POLITICAL NOTES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 302, 17 September 1919, Page 7

POLITICAL NOTES

WORK OF THE SESSION

The programme of the session was re--1 ferre.d to in the House of Representatives

yesterday, ■ the matter being raised' in a i question by Mr. E. Newman. He recalled ', the* attention of the'.Prime Minister to • a ■.paragraph'which had. appeared in the ' papers; in which it was stated that Minis-

ters .'we're ■• being kept so busy receiving

deputations that, they had little or no time : .to..attend to tho , preparation of

'-business for tho. House.-. Mr. Newman pointed'to tho fact that tho session was to be: u short one. It was generally as- '• Burned that tho elections would be hu'.cl ; in the secondweek-ih November, or about that time.. It would be necessary to allow' six weeks at least for the campaign, even two ■months, perhaps; Jf six weeks were allowed there .would remain only about ; five working weeks of session.- He made . a suggestion that the working day? per,J . week might be increased. \ '■ The Prime Minister said that he roa- ