IN PARLIAMENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3328, 21 September 1911, Page 3

IN PARLIAMENT.

THE council sits again. WELCOME TO THE SPEAKER. (PER PBESB ASSOCIATION.! WELLINGTON, Sept. 20. The Council mot at 2:30, when the Attorney-General welcomed back the Speaker, Sir O. C. Bowen, who has just returned from a visit to England. Hon. J. B. Callan moved the second reading of the Guardian Trust and Executors Company Amendment Bill, passed by the House. He said it was" intended to remove certain doubts as to whether a company was empowered to act as trustee under any deed or will, and also certain other doubts in connection with the operation of the Property Law Act, 1908. The Bill was read a second time, after a brief discussion, in which the Hon. 0. Samuel and others pointed to the necessity of the Government taking steps to ensure the solvency of such companies. The Hon. J. Rigg moved to disagree with the Library Committee’s report, forbidding the issue of any works of fiction to non-members during the Parliamentary recess. The motion was lost by 14 to 9. The Friendly Societies Amendment Biil and Stone . Quarries Amendment Bill 1 Aver© read a second time, and the Council rose.

IN THE LOWER HOUSE. PURGING THE ROLLS. PREMIER, MENTIONS VANCOUVER MAIL SERVICE. The House met at 2.30 p.m. Replying to Mr. Massey, the Premier said he had ordered the purging of the rolls to cease, to give sufficient time in which to ascertain if legislation would be necessary to deal with the matter. It was beyond all doubt that the rolls would be all right before the elections. If necessary, he would, later on, ask Parliament'to sanction a measure to enable him to put on sufficient officers to ensure that all persons over 21, who had been twelve months in the country and one month in the district, are on the rolls. The Family and Homes Protection Bill (Mr. Massey) was read a first time. The Imprest Supply Bill was introduced by Governor’s message, and consideration was deferred until the evening. Sir Joseph Ward gave notice to move a motion authorising the Government to join with Canada in establishing a mail service between Auckland and Vancouver, the contract to be for five years, and the, payment by New Zealand not to exceed £20,000 per annum. The vessels to be of not less than 0000 tons, with first-class passenger accommodation, and fitted with refrigerating machinery, and the journey between the two ports not to exceed nineteen days. Ministers, in replying to questions, stated that steps had been taken, and other steps were being taken, to prevent persons suffering from disease immigrating to New- Zealand from England. . That all youths win, are desirous of proving their claim to exemption under clause 92 of the Defence Act, 1909, are afforded the fullest opportunity of doing so, through the non-commissioned officer of the permanent staff in charge of the area in which they reside. That of the sum of £2OO voted last year for the renovation of military graveyards and headstones, only £lO had been expended.^ That' no applications have been received bv the Defence Department from local bodies in this connection. The House then adjourned. •

IN THE EVENING

TOWN PLANNING BILL DROPPED

In the House in the evening, Mr Massey inquired whether the Go\ eminent ' intended to proceed with the Town Planning Bill. Sir Joseph Ward l replied that it as not intended to go on with a Bill winch took away the i>ower oi control ot the Go vcrnor-in-Council. On the motion to go into Committee of Supply on the Imprest Biil, Mr Massey referred to the neglect of the Government to lay on the table returns ordered; some as far back as last session. This he characterised as little short of contempt of Parliament. Mr Herries (Tauranga) asked for some information regarding the five million loan. There was. he said,, no information in the Budget, and very little of the loan had been converted a 6 far as he could; see. Mr D. Buiclt (Palmerston) expressed pleasure that the Government had decided on the pasteurisation of milk and were pushing on the policy of experimental farms. He complained that the Premier’s promise to erect a- dairy school at Palmerston North had not been fulfilled. - Mr Allen (Bruce) referred to the unrest at Tonga-, and said the Tongans were looking to New Zealand to set things right. They had l asked to be placed under the control of New Zealand, and if New Zealand did not move in the matter Australia would.

Mr Buchanan pointed’ to the fact that railway freight charges for sheep were dearer in New Zealand than in Victoria.

Mr Wright (Wellington South) in -reintroducing the Chief Justice’s report on the Cook Islands maintained tlia-t the charges levelled against the Government had been proved. Replying to an interjection by Mr Glover, he stated that Mr Glover knew more about the bookmakers than the matter under discussion. Mr Glover said lie pleaded guilty to having once been a bookmaker, ' and challenged Mr Wright’s ability to rise from the base to tlie apex as be (Mr Glover) had done. Sir Joseph Ward, replying on the subject of Tonga, said that nothing that had occurred had to- do with New Zealand, and New Zealand could not interfere: He declared that the financial affairs of the- Dominion compared favorably with other countries. As to the five million loan, ho held that oven the Port of'jLondon loan of two millions had not done as well as ours. The House then went into committee on the Bill. (Left sitting.)