POLITICAL NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1831, 18 August 1913, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES.

, GOVERNMENT, PARTY MEETS. One of tho periodical meetings of tho 'Government party in the House of Re-pre-senta"£ives .was held on Saturday - morning. The Prime Minister 1 informed a reporter that a fairly long list of Bills , Lad been put'beforo itiho meeting as the Government programme for tho session. An outline of the effect of them was also given, and in. the courso of subsequent discussion members expressed general approval of. tho Government proposals. ' THE financial debate. , .As the debate on tho Financial Statement must take preccdence of ordinary business, no Bills can be advanced any farther towards becoming law until tho debate is conoluded. It was anticipated, and it ia still the general opinion, that jtlie debate will go on for some time yet, Wt it is impossible to say with, certainty 'fchnt .it will not collapse suddenly, as it >ery'nearly did on Thursday, when. .Mr. ■ Brown saved the at the . very last momont. Some new life was given to the debato on Friday . night by the speeches of Mr. 6. W. Russell and the. Hon. James Allen, and it will probably go on now for a./day or two. at least. BILLS IN PROSPECT. The Bill to amend tho Arbitration Act. will bo introduced this week, tho Prime' Minister stated yesterday. He declined, however, to"give an indication of any of the proposals to bo embodied in the Bill.All he .would'say was tliat tho Bill was practically ready for submission to tho House. Tho Laud Bill, ho said, was also in print, but not quite ready for.in"i troduction yet. The coming of the Arbi-tration-Bill means that the Labour Bills Committee will be kept very busy for many weeks ahead. . They are now engaged on the Shops and Offices Bill, and ( it is anticipated that thi9 will occupy 'them for at least three weeks yet. Mr. Masscy expressed the opinion that tho session would end about the time ho had previously estimated—late in November. He admitted that.there_ was a big. programme in sight, but he is well satisfied with tho progress already made with legislation. MISLEADING COMMENT. An -artiolo in tho local Opposition journal makes it appear that the Minister for Public Works (tho lion. W. Eraser) was unnecessarily unkind to a deputation of settlers at Whangamomona on Friday,'In tho article there are the following sen- • tenc.es:—"But now, instead of simply sayjug there is no moiiey to mako the read — nitd, perchance, ascribing this distressful circumstance to the manifold and grievous sin- of past Libordl Governments —Mr. I-VaseT actually puts forward tho extremely interesting, but novel, suggestion that the ; settlers Should abandon 'hepo and desert • the homes that hive been struggled for and created through many years of endeavour! They have stea-di'ly and labori-ously-worked their selections and improved them—and, we suppose, paid'.ootes upon them—for something 1 like twenty years, (hoping as on© of t'ho rewards for improved access -and clo-ior communication with more civilised rxirts of the.country, and now they are told by -a responsible Minis- ' tor. of the Crown .fchat their land is, after iaJll, really'not worth the, price of'a,road, and they had better make up their'minds to shift!". . . Mr. Eraser informed a Dominion reporter that the above comment was quito misleading. The deputation had asked for a road which would cost ,£IOOO or to giye access to land which might not be worth iEdflOO. There were only a very few settlers on this land, and in view of all the circumstances, he had told the depnta- ' lion that lie .could not see that it was wise to expend more money in. reading the land than that laJid was likely to be worth. Ha did not think the Government should bonrow far noading sucili coujit-ry, and he suggested that the settlers might bo well Dilrtised to 'exchange 'their holdings for ®thor land.