LOBBY GOSSIP

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2206, 20 July 1914, Page 5

LOBBY GOSSIP

SESSION NOTES ■& PROSPECTS . THE UCENSING BH-L^/ . :, Licensing Bill will come up for second reading to-morrow, and it is exacted to; occupy, the House of Repre- ■'.' ' sentatives almost continuously, so far ' %?. Government time-is concerned, uri- . "il it has passed through all its stages I :I or has been otherwise disposed of. Wednesdays and Thursdays, however.' will tor somo weeks yet bo available for pri- ■',.-■ vato members' Bills and for Local Bills ,'V; respectively. -'It', is "considered highly probable that the Licensing Bill will ; command a majority at tho second read- •'•■ ing stage, but hoyond that: point its fate is looked upon as somewhat problematical.: •....; •.;-.• ' .'•;•-.' LOCAL CRANTS AND SUBSIDIES. • The Looal. Grants arid Subsidies Bill, ';, Which '■ provides for the establishment ■;.-.. of a; non-political boardof three members to supervise the allocation of Government grants in aid of development; work, will probably be brought .' down this"week. ' THE REFERENDUM BILL. v ' The Eduoatipn'Committee of the, _ ; House of Representatives, of which Mr. I G ; # M:' Thomson has been appointed ■ ' chairman, has arrangedvto hear eight] witnesses in all nr reference to the Re-' hgious .Instruction in Schools,Referen- ; .dum Bill. Four witnesses will repre- ; sent the Bible-in-Schools .League, two :■. the National Schools' Defence League, " and' two' the/Roman Catholic Federa- .-■;• tiqn.' The- witnesses on- behalf of the ■ ' Defence League will probably be heard to-morrow. - It may' not bo necessary to ' Referendum Bill itself to tho . Committee. as. : evidence can be taken •upon -the numerously sighed 'petitions which have been presented to the House. It isi considered probable that the progress of the Bill in the House -'-.. will-be delayed for about a'couple of weeks nendinc? the completion' of. the .■....' Committee inquiry. "':■ '■■'':/-'' THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT. , -The: Financial Statement may come i'down at about tie end of this month ' but the actual date of its presentation Will depend - upon the progress ■ made with the general business/of the ees'SETTLEMENT IN THE NpRTH. „;. Mr. R. .P.-GrevjUe, who'was chairman of the .Gum Commission, which has ■• ', . just reported, has''been appointed to , look .specially after the gum industry •in North, Auckland,-and also after the settlers who, take up areas of the ex-hausted-gum lands which afe being- ; '-,':opened,?mainly with the idea of their ■-. .being developed as. fruit farms.\ The Prime Minister has in hand the formu- . lation. of a., scheme by' which financial .assistance will be given- to small set-. •tiers desiring to. take :up these lands. ;;'lt will be Mr., Greville's business to ■ 6ee right kinds ; of trees 'aro • -planted-and generally \that the money advanced by the Government is pro- ■'-'■' perly expended./' Mr. Greville, who was '■■ . formerly attached (to the Wellington , District Lands Office, is at present district surveyor in the-Waikato district. He will take up the; duties of ;his new office at once. ; • '. THE STATE TOWNSHIP. " .'v;;^;^aHmOTtaT'' ; ihquiry; which has just been set'on foot may possibly lead ..; -to important' modifications of "the svs- _ < tenr.undor which Rotorua is adminis- ;- tered as a State" township. The Prime Minister informed a Domdhon repre- ' sentative 'yesterday that'he had practically completed arrangements' for an -' '.inquiry-by two expertsinto the tenures ... .on; which the Kotorua'township lands aro also:into.the question as to whether Rotorua should remain a , -•.•■btate..