POLITICAL NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 8 September 1926, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

j SENSATION. IN HOUSE.

'Tbe gentle cuff which Mr. T. Forsyth, the new.Refonu member for .Wellington .East, received from Mr. Coates earlier in the session is nothing to the brick which Mr. Stewart (Mr. Coates’s ■deputy) dropped on flip head of Mr. Harris, Reform member for Waitemata, tactile House last night. Mr. Hams received' hs severe a handling as lias ever been given' a, politician by his ■leader'; in effect he was 'told that if he believed what he isaid it Was impossible for him tb remain in the party. • !■ ,!

. The subject of discussion was' 'the ■Motor Omnibus Traffic. Bill. Mr; Harris suggested that the Takapuna Tramway Company had been specially fav l oured, and-that influence had been exercised by the chairman of the company, a person in close touch with the Government. He said that a result of tho legislation would be to give the company £IOO,OOO and ruin a competitor who had rendered the district effi : cient service. '' ,L :

The Hon. Mr/.'Stewart BftM he 'had not intended-to intervene, in the debate, but the- remarks of Mr. Harris had induced him to do, so. ...He did not question the right of Mr.- Harris to criticise the legislation,'bubbe did-question.' that member’s right to attack/the.torn--mercial morality of .the Government' and says the Government was prompted by a, desire to put money into-the- pocket of one of his friends. *■ “If he,takes-this liberty:to 'saypublicly 'that the Government • subordinates the public interests to-the private interests of its friends, ” continued Mr. Stewart, “then I invite - hiiu t» consider his position, for if he wishes; to bo off-side, he should stay ofLsidrcp and stay off-side permanently, ‘ for while I am only temporary leader, and he may make his peace with my leader," I will not tolerate a member of this party attacking the commercial morality'and integrity of the ‘Government. If his convictions are, genuine—and he says they are—it. is impossible for him to maintain his position and remain in this party.’’

.“I 1 do not take back one word that I .said,” declared Mr. Harris to a New Zealand “Times’ ” representative after .the incident. “I am convinced that the sole and only reason specially in favour of the company in this legislation is due to the influence exercised on the Government. I state that the whole matter is highly improper, and gravely, shakes my confidence in the Government. I will not go as fqy.*as to say that the Government had wilfully and deliberately been guilty of malpractice..; But they have failed lanientablv to appreciate their responsibility in allowing themselves to be so misled by a financially interested party as to introduce legislation solely and wholly in its interest. A public Bill designed specially for the preservation of a private int ! erest„should beta private Bill, and riot; a public Bill -fathered by the Government, more particularly when, as a result of such preference being., given to one private company, another private company is faced with ruin.”

TUB TURNING POINT,

“We are not going to write the land down to a point at which the settlers will sell at a profit,” said the Hon. A. D. McLeod, Minister for Lands, in the House, “We. could impose much harder conditions than we are doing at the present time, and we will keep the value up to a point where they will have to work the land to the best advantage in order to make good. ”■

' “KEEP YOUR TEMPER.” An unexpected and somewhat severe rebuff was suffered in the House last night bv Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central) at the hands of one of His colleagues on the Labour 'benches, Mr. D. G. Sullivan (Avon). The member for Avon was speaking of granting compensation to ’bus services in competition with trains, when Mr Fraser interjected: “Would you grant compensation to the liquor service?” “The member for Wellington Central is endeavouring to be smart,” retorted Mr. Sullivan angrily, “but I suggest that if he does -wish -to -be smart lie should not take advantage of a colleague whom he knows has never lias considered the liquor traffic, a service. Ido not consider the liquor trade is doing a service to the community.—l have never done so. Then if the honourable member does wish to be smart, I suggest that he. should do so at the expense of the members on the other side of * the House.” (Laughter.) “Don’t lose vour temper,” called an honourable member. “I can lose my temper when someone' loses his temper when speaking to me,” said Mr. Sullivan,- still with some heat, and waving his arm in Mr. Fraser’s direction, “ but I would remind the honourable member not to try and become smart at the expense of his colleague.”

PRICE-FIXING PRESENTED. Alleging that the control of retail prices of commodities of every day use or consumption is now in actual operation, and that the: practice, is being extended, with the result that the public is losing the benefit of free and reasonable competition between retailer shopkeepers, Benjamin Sutherland, of Wellington, and 2517 others, describing themselves as workers with homes and families to maintain by their daily labour, presented 'a petition to the House of Representatives' yesterday, asking that the Board of Trade Act, 1919, bo amended. Petitioners set out that it is a matter of -vital necessity that they should be able t-o purchase all commodities of life as cheaply as .possible, and that'all retail businesses catering for those jiceds should be at liberty to sell such

commodities at prices resulting froip free -competition. 1 It is asserted by petitioners that existing measures designed to give protection to tbo public against the harmful effects of monopolies and restraints ■of trade stop short of any kind of effective protection. This applies particularly with regard to the practice on tho part of manufacturers or their representatives of imposing on retail general -storekeepers a retail selling price for goods, below which shopkeepers are forbidden to sell. The petition was referred direct to the M to Z Committee.