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Pith of Parliament
i ELECTORAL PROVINCES BILL THROWN OUT!
o
DEBATE ON COWEE'S LENIENT TREATMENT
Boto Houses were fairly energetic'
during the past week, for members not
only realised that Christmas was com
ing, but that toe Assembly elections'
were also in toe offing, and toe mern- '
bers of the Lower House, at all events,
were anxious to end toe session and
get away to their constituencies to
make promises to the "free «"»* en-
lightened" which. If elected, they may I
or may not keep, according to toe way
Political Breezes Blow. I
It was realised at the beginning of
the weat that toe Legislative Council
had a lot of leeway to make up in
order to get on toe wheel of the Legis-
lative Assembly, and when toe former
body met on Tuesday they metaphori-
cally rolled up their shirt cleeves and.
- set out in earnest to reduce toe gan. |
One of the first things they did on
that day was to effectually settle toe
Electoral Provinces Bill, which sought
to readjust the Legislative Council
boundaries, and to establish household
suffrage, and" this naturally created
somewhat of a sensation. The posl
- tion was undoubtedly extraordinary.
When the second reading of toe Bul
was moved'the previous week. It was,
- Mr. Fraser who secured the adjourn-
ment of the debate. On TuesdayJ
when the Order of the Day was read
_~ by the President {Mr. J. W. Kirwan),
.... .no member rose, and Mr. Kirwan toen
- said that a division would have to be
taken. The division was thereupon
taken, and it resulted In IS voting for l
? - toe "Ayes." and 9 for the "Noes," Mr.
'-f_ Brown, Labor member for the Norto
;;"" East Province, crossing the floor of the
. .House and voting with the "Noes."
'['} T*tn action undoubtedly sealed toe fate
- of toe BUL The President refrained
from exercising a ' casting vote, and
Mr. Kirwan then ruled that, since the.
Council consisted of 30 members, and!
an absolute majority o'f the House was
required to pass toe question in the I
affirmative, the j
Measure Was Lost.
So much for what the Assembly pro-
poses and toe Council disposes.
The Legislative - Council did not
squelch all legislation, however. The
Licensing Act was read a third time
"and passed, and In Committee a new
".' cause moved by Mr. Kempton In toe
Main Roads Act Amendment Bill was'
accepted, and the Bill read a third tone.
Several amendments were made in
the Companies Act Amendment Bin
and toe measure was then passed. The
Sandalwood Bill, which created some
discussion, got past the Committee
stage, which also happened to toe Re-
distribution of Seats CAssembly) Act
.-' Amendment Bill. The Main Roads Act
Amendment Bill was read a third time,
" and second reading debates on the
Land Tax and Income Tax Bill, the
Loan Bul, the Miners' Phthisis Bill,
and the Aborigines Bill were opened
and adjourned.
On Tuesday Mr. Lovekln moved toe
second reading of toe Hospital Fund
Bill, which he had introduced toe pre-
vious week. After referring to the
fact that on 'two occasions toe Gov-
ernment had brought flown a Bul for
toe provision of
Funds for Hospitals, "
which had tailed to pass, Mr. Loveklr
said that his measure, which had been
prepared by the .Health Department
and approved by tile Minister, was ex-
actly the same Bill as had been lntro
-. Shced last session, with the exception
of Clause 10, which now provided for
refunds to patients who were contribu-
tors after treatment In private hospi-
tals. Ttae old Bill would have re-
sulted In a crop of spurious private
-hospitals, which might conspire wikh
. the unemployed to obtain subsidies.
After Mr. Lovekln had answered some
questions, mainly as to why toe Gov-
ernment had not Introduced the mea-
sure, itself, he said that as a ¡corollary
of toe Bill he meant, to Introduce a
measure authorising Issues of premium
bonds, which would permit Parliament
to rescind this .Bul within 'four or five
years. He hoped that toe House
would not take the responsibility of
."rejecting a Bill of which, toe 'Govern
. ment approved.
