•6c 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Oct-., bt r I, 1913. 



intends to continue holding it. During 

 the debates on the two censure motions 

 every Labour member appears to have 

 exercised his right to speak for the full 

 hour and five minutes permitted by the 

 rules of the House. The Government 

 members on the other hand mostly sat 

 tight and said nothing. 



A VERY CRAVE CHARCE. 



On September ioth Mr. Wade, leader 

 of the Opposition in New South Wales, 

 launched the following motion against 

 Mr. Griffith, Minister of Public Works : 



" That the conduct of the Secretary 

 for Public Works in respect of the fol- 

 lowing matters — namely (a), the pur- 

 chase of land at Medlow ; (b) the pro- 

 posed city railway ; (c) the Rookwood 

 Bankstown railway ; (d) Uhrs Point 

 timber-yard ; (e) Brookvale-Narroben 

 tram ; (f) suspension bridge tramway 

 extension — is unworthy of a Minister 



of the Crown, and deserving of Gen- 

 ii 

 sure. 



The Government, taking the attitude 

 that if these charges were proved it 

 would amount to a censure on itself 

 as a whole, decided to regard it as a 

 direct motion of censure. Ministers 

 have survived any number of these, and 

 came through this safely enough, by 38 

 votes to 31. The whole affair was un- 

 satisfactory, and went entirely on party 

 lines. Finally Mr. Holman, after a 

 good deal of rather extraordinary 

 ■equivocation, agreed to Mr. W^ade's 

 demand that an efficient tribunal be 

 appointed to investigate the charges. 

 Mr. Justice Pring was selected as royal 

 •commissioner. Owing, however, to the 

 fact that the commission did not in- 

 clude the whole groundwork of his 

 •charges, Mr. Wade refused to produce 

 any evidence whatever. He demanded 

 an enlargement of the commission and 

 stated that directly this was done he 

 would supply all the evidence on his 

 •charges willingly and fully. Mr. Jus- 

 tice Pring replied that all he could do 

 was to report to the Governor that no 

 evidence had been offered, and that 

 would end the matter. In its own in- 

 terests the Government ought to give 

 Mr. Wade every facility of substan- 

 tiating his charges. If it does not do 



so the natural inference which must be 

 drawn is that they are true. 



GREATER MELBOURNE. 



Mr. Watt, in an exhaustive speech, 

 introduced the Greater Melbourne Bill. 

 As usual he was clear and lucid, and 

 showed entire mastery of his subject. 

 The new Council of 30 members will 

 not displace the existing municipal 

 councils. It will supersede the Metro- 

 politan Board of W T orks and the Citv 

 Fire Brigades Board. It will take 

 charge of water supply and control the 

 lighting services. It will acquire tram- 

 ways compulsonly or by agreement, 

 and has power to establish omnibus 

 and boat services. It will be the au- 

 thority in charge of the Metropolitan 

 Market, and will supervise the city 

 meat supply ; it will issue building 

 regulations, and generally will take 

 charge of matters affecting the whole 

 of Greater Melbourne. It will, in fact, 

 be a sort of London County Council, 

 with, however, rather more power. The 

 present municipal franchise is main- 

 tained, and women as well as men will 

 be eligible for election to the Council. 



SIR JOSEPH WARD, LEADER. 



The political aspect in New Zealand 

 has changed somewhat by the accept- 

 ance by Sir Joseph Ward, Bart., of the 

 leadership of the Opposition Party. 

 After futile attempts to carry on with- 

 out a leader, some 25 members of the 

 old Liberal Party unanimously agreed 

 to ask Sir Joseph Ward to lead them, 

 promising him their whole-hearted and 

 loyal support. This number does not 

 include the five Labour representatives, 

 nor does it include the Independents. 

 The first move under the new leader- 

 ship was to initiate a stonewall on the 

 estimates in cases where the depart- 

 mental reports had not been placed 

 before the House. After the stonewall 

 had lasted some three days, a compro- 

 mise was arrived at by the Govern- 

 ment undertaking not to ask the House 

 to pass the votes except where the re- 

 ports had been placed on the table of 

 the House. This was agreed to, and 

 the business proceeded with. During 

 the debate on the estimates the Opposi- 

 tion stated that it had the opinions of 



