7

I.—6b

Mr. Iline: And now Mr. Millar tells the Committee that he told Mr. Otterson to call the meeting. Mr. Brown: If it had not been for that the Committee would not have been called together. Mr. Hine: Yes, it would have: I should have been quite willing. Hon. Mr. Millar: A Minister does not consult with tin , members of a Committee as to whether a meeting should be called; he goes to the Chairman and asks him. I was Informed on Friday last, when I came away from the Local Bills Committee, that the Railways Committee had adjourned till next Tuesday. I heard an attack was being made on the Committee b\ Mr. Hine, and I replied then thai the information given to me was that the Committee was going in meet on the Tuesday, and that in all probability the petition would be heard then. I sac down in my place believing exactly what I had stated. Mr. Otterson then came over to me and said, " You have made a mistake, there lias been no meeting called for Tuesday," and I then tnld him to instruct the clerk to send out notices for Tuesday. If what Mr. Bine said is the case, then I have reason to complain, because if the Committee had decided not to go on with the matter they might at least have let me know. The Chairman: It was not decided. Hon. Mr. Millar: Well, according to what Mr. Hine says, there was a mutual agreement. The Chairman : At any rate, your Department had informed us that the departmental report was not ready. Hon. Mr. Millar: The Department expected to have these two petitions taken this session, and I think as head of the Railway Department and Minister in charge I ought to have been advised. The Chairman: What Mr. Millar has dune, (here is no doubt has been done in the interests of the Railway men, inasmuch as he wants to give them an opportunity of being heard and placing their grievances before this Committee; but the question arises whether we should commence to investigate those grievances when we cannot do it thoroughly. That is the question for this Committee now to consider. Mr. McLaren: Might I be permitted to say that I have consulted the Railway men outside, and they desire that they may be admitted, and that you might make a statement to them as to the position. They recognize that if the House is cloging down at the end of the week it would be futile to attempt to go into all the details, and they simply want to be heard and for the position to be put before them so that they may consider it. Mr. Hine: I agree that it would not do for this Committee to block them, either from the Committee's point of view or the Minister's point of view. Mr. Witty: I think they should be allowed to come in, and I move, " That this Committee is prepared to consider the petition of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and take evidence." Motion agreed to, and members of the deputation admitted. The Chairman: Well, gentlemen, regarding this petition from the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, you are quite aware thai the end of the session is at no great distance. This Committee would like to give the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants the same consideration that the Railway Officers' Institute got, but, unfortunately, the inquiry into the petition of the Railway Officers' Institute ran into something like four weeks. We have been sititng continuously morning after morning taking evidence on that petition, and we should like to do the same regarding your petition which deals with the Second Division, but you can see that it is impossible to do that with only a week of the session left. However, the Committee is quite prepared to go on with the petition of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants as Par as it can. We do not know, of course, what evidence you have to place before us, or how long the Department will take in placing its evidence before us, but we as a Committee are prepared to go as far as we can in the direction of inquiring into the statements made in the petition. If we cannot conclude this session, then, of course, the petition will have to suffer the fate of all petitions that are not concluded at the olose of the session thai is, it will have to stand over till the following session. If we can deal with it we wjll do so. There is just one matter I should like to touch on before you decide what you are going ti> do. and that is thai certain statements have been made in the Press regarding this petition, am! 1 desire to say that none of those statements were ever furnished to the Tress with the authority of this Committee. This Committee regulates its own business, and it is not for the Government or the Minister or any one else to decide what the Committee shall do. If this Committee decided not to go on with this petition, then it would not be for the Government to interfere and Bay that the Committee should go on with it, or vice versa. Now, that being the position. I want you to clearly understand that any statements that appeared in the Press concerning what the Committee was likely to do with regard to the petition of the Second Division are entirely without foundation so far as this Committee is concerned. Mr. Witty: According to the paper it was the Government. The Chairman: Quite so; and T want to make it clear that the Government has nothing whatever to do with it, and that it is the Committee which decides what business it will take. It was the opinion of some of the members of this Committee, and it is the opinion of some of them now. that we cannot inquire into the petition as we should like to. This is not tho result of any desire to shelve the petition, but the result of a tremendous amount of work having come before this Committee this session. On account of the large amount of work to do. T made the suggestion in the House that the Minister might set up another Committee T have since discovered that it would be impracticable to carry that idea into effect, because of the fact that the Department could not be represented on two Committees, and the Department must defend itself against all petitions that are presented to the House. There is only one advocate placing the Department's position before the Committee, and that advocate is Mr. McVilly, the Chief Clerk, and he cannot be at two Railways Committees at one time. Consequently, we are in the position of having to deal with your petition at the close of the session. However, we are prepared to do you justice