creating billets, and in order to keep the country in a state of unrest. He did not believe any more labour legislation was wanted, and if they 'gave jt a rest for a few years it would be for the good of .the; eplony. 3&"As' r L. D. Fraser warned the workers

jg the four centres that if they listened to the clarion-throated agitators, that were occasionally heard in politics and at street -Werners, they were simply tolling the be!] chat would be their death knell, for the :ouiitry and the respectable section of the towns would rise up and the result must inevitably be that the clock of the labour party's prosperity would be put back, if not for all time, for many years. Mr Millar joined issue with Mr Symes, when he said that it was' time to" give labour-legislation a rest. They had had quite enough of it for some years. The colony "had been pledged "for some seven millions of money, not for the interests of the towns but for "the country, and had a single labour member, he asked, ever opposed it? Were they to sit idly by and see their constituents taxed year after year for 18,000 Crown tenants, while three parU of the population had no legislation passed in their interests. They had petitions from 30,000 people asking for this legislation, ind they were told that it was wrong by 18,000 Crown tenants. If that sort of thing went on, there would soon be a town v. country party in the House, and if that lid happen there would not be much legis'ation passed either for town or country. The Premier, in replying, said that it was inconsistent on the part of members to >ppose the referendum on the" Saturday half-holiday when they were in favour of the referendum in regard to licenses. Justifying the new proposals in the Bill he

■expressed the opinion that with the shorter lours the employers would get even better work from their employees. The Bill had been generally approved, and was in accordance with public opinion. Be added that within three months of Saturday being made the statutory half-holiday (if thai should occur), the people would conform to it, and he believed they would be better satisfied than under existing conditions. He be'ieved the time was coming when they would have a universal Saturday halfholiday. The Bill then passed its final stages by 51 votes to three votes. SECOND READINGS.

, The Premier moved the second reading of the Native Land Duty Abolition Bill. He said that it was a matter of abstract justice that this Bill should be passed seeing that native lands were now to be made subject to full rates. The necessity for the duty had passed. The amount involved was from £6OOO to £BOOO a year. The motion was agreed to on the Voices.

The Premier moved the second reading of the New Zealand. Loans Bill, which would do away with the necessity of having in every loan Bill a large amount of machinery. That machinery was provided in this Bill, and it would apply to all fu ture loan Bills. Mr James Allen regretted that the Bill had not been brought down when the House had full time to consider it. The chief objection to the Bili was the clause that provided that the full amount of a loan could be raised apart altogether from expenses. That was an entirely wrong principle, and would not operate to the" good credit of the colony. It was giving a power to increase th'e debt beyond the amount mentioned in the authorisation, and our credit did not stand so high at Home that we could afford to. play with it in this way. He also objected to clause 16, which extended the powers of the Treasurer to raise money in anticipation of debentures becoming due. Sir J. G. Ward said that the clause provided for the raising of the exact amount of a loan, irrespective of expenses. He said that after the loan' had been raised to the amount authorised, the cost of raising would be ascertained, and the loan agents would raise scrip to the amount of those charges. The proposal was made in good faith, so that the Governmentshould be sure of getting the face value of the loan authorised. He pointed out that the more the Colonial Treasurer was tied up the more the money-lenders could high rates of interest or discount from

fhc-m. and powers similar to those proposed i:i this Bill were held by Colonial Treasurers in several other countries having large, financial operations. The rate of interest would require to be put in each Loan Bill, and would have no place in this Bill.. It was, he urged, not desirable that thev should draw the strings too tightly round the Colonial Treasurer, and strangle his efforts to do the best he could for the colony. After a lengthy discussion, the second reading was agreed to on the voices . Sir J. G. Ward moved the second reading of the Weights and Measures Act Amendment Bill. This was agreed to on the voices. The Premier moved the second reading of the Carrington Compensation Award Satisfaction Bill.

The Motion was agreed to on the voices. The University Degrees Bill -was read a second time on.the voices.

Sir J. G. Ward moved the second reading of the Public Health Act Amendment Bill, which is designed to remedy a technical defect in the existing law. The motion was agreed; to on the voices. Sir J. -G-. Ward moved the second reading of the Counties Act Amendment Bill.— Agreed to on the -voices. BILL PASSED. The Native Land Duty Abolition Bill passed through committee without amendment. IN COMMITTEE. The New Zealand Loans Bill was committed. At clause 4, enabling the loan to be raised in whole or in part from a Government department, Mr Jatoes Allen moved an amendment to provide that the clause should not override the provisions in any Act limiting the amount such a Government department may invest in Government securities, d-cst by 29 votes to 15 votes. Left sitting at 2 aim.)