--township or -be granted powers . of local self-government similar to those . enjoyed byother towns in'the Dominion . . J-he inquiry'will be conducted by a "; committee consisting.of a Native Land Court Judge and an authority. on tenures and lvalues;; :/.. v -,■...,.:, :-■..,.';. VTho existing arrangement under which Eotorua is administered as a State .., : township has apparently been more or ' ' unsatisfactory .hi' operation. ' It is ' v ■ stated > that' the': residents make ' very frequent demands for State financial' assistance, and at the same time coneider;- many of. them, that they would he better off if they enjoyed self-govern-ment. As. to the township lands, it is .considered improbable that: any proposal will bo raised to'grant the freehold, but'ah attempt will be 'made to devise-a tenure which will be mutually: ■ • . satisfactory, to tho 'residents of' Rotorua and:' to ,the' Government. ;. EDUCATION DISTRICT BOUN-"':--:;>-.DARIES:-.:.--:.-. ■''.-'.. , It is already evident that,there will be a good : deal-of discussion over tho ~ .boundaries of the new education 'dis-tricts-which, are" projjosed in the. Educa- • lion -Bill now .before/Parliament. A numberof objections to 1 the boundaries 'proposed in- the. Bill have. already been - lodged, in an informal >way, by members or Parliament .and o there, and as has 1 been mentioned, the Education Committee of the. House of Representa- . ' tives -is to hear evidence! andvinquiro ...exhaustively ..into,the whole subject, ■ and, if necessary,.the.task of determining the boundaries' will bo relegated to a' Royal Commission.-..- The Minister of-Education, has, mado it plain that tho boundaries-proposed in tho Bill aro tentative, and .that he is prepared to consider alterations.' ■; - : ■ The: Bill 'does not propose to alter the- Wellington Education district in' any. way, but;possibly wlien tho Bill is before the Education Committee some effort may be. made to have this dis-' tnct enlarged. : Dr. A. K. Newman, M,i\,-in conversation, with a reporter, -expressed the. opinion that tho boundaries of the Wellington district might .'.-;- advantageously bo extended to tako in ••■-- Talmerston, Foxton. Feilding, and Tai- ■'-. hape—'all the country to the west of the Turakina River'. This area, he maintained, could be best administered from Wellington; with wWch it was in direct railway communication. Another point .; made by Dr.' Newman was that tho Eg- , inont district proposed in the Bill; which is to include the present Wanganui and ■ Taranaki distriots, would be too large, ■-.'■' but would be reduced to reasonable dimensions if the area mentioned (which is at present included in' the Wanganui \ district) wero added-to tho Wellington district. At the end.of last week two Tara- . naki members, Messrs/ J. B.Hino and H. J. H. Okey, waited upon tho Miiir .- ister of.Education ahd_raiscd stronc: objections to the abolition of tho Taranaki 'education district. They urged /.'thai instead of its being included in tho proposed Egmont district it should bo ■enlarged by the addition of the, Ohura district (at present inoluded in Auckland) and allowed to retain ■ its separate identity. They further submitted " that if the Ohura district wero trans.'ferred, from Auckland to Taranaki, i Auckland might be allowed to remain, as,it now is, a single district, instead of beine divided into two, as proposed in the Bijl. The chairman of the Auckland Edu-, cation Board (Mr. G. J." Garland) does not favour the proposal to divide the ■ Auckland district into two, and thinks .that other districts should be increased in size so that four, or at most, five,' districts would suffice for the whole Do,;mitiion. In the South'lsland, where it is proposed by the Bill to reduce the number, /'of districts by one-half—from eight to fourI—considerable1 —considerable dissatisfaction is'

likely to bo expressed. Marlborough, through, the member for Wairau (Mr. M'Callum), has: protested against being "swept into Nelson," and similar protests have;. been made on behalf / of Westland, Grey, and South Canterbury: ;.:'; - -;. , THE DREY SEAT.' , Mr. H. L. Michel will be the Reform candidate for, the Grey seat against Mr. P.' C.. Webb, the representative of the-Social-Democrats.' It is understood the Liberals will not run, a candidate, ,but : will give. Mr. Webb all the support thoy': can. Nevertheless, the chances.of the Reform Party's wiriniug the seat-are looked upon as very bright. /