POLITICAL NOTES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21417, 8 March 1935, Page 10

POLITICAL NOTES

[From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] ' WELLINGTON, March 7.. No Sitting To-day Parliament will not sit to-morrow. In making that announcement in the House of Representatives late tonight, the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) explained that the complementary measure to the Mortgage Corporation Bill was not ready, and because of this the Government had decided to ask for an adjournment until Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Forbes added that in addition to the bill dealing with the rehabilitation of the farming industry being a very complicated measure, a member of the law drafting staff had had to enter hospital to undergo an operation. That had thrown a great deal of extra work on the chief law draftsman (Mr J. Christie). The bill was a very difficult one, and had taken longer to prepare than had been anticipated. He had been assured, however, that it would be ready for introduction to the House on Tuesday, when it was intended to go on with it.

Dairy Board Members "The Government has given considerable thought to the selection of its nominees for the Dairy Board; but no decision has yet been made," said the Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. C. E. Macmillan), replying in the House of Representatives to-day to an urgent question by Mr C. A. Wilkinson (Ind., Egmont). Mr Wilkinson asked the Minister if the Government accepted any responsibility for the repeated statements that the Government appointments were already arranged. Did the Government recognise, asked Mr Wilkinson, that such statements were likely to prejudice the prospects of candidates?

Mr Macmillan said statements ot the nature referred to had no foundation in fact, and the Government could not therefore accept any responsibility for them, or for any prejudicial effect they might have upon any candidates.

Exemption from Rates A reply was made by the Prime Minister to-day to the protest made in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr D. G. Sullivan (Lab., Avon) against non-payment of rates by the Government Life Insurance Depart- 1 ment. Mr Sullivan had asked the Prime Minister to instruct the Government Life Insurance Commissioners to meet their honourable obligations to local bodies in the same way as other mortgagees must do. Mr Forbes stated that the department was administered by commissioners on behalf of his Majesty the King, and was entitled to the same exemptions from rates as the State Advances Department. If the department wished to pay rates, however, it would be permitted to do so by the Audit Department. Mr Forbes referred to an undertaking -which had been given by the Government to give full consideration to the problem of Crown liability for rates in certain cases before the next budget was prepared. A Radio Plebiscite The result of a plebiscite taken about two years ago, when listeners were asked to state whether they preferred the programmes from the YA stations or the B stations, was sought by Mr R. A. Wright (Ind., Wellington Suburbs), when the Broadcasting Amendment Bill was under discussion in the House or Representatives to-day. "Why have we never been told the result of that plebiscite?" Mr Wright asked the Postmaster-Gen-eral (the Hon. A. Hamilton). "A reasonable deduction is that if the Government stations had been at the top of the'poll, we would have heard all about it. I venture to say that the B stations were ahead of the YA stations. I am given to understand that 95 per cent, of the listeners plumped for the B stations. If that is true, surely the B stations are entitled to consideration; but this bill simply gives a monopoly to the YA stations. Why should the Government stations have a monopoly of the air?''