POLITICAL NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1528, 26 August 1912, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

THB WORK FOR THE WEEK, GOVERNMENT BILLS, PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM. Several policy Dills will Lo circulated by tho Government this week. Tho Bill lo amend tho Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act is undergoing a final re- \ ision, nud will bo ready for printing and circulation in a few days. Tho principal proposa! of tho Bill is that tho Aibitrauoii Court should bo reconstituted l>v abohshing the permanent representatives "1 the employing and working classes and substituting experts in tho industry concorned ,n each dispute with (ho Supremo Unit .ludgo of the district as president. J .tension is also made that important questions submitted by workers' unions or employers associations must bo decided b.\ secret ballot, and several important amendments are to bo mado in the machinery clausos. Tho Public Service Reform Bill will be circulated this week. It proposes that the control of tho servico should bo Riven to 11commissioner, who, with his assistants, ml • los l ,011! >ihlo to Parliament only. Other important proposals calculated to secure the good government of the service are embodied in tho Hill. Amendments in the Valuation of Land Act to secure greater accuracy in distinguishing between tho valuo of land and tho valuo of improvements and to ficcui'O a mol'o equitable apportionment of taxation between owner and tenant will be contained in a Bill that will .be cireulntod this week. All Imprest Supply Bill, tl le third of tho session, will bo introduced this Week, there will probably bo a lengthy debate iipon it, as several leading ii.embers of tho Opposition may tako this opportunity to deliver the speeches which they prepared for tho Budget debate. The Consolidated Fund Estimates will probably come under renew en Friday, and unless a debate arises on somo committee report, somo progress should bo made with them before tho House adjourns for tho week-end.

RAILWAYS STATEMENT,

(A DECREASED PKOFIT. The Kaihvsys Statomcnt will bo present 7 to the louse by the Minister in e large of the Department {the Hon. 11. Hemes) early in the week, probably on Jucsday. It will show that, the revenue for the year 1911-12 was siroater 1ui£182,327 than that of the previous finaiioiul year-tho gross revenue for the year having been Last vwt the ill. crease was ,£24.1,392, nud the reduced proit was duo mainly to tho reductions in long-distniieo fares, and to increases made in salaries prior to last olccfion. Tho net earnings for 1911-12 were equal to 3.95 pounds per centum of the capital eipendiinnnin" 11 t,l i° P Bl ' cel 'tnßo was i.OG, iJ'n m , under tho Hon. J. A Millars control, but before ho had set out, us lie said,.to raise rates to such a level as to make tho railways, pav. Iho percentage was 3.80. ,'

PRIVATE MEMBERS' BILL,

1 TO AMEND LICENSING LAW. The Licensing Amendment Dill, o weeK B avo notice sonii if tt„ g « ! n S "°Y Tlio objec li ;f' js. to remedy tho injustici ? which, it is claimed, may be done to dis . trie s consequent :on tlie alteration « - J'cctoral boundaries in that an area takei 1 ll'om one electorate, and added to auothoi i "l s®,5®,' ts licenses not by virtue of tin t vote oi its residents, but by the ncciden B that no license happens to obtain in tin a electorate to which it is added. For in stance, a pnrfcof tho Otaki olcctornte \v& added to Wellington Suburbs, where No License was in i'orco, and a part of Clml 1 mm was added to Oamarti, « No-Licensi . district, before last election. The liceaise; . in these areas lapsed on June 30, not ixi t cause No-License was' carried in tlioi: x new districts, but beoiiusc it had previous 0 lv been carried there. 'Die converse o . tins anomaly might, of course, oecnv if c portion of a No-License electorate wen 3 added to a. Liccnso electorate. Poi 1 both cases Sir. 801 l lias Bought to pro - vide in tho Bill. He proposes that sucli i localities as aro afi'ccled in theso ways l>v ; changes of _ boundaries shall bo const!- . luted ' special Prohibition areas" and i "special lion-Prohibition areas," and that > the vote taken in them shall bo given ■ effect to irrespective of tho state oi ) affairs in tho whole electoral, always provided that no proposal—No-License or > Continuance—is carried by a three-fifths I majority of the votes in the whole eleci (orate. It is proposed that tho Act shall ) bo so far retrospective as to apply to > tho districts aiTectcd by the licensing • polls Of 1811. , • :TAUPO AND OTIRA INQUIRIES,,./ t The special committee appointed to to j port upon the petition of the Taupe I Totara Timber Company will meet on • Tuesday to elect its chairman, a,ml com- ; monco its inquiry. Tho first meeting of ■ the special committee on the petition of • Messrs. ll'Lcon Bios., regarding the Otira tunnel contract will also be held 1 on Tuesday morning.