Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 10 February 1922, page 7


I HOUbE OF ASSEMBLY. j

The Speaker (Hon J. W Evans) took the chair at 4 p m

PAPERS TABLED

The PREMIER (Sir Walter Lee) taDled the reports of the Pablic Health Department, and of the Commissioners of Fisheries for 1921 Also despatches from the Secretary of State for the Colonies relative to the- retention of the prefix ' Honourable '

REPLIES TO QUESTIONS

The PREMIER, in reply to Mr Mar-shall, who asked did he propose to take steps to reduce the salaries of Govern-ment employees, said that, as already an-nounced, the Government had referred the expenditure upon the upkeep ot the public service to the Public Service Commissioner, with a view to a reduc-tion being made on the basis of the re-duced co»t of living, consistent with the figures given by the Commonweolth Stntisticnn Conferences '«ere being held between the Public Service Com missioner and the heads of other de-partments not under the Public Service Act (excepting the Railway Depart-ment), with a view to uniformity It was not pronosod to include the lower paid married men In reply to a further question as to whether it was proposed to make any reductions without (a) Par-liamentary sanction, and (b) a properly constituted tribunal, before which the emplojees might state their case, the Premier said that the usual couise would be followed

In reply to Mr Gu>, the CHIEF SEC-RETARY (Sir Walter Lee) said that the Industrial Department received a requisition on November 22, 1921, ask-ing that the Printers' Wages Boaid should be called together The boards that had met since the receipt of the printers' requisition and the dates on which the requisitions requesting the meetings of such boards were received were as follows -The Hairdressers' Wages Board (date 8th November, 1921). the City Councils' and Marine Boards Wages Board (date 14th Novem-ber, 1921), the Hotelkeepeis' Wages Board (date 2nd September, 1921), the Roadmakers' Wages Board (date 5th July, 1921), the Entertainments Wages Board (date 5th January, 1922) The following wages boards had met twice or more often since the printers' board last met -The Country Municipal Coun-cils' and Marma Boards' Wages Board, the City Councils' and Marine Boards' Wages Board, and the Mechanical En-gineers' and ^founders' Wages Board, which were called together to make a determination under the present Act, and subsequently sat again to amend their determinations The following boards, for which requisitions wore lodged subsequent to the printers' re-quisition had since been called together

-The Entertainments' Wages Board and the Butter and Cheese Makers' Wages Board The right of convening meetings of wages boards was, under virtue of the Wages Boards Act, 1920, vested in the Minister and there was no provi-sion in the Act to compel the Minister, upon requisition, to call a wages board together The calling together of the Printers' Wages Board was under con-sideration.

The PREMIER, m reply to Mr Wat-kins, said that it was his intention to visit the Mentol Diseases Hospital, New Norfolk, to investigate the working hours and conditions of the employees as early as possible after thet House

rose

In reply to Mr Watkins, who asked wras it the intention of the Minister of Land's to enforce regulation No 12 of the Forestrj regulations, published m the "Government Gazette ' of December 20, 1921, which imposed a penalty upon timber permit-holders who were guilty of a lockout of timber workers, the MINISTER (Hon Alex Hean) said that this regulation applied to timber per-mits, bnt did not apply to existing lease-holders r

In reply to Mr Cleary, who asked (1) had Ministers yet decided what rate of reduction shall be made in the salaries of public servants under the Public Ser-vice Act, on the basis of reduced cost of living, and 1,2), if so, what was tho percentage reduction in cost of living deducted, and (3) on and from what

date would the reduction taxe place, tne PREMIER said: 1 and 2: On the basis of the reduced cost of living, consistent with the reduced cost of living as shown by tho figures of the Federal Statis-tician. 3. From the 1st of March, 1922 .

In' reply to Mr. Cleary, the PREMIER

said that it was to some extent correct that the salaries of public servants were not increased concurrently with the increased edst of living. Ministers to counterbalance the delay in gran*:::? could not delay the reduction of salaries

these increases.

In reply to Mr. Marshall, who asked the Premier would he request the Chief Health Officer to report as to the cause of the recent outbreak of typhoid fever at Leprena, and make the'report avail-able to the House the following day, the PREMIER said that a report had .been made by the Department of Public Health, and was now tabled.

The TREASURER (Sir Elliott Lewis), replying to Mr. Newton, .said at the beginning of the year he had written to the^president

of the Returned Soldiers' League (Colonel Young), stating that he was prepared to appoint six returned soldiers as agents for the sale of Local Inscribed Stock, the commission to be 5s. per cent, upon application. Tho only men who had applied were Messrs^ H. E. Goodyear and H. Thompson, nominated by the Launceston branch, and they had been appointed.

UNOPPOSED MOTION.

The following motion by Mr. BLYTH was agreed to unopposed:-"That a re-turn be laid on the table of the House, showing-(1) The total cost of wages boards since the inceptio'n of same; (2) the cost per year, and salary paid to Chief Inspector and all other inspectors, and travelling expenses; (3) the C03t of calling all wages boards together, and expenses incurred in such."

LAUNCESTON PATRIOTIC FUND.

The Launceston Mayor's Patriotic Fund Distribution Bill was further con-sidered in committee, and passed all succeeding stages.

BEAUMARIS ZOO.

A message was received from the Ad-ministrator of the Government authoris-ing the appropriation of £250 from the consolidated revenue as a subsidy to the Hobart City Council towards the upkeep of the Beaumaris Zoo.