^toámpportlng the second reading Mr. I
Nicholson said he thought that the
Government's doubt of the Legislative
Council's attitude was hardly sufficient
excuse for omitting to Introduce a. Bul
"'. Itself. He held that there was an
obligation upon the healthy to care for
toe hospitals. Mr. Stewart said that
he "would welcome a Government mea-
sure on toe lines of that Introduced by
Mr. Lovekm. Mr. HaD supported toe
second reading. Mr. Cornell, while ex-
pressing toe fullest sympathy with Mr.
Lovekin's objects, held that if the
situation warranted the passage of
such a Bill, it was
The^Governmenfs Responsibility
to bring i£ uown. The Government
had dropped last session's Bul on a
minor issue, and he hoped that the BUI
before the "House would be withdrawn.
The Honorary Minister (Mr. Kitson)
seconded toe adjournment of toe de-
bate.
When toe debate on toe second read-
ing of the Mental Deficiency Bill was
resumed. Mr. Stephenson strongly at-
tacked the measure, which he charac-
terised as experimental legislation
which would prove very costly if
passed. He thought it shocking that
legislation such as this should be
brought down while unemployment
was rife, and development work had
to be done, and the Government had no
money for these essentials. Many of
the statements read in the House, he
-said, had been balderdash, unverified
and unproven. He moved that toe
Bill be read a second time
That Day Six Months.
( Mr. Harris seconded Mr. Stephen
«son's amendment, but it evidently did
- not meet with favor with other mem-
bers, for ou a division \it was lost by
IS votes to 2. The second reading
was then carried on the voices. The
Committee stage was reached on the
following day, when, at toe Instance of
Mr. Lovekln, several amendments were
made to the Bill, and progress was
then reported.
The debate on Mr. Stewarts motion
"That all papers relating to the exist-
ing agreements for railway catering be
laid on the table of the House," was
resumed on Thursday, when the Chief j
Secretary, took up tho cudgels on
behalf of toe present system. Mr.
Drew contended that there had been
No Serious Complaint,
from toe public about the existing ar-
rangements. The system was one of
unrestricted compétition among ten-
derers, and the department bad no op-
tion, therefore, but to accept toe high-
est tender where toe service offered
appeared adequate. It was a condi-
tion of contracts that food supplied
roust be of the highest quality, weir
-cooked and served. Lessees of re-
freshment rooms had not facilities at
their disposal such as were enjoyed by
toe average hotel, nor was their cus-
tom guaranteed. Prices at present
charged, were not considered unrea-
sonable by the department. "Minis-
ters should be compelled to have their
meals at refreshment rooms when
travelling," facetiously interpolated
7Ir. Miles. Mr. Drew said he had no
objection to tabling the papers. In
reply Mr. Stewart said that from
things that had been said to him in
. reference to the railway catering, he
felt thal toe
Appointment of a Royal Commission
would be justified. It should be the
duty of toe Railway Department to
provide in .contracts with caterers for
toe prop»- meeting of toe public needs,
and toe duty of raliway travelling in-
spectors to Mee that these conditions
were'carried out. He could not un-
derstand anyone who travelled much
j and received no special treatment
| being -satisfied with the service. The
motion was agreed to.
In toe Legislative Assembly, after
Mr. H. K. Maley, the new member for
Irwin, had been sworn in and taken
his seat, toe Legislative Council's
amendments to toe Agricultural Bank
Act Amendment Bul were considered
( in Committee and accepted. The
Roads Closure Bill, toe Fremantle En-
dowment Bill, the Sandalwood Bill (a
1 measure to amend section 41 of toe
Forests Act, 1928), toe Public Service
Appeal Board 'Act Amendment Bill,
and the Public Service Act Amend-
ment Bul passed through all their
, stages. In Committee, the House
' considered amendments made by toe
Legislative Council to the- Reserves
I Bin, and they were agreed to. Amend
I ments made by the Legislative Coun-
cil to toe Land Agents Bul were con
1 sidered in Committee, and
Some of Them Were Rejected.
A Committee was then appointed to
draw up reasons for toe divergencies
from the Legislative Council's amend-
ments, and the Bill was returned to
toe Council. The Transfer of Land
Act Amendment Bul passed all stages,
and the second reading of toe Savings
Bank Act Amendment Bul was car-
ried, but it has not yet been considered
in Committee.
