AN EYE ON PARLIAMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12758, 30 September 1919, Page 7

AN EYE ON PARLIAMENT.

PARTIES AND POLITICS. NOTES FROM THE GALLERY. (Special to the “Star.”) WELLINGTON, September 29. PERSISTENCE REWARDED. Among bardy annuals which sprout up afresh in the House of Representatives each session is Mr Wilkinson’s Toll Gates Abolition Rill. Last nigh* it reached what is likely to lie its maximum growth, for it passed its second reading for the first time in all the years'its political cultivator has tended it so carefully. This was agreed to on the suggestion of the Hon W. H. Merries, senior Minister in the House at the time, as a compliment to the member, who has announced his intention of not contesting the next election. A STONEWALL. The House rather enjoyed itself tonight in having a stonewall in committee, while the regular Chairman of Committees, Mr Malcolm, was not in the chair, but in charge of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Bill. Of course it was not suggested that it was a stonewall—it was an earnest and serious discussion of an important principle. • Mr Malcolm was not in his place of authority but was the member m charge of the Bill and at the mercy of members, oyer whom be is accustomed to exercise his weighty powers. Perhaps it was this release "from restraint which led members to begin their work in masonry. The Hon T. M. Wilford discussed tho Bill in some detail and said that the only member who was stonewalling was Mr Nosworihy—a sally which was greeted with laughter, for the latter had been the first to speak in its favour. Ultimately the motion to report progress was carried by 19 to 18 votes and Mr Malcolm was defeated.