The motion that the resolution bo agreed to was carried on the following division:- ,

Ayes (11)-Sir Walter Lee, Sir Elliott Lewis, Messrs. J. B. Hayes, Ben. Wat-kins, Snowden, H. Hays, Cosgrove, Blyth, Cleary, Ogilvie, Hean.

Noes (9)-Messrs. Lyons, Belton, New-ton, Becker, Marshall, Guy, O'Keefe, Pullen, Whitsitt.

Subsequently the Houso in Committee of Supply considered the item.

The TREASURER said that this col-lection had/been offered to the Hobart City Council by the executors of the late Mrs. Roberts. The cost of upkeep would be £800 a year, and tho City Coun-cil were willing to take it over if the Government would give a yearly subsidy of £250 towards the cost. He hoped this would toe agreed to, as it would be very difficult to get such a collection together again, for the fauna of Tasmania were getting scarce.

Mr. LYONS said that if Hobart want-ed the zoo it should pay for it. The Í250 a year could be more profitably spent in finding work for unemployed.

Mr. MARSHALL said it was not fair that taxpayers in distant parts of the State should be called upon to bear a share in the maintenance of white mice m Hobart. Thb Government said, that money could not be found for necessary works, yet they could find £250 a year

for this.

The PREMIER said he believed an offer had been made from outside the State to buy the collection, but ho hop-ed it would not be allowed to go away. Under pie circumstances the expenditure

was justified.

Colonel SNOWDEN asked whether these objectors were inspired with a national feeling in this matter. The col-lection was offered to the people of Tas-mania, and they should feel very much indebted to the donors.' There were plenty of collectors on the mainland, and even in the Old Country, who would be glad to snap up this collection. The City Council were hopeful that the zoo would grow, and become an important

one.

Mr. BELTON said he regretted that no information had been given to the Housi> as to the proposals of the City Council in regard to site for the zoo.

Mr. BLYTH said he was a Northerner, but he booed that there was enough

national spirit in the House to retain

this collection, which if allowed to go i could not be replaced. |

The Houso divided upon the item as

follows:- I

Ayes (12)-Sir Walter Lee, Sir elliott Lewis, Messrs. Hean. H. Hays, J. B. Haves, Snowden, Sheridan, Cosgrove, Blyth, Ogilvie, Dicker, Watkins.

Noes (C)-'Messrs. Lyons, Belton, Guy, Whitsitt, O'Keefe, Marshall.

Pairs-Ayes: Messrs. McPhee, Cleary. .Noes: Messrs, Pullen, Becker.

PUBLIC WORKS APPROPRIATION.

A message was received from the Ad-ministrator of the Government author-

ising tbe appropriation of the sum of £509,148 IBs. Id. for public works, and a bill to give effect to this was brought in hy the Treasurer, and passed all

étages.

LOCAL PUBLIC BODIES' LOAN.

A bill authorising the borrowing of £10,250 for loans to local public bodies and for other purposes was brought in by the Treasurer, and passed all stages.

FORESTRY BILL.

The amendments of the Legislative Council to the Forestry Bill striking out the clauses providing for a- forestry school were agreed to, the Minister of Lands assuring Colonel Snowden that the matter was not definitely dropped.

SUPPLEMENTARY APPROPRIATION

BILL. . The House went into committee to con-sider the amendments of the Legislative Council to the Supplementary Appropria-tion Bil!. The committee disagreed with the whole of the amendments.

AMENDMENTS AGREED TO.

The amendments of the Legislative Council to the Workers' Compensation Bill and the Stamp Duties Act were ugrecd to.

CRIMINAL APPEALS BILL.

The Criminal Appeals Bill was further considered in committee.

The TREASURER moved the Chairsnan out of the chair with the object of recommitting clause 4 with a view to eliminating the sub-clauses which the committee agreed to last week, giving the Attorney-General the right to appeal against the judgment of the Court. These sub-clauses, he said, would not be agreed to elsewhere, and if the bill were passed without these sub-clauses it might be possible to amend tbe. Act subsequently, and insert them. "" ' .'

Colonel SNOWDEN strongly objected to this procedure. The House by a good majority had voted for these1 subclsuses, and they should be upheld.

After some discussion, the motion was agreed to on tho following division:

Ayes (12)-Sir Walter Lee, Sir Elliott Lewis, Messrs. J. B. Hayes, B. Watkins, Guy, Lyons, Hean, Ogilvie, Belton, Bec-ker, O'Keefe, Cosgrove.

NOBS (7)-Colonel Snowden, Messrs. Whitsitt, Marshall, Herbert Hays, Sheri-dan, Dicker, Blyth.

Progress was then reported, and the committee sat again immediately, when the elimination of the sub-clauses was agreed to.

Clause 13-"Legal assistance to appel-lant," was amended at the instance of Mr. Ogilvie by striking out the limita-tion of 20 guineas as the Crown's fee to counsel for an ape eil ant, and leaving the 'amount to the discretion of the judge.

Other clauses were agreed to, the bill reported with amendments, which were agreed to, and the bill read a third

time.

HOMES BILL.

The House went into committee to consider the amendments of tho Legis-lative Council to the Homes Bill, and, after some little discussion, which is re-ported elsewhere, Mr. Watkins drew at-tention to the state of the House, and as there was not a quorum present, the Speaker adjourned thu sitting till 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday next.