The principal feature of toe busi-
ness of the Legislative Assembly on
Tuesday was the moving of the second
reading of the Bill to make several
Important amendments to toe Indus-
trial Arbitration Act by the Minister
for Labor. In doing so Mr. Mccallum
bad to deal seriatim with the proposed
amendments. He prefaced his re-
marks by pointing out that while toe
existing law was very satisfactory,
there were one or two directions in
which there was luom for Improve-
ment. In traversing the amendments
to toe Act. Mr. Mccallum said that
it was proposed that toe Arbitration
Court should be open to industrial in-
surance canvassers, that membership
of unions must be confined to toe in-
dustry or industries in espect to which
toe union was registered, and that toe
registration of the Australian "Work-
ers' Union should be provided for
conditionally -on its constitution not
conflicting, with those of unions -al-
ready registered. The Minister went
on to point oui that the clause which
Warranted toe Bill
being brought In as a matter of ur-
gency, dealt with common rules. He
said that the Full Court had given a.
decision recently which had created a
most extraordinary position, and em-
ployers, unions, and the Arbitration
Court Itself bad made representations
to bim on toe subject. The Full
Court decision was that once an agree-
ment was made and declared a com-
mon rule It could never be altered or
amended, The amendment In toe
Bill would restore toe position to
what it was before toe Full Court de-
cision was given, namely, that once an
agreement was made a common rule it
should be an award, and toe position
would be Just the same as if toe Court
had declared an award. Another
amendment provided that the Presi-
dent of toe Arbitration Court should
be a Judge of the Supreme Court, giv-
ing his tone to arbitration work, while
other clauses of the new Bin deal with
toe working of the Arbitration Court
and boards of reference, apprentice-
ship, and boura. With regard to the
last-mentioned point. -Mr. Mccallum
saldtbat ii watfjnof reasonable that
some men should be
Compelled to Stop Work
at a certain hour, while competitors
were allowed to work all hours. Later
In toe week, after several members
had expressed their views on toe BUL
toe second reading was carried, but it
looks as 'if several amendments will
be moved in Committee.
An Interesting discussion took place
at Thursday's sitting when Mr. Tees-
dale (Nat, Roebourne) moved:-"That
In toe opinion of this House toe at-
tention of toe Minister for Justice
should^ be drawn to toe extraordinary
leniency of a Judge In discharging J,
A. Cowie, of Fremantle, upon .» .surety
of £100, aft»- his pleading guilty of
forging and uttering a «erip certifi-
cate for Freneys Oil Co, in contra-
distinction to a sentence by toe same
Judge of 12 montos with hard labor
on one Jack Green, a first offender
aged 24 years-convicted of stealing a
few groceries from a bush store." In
speaking to his motion Mr. Teesdale
said that toe decision in Cowle's case
had staggered toe
Whole Commercial Community.
Cowle was not an ignorant man. He
was a business man. a sharebrofcer of
Fremantle, and the secretary of a
fashionable golf club, and he delibe-
rately did what he knew to be a crime.
On the same day the same Judge sen-
tenced toe young man Green to 12
months, with hard laboi, and deten-
tion thereafter in a reformatory dur-
ing the Governor's pleasure. Green was
a first offender, and his offence was
committed on the spui of the moment.
He and a mate, who had tramped the
country, broke Into a store for tucker.
Was it because Green was unknown
and friendless that he was so sentenc-
ed? Would he have received 12
months' imprisonment if he had been
a business man. In Cowle's position?
The public was asking that question,
and It was an uncomfortable and un-
pleasant thing to think about. When
Green came out he would have a con-
tempt for our institutions. He would
know all about the Cowle case, and
It was calculated to
Make Him a 'Bolshevik.
Such sentences were ample material to
back an assertion that there was one
law for the rich man and one for the
poor.
The Minister for Justice (Mr. Will
cock) said that it 'would be grossly
wrong for the Minister to question or
criticise the decision of a Supreme
Court Judge. It was certainy not
in the Minister's province to go into
the question, and it was not a matter
for the Minister or for the Governor to
say whether or not a sentence was too
severe. Mr. Davy contended that the
House was not entitled to constitute
Itself as1 a Judge unless It had before
It all toe facts that were in the Judge's
possession at the trial. After a few
other members had expressed their
views, Mr. Teesdale's motion was car-
ried.
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