S.P.W. & c,

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 864, 9 July 1910, Page 9

S.P.W. & c,

A meeting of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children was. held yesterday afternoon in the society's rooms, Willis Street, when Mrs. A. R. Atkinson presided, and there were also present .Mesdames ■ Gordon,Hoby, Ponsonby, M'Gavin, and Izard. Several cases' of alleged cruelty were reported on, and maintenance cases attended to, while .reports, were received, concerning other cases which were also being dealt with. The following subscriptions were ' acknowledged "with thanks: —£20 from "A Well-wisher" ; £1 Is. Messrs. A. S. Patdrson and Col ;-10s. 6s. e:mh from Messrs. Huddart, Parker and Go. arid -Messrs. George -arid Doughty; and 10s. each from Miss E. M. Richmond, Messrs. Meek and Von Haast, and T. Dallinger, and Mrs. W. R. Williams; and ss. each from Mrs. J. Brown and Mr. W. C. Kensington.

the Government was merrily marking time till tlioy were ready to bo intrdauced. In any case there was very little to reply to, no fresh ground broken, or anything of moment' to pay any attention to; and,' after all the reproaches that have been huiiled-from time _to time at the Opposition fof wasting time and keeping things back, it seemed odd to gather that their conduct was being viewed with suspicion, i here is no satisfying some people, however.

The End. .Thursday saw the debate brought to aii olid, not beforo two pr threo Opposition members had at length seen fit to. break through their, highly commendable silence and add their quota to tho deluge of words. An exciting and somewhaf amusing few moments were provided members when, some preliminary business being transacted; the Speaker called upon , the mdver -to reply-.- .Mr. Macdonald rose, arid had begun to speak 1 when, the sight of Mr. Bollard, directly opposite him on the hitherto silent part of the House, desperately and- with the 'utmost trying to catch the Speaker's ' eye, stopped him', and ho at once sat down. The- Speaker'.s attention being directed to tho cause,' preference was given to Mr. Bollard, and, amidst much-clapping of hands, he commenced to speak:

Speakers of Interest.' Two speakers who created some in. terest during the debate on the Address-in-Reply, though in widely different ways, wero Mr. Myors, the new. member for Auckland East, and Mr.' Lawry,i the member for Parnell. It was Mr. Myers's maiden spec.ch, and, amidst aii encouraging round of applause, he . rose to speak, while the House-listened .attentively. Though hot a - brilliant or strikingly impressivo speaker, lie gives the impression of being a keen member, who, whilo dealing fully with all ■important matters that come before the House, will by no means allow Auckland and her-interests to slip into tho background—if such a thing sould ever bo thought of. Many subjects were dealt with, and ho ended his speech by bringing figures and facts to provo the great development of tho North Island compared with the South —convincing reasons why the North Island'.-should be given its fair share, hitherto denied ■it, of public expenditure. Afforestation also' was dealt with, and, if Mr. Myers pushes this to tho front, he will surely have done a good work for New Zealand. Probably no other country, in tho world has so neglected forest conservation as the Dominion, or so carelessly allowed its great forests to bo ruined. 'When ono remembers howgreat is tho interdependence of rain and bush, tho matter is all tho more surprising. 1 It was a distinct shock when Mr. Lawry rose and illumined tho minds of all present with his wisdom. At first ono regarded him witli awe, as a sort of modern Rip Van Winkle, but,' as ho wandered on and on interminably, though with quick powers of repartee, interest declined, and the welcome ono accorded him was outlived. In timo the bell rang, Mr. Lawry resumed his seat, and, when next one noticed him, sleep and oblivion were asserting their dominion over, him Tuesday afternoon in tho House was remarkable for the discussion over tile interference by a member of Parliament in a police caso, and for tho proposal of ill-. M'Laren to allow trades' uiiions to spend their funds as -they like—a proposal that Mr. Millar emphatically disagreed with, contending that men might not bo forced to take pari in a campaign of political objects with which they had no sympathy. In the midst of tho discussion messengers appeared with tho afternoon newspapers, and all, save tho member sneaking, hurriedly

sought for news concerning the JohnsonJeffries fight. What were politics compared with that?

Old Age Pensions. The Old Ago Pensions Act, whichwas passed at't-hc end of last session (when members were legislating at express speed, and with powers of mind hardly brilliant through tho long hours , they were working), canio in for heavy criticism oil Thursday. At the time when it 'was being introduced, members of the Opposition, notably Mr. Allan, protested against serious defects which they perceived would involvo various hardships upon certain pensioners, but they were overborne. Now both Government and Opposition members are agreed that the Act requires amendment. One member quoted cases in which pensioucrs had laid asido a few pounds for funeral expenses, not wishing to depend upon charity, and the Act so affected them that their pensions were reduced. Probably few people who, happily for themselves, are differently circumstanced, know or can realise the horror with which many of these poor old people regard the thought of being buried by charity ill any form. They have stored up, times without number, all sorts of pathetic treasures to be sold, when they die if they have not been able to gather in money itself. According to the amount of the sum of money they have been able, in the course of long years of pinching and scraping to gather together for cases of emergency, so were they deprived of a proportion of the pension. Eventually it was decided to amend the Act, an exemption of £50 being provided for.

Wantsd—Boys and Girls. By far the most interesting discussion that lias yet occurred in tne Houap took place yesterdaj- afternoon. Once qore the unexpected happened, for it had been arranged that tho • "E. A. Smith" matter siiould be discussed, but instead th 6 afternoon was'taken up' with the immigration quest-ion. Mr. Taylor started the discussion, by expressing his entire disapproval of the proposal to bring out boys to New Zealand. One ■' reason that ho brought against it was that there would be nothing to prevent the boys from being exploited if their employers wore io disposed, and he mentioned the conditions under which some boys ho knew worked Besides, it' was taking away the, work from our own boys. The Primp Minister spoke of' the great scarcity that was being experienced in regard to industries and various" occupations in which boys were heeded, and numbers of appeals had been made to tho Government to provide boys and girh for those who were so greatly in heed of t-liem. The trouble was most serious, particularly in regard to the lack of domestic help for the women of the Dominion, and doctors were urging £hat the wliolo country would ultimately suffer through , that want. Women could do tho work, and attend to their. families as well. Other speakers urged that if the Dominion were to prosper the primary industries must be encouraged, and the only way to do that was to get workers upon the land. The tendency was to drift, into tho towns, and that tendency must at all costs be diverted. Mr. Buchanan did not agree with Mr,. Taylor. It would not hurt boys if they did have to do a cfertain amount of roughing. ' The tendency to-day was to make mollycoddles of them, and what tho pioneers of this country stood years ..ago tho boys of to-day could quite, well put up witlu; He then went on to quote figures showing the greater proportion of people going out of the country to" t-hoso who came in, figures which the Hon. Mr. liuddo Entirely disagreed with./ •' In the evening , the Harbour Board BUI was read by tlio-Hoii.vJ.'v.Miilai, introducing, among other things, important; change's 'in'lthe; methods which members were elected upon " the'board. Both Bides of the House seemed to be in cordial agreement with much that Was contained .in it, an unusual feeling of peace and goodwill pervading the Chamber. . , ,