QUESTION AND ANSWER.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 15, 23 August 1946, Page 7

QUESTION AND ANSWER.

MR W. SULLIVAN’S QUERIES

RAIL CAR SERVICE “There are no spare rail cars available,” replied the Minister of Railways (Mr Semple) answering Mr W. Sullivan’s (National, Bay of Plenty-), who asked for a diesel oil rail car for use on the track between Rotorua and Auckland. There was much passenger traffic from the Eastern Bay of Plenty and Rotorua, Mr Sullivan emphasised. The Minister added that no indication could be obtained at the present time as to when the Railways Department was likely to receive additional units from overseas. Ex-Soldier Mental Patients Mr Sullivan asked a further question directed to the Minister of Health, enquiring whether he would give immediate consideration to the cases of returned servicemen now inmates of mental hospitals in order that such cases might be grouped with similar civilian cases of equal age. He also asked whether sufficient separate staff was available to afford such patients all the care and attention possible, adding that parents were very concerned about the welfare of their sons and considered that some better provision could be made than that existing at present. Replying, the Minister (Mr Nordmeyer) said classification of patients was carried out with a view to making conditions as congenial as possible, and the only practical basis on which that could be done was that of similarity of mental state and resultant conduct. Every care and attention was given to returned servicemen within the limits imposed by extreme shortage of staff.

Postal Rates

“The Post Office is already , engaged in a study of departmental rates and charges in relation to present day costs, but the issues involved are wide and varied, and some time is likely to elapse before a full report on the question will be available for consideration By the Government,” said the Post-master-General (Mr Webb) replying to Mr Sullivan, who asked for a review of postage and telegraph rates, which were increased as a wartime measure. The Minister said that the position was made more difficult by the fact that the department’s income and expenditure under existing post-war conditions had not yet stabilised at what might be regarded as the normal peacetime level.