PARLIAMENTARY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6305, 27 September 1898, Page 4

PARLIAMENTARY.

» [Per Pbess Association.] HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Monday, Sept. 26. EVENING SITTING. The House met at 7.30 p.m. O1J) AGE PKX3IOSS. Consideration of the Olu Age Pe*is&«is Bill in committee, and tue movion tha* progress •should be reported on Clause 8, was resumed. Captain Russell contended thdt the present sitting was not a continuation of Friday's sitting, and said that had it be«n so the committee should have, resumed at 1 a.m. tin Monday. The Premier said that *s progress was not reported, on Saturday night the sitting was « continuous one. lie ssggested that p_rogress should be reported, •in order Ghat the Speaker's opinion mignt be taken on the matter. He pointed dut that the motion to xeport' progress, which had been 'under discussion on Saturday,, had lapsed. ' After discussion, ithe Chairman of Committees ruled, supporting the Pl-emier's view of the matter. On the motion 'of the Premier progress 1 •was reported, in order to obtain the Speaker's cg>mion on the subject. Ihe (Speaker -having had -the position explained to him, ruled that 'the sitting Was. ■a continuous one. : The Premier intimated -tihat before Monday next he would give an. opportunity for consideration of private members' and local Bills. Captain Russell, in personal explanation, sai- that the attitude of the Opposition on the Bill had 'been misunderstood. The Op- . position held it to have been their duty to most carefully and critically examine the. provisions of' the Bill, and to demand the aid . of Ministers -and members to carry amend- . ments which may be neld to improve the, Bill. They contended that it was not -the, duty of the Government Party- to block the Opposition •in their endeavours to criticise' the Bill, but tnere nad been tacit obstruction on the part of the Government Party. There was no intention on title part of the Opposition to block the passage of the Bill, but they would oojeet to continue their deliberations at unreasonable hours. i The Premier said that he had no objection to the Bill being critically examined, but he did complain of second reading speeches being made on the clauses of the Bill. He. would be prepared to accept amendments which were in the direction of imprwrinfr the Bill, but the discussion or non-discussion of those amendments must be left to individual' members. He accepted Captain Russell's. assurance that.it had not been intended to block the Bill-, but he considered 1 that there had been too many speeches in support of amendments, many of which had been a repetition of the same arguments. Sub-claus3 2 of Clause 8. was agreed to. On the third sub-clause, which provides thafu person shall be entitled to a pension' if, during ten years previous to the date of substantiating his claim he has not been imprisoned for four months or on four occa.sions for any offence punishable by imprison-. ; menti for twelve months or upwards and dls^ honoring him in the public estimation, an amendment was proposed by Mr Buchanan to< make the term during which offence are ; committed twelve instead of ten years. Agreed to by 39 to 16. My Montgomery moved to strike out the words "On four occasions " with a view to, inserting them at the end of the sub-clause. He Baid that. this would prevent any person receiving a pension who had been imprisoned for any offence punishable by imprisonment 1 for twelve months and upwards. The Premier said that he could not aecspt' this unless restricted to cases where there -wae.no option of fine' as penalty. ! ■'Mr John Hutcheson advised the Premier, to adhere to the provisions of the Bill. He pointed out that if the amendment were .agreed to a person who had been convicted > for "vagrancy through sheer poverty would "be unable to secure a pension. • • : After discusiqn the motion was negatived. Mr Moore moved the following addition to the sub-clause: — "Or during any period of liis residence in the colony, for a term of 1 five years, with or without hard labour." After discussion Mr Moore amended this by substituting "Been imprisoned, with or without hard labour, during a period bf twenty-five years." This was agreed to on fixe voices, and the sub^clause as amended was agreed to. Mr MTNab moved to strike out sub-clause 4 providing that husband and wife deserters shall not be entitled to a pension, with a vi°w to inserting that a person shall be entitles to a pension provided he is not liable ■andcr any order under the Destitute Persona Act or Married Persons Summary Separation Act. ' * After ffiscussion this was withdrawn, and t h e sub-clause was amended to provide that desertion at any tame, instead of five years within substantiation of a claim, shall dis- ■ qualify. V*Z B J lb " clailse as amended was agreed to. bub-clause 6 was agreed to, with a slight amendment. In Sub-clause '6, providing that in order to qualify for a pension the yearly income * *Jk i^ SO St aPP^S not amount to £52, Mr Shgo moved that the amount, inclusive of pension, should be £26. After a discussion, in which it was pointed «ut that the effect of the amendment would be to reduce the number of pensioners, and that it was intended to increase the pension to 10s per week, the amendment was nesataved by 31 to 26. The sub-clause was agreed to. At 1.10, Captain Russell suggested that as members had a long week before them, progress should be reported. The Premier intimated that in the next sub-clause, which provides that a person shall be entitled to a" pension if the value of hiaaccumulated property does not amount to £540, he intended reducing the amount to £270. After the figure "5 " had been struck out, progress wag reported. The House adjourned at 1.20 a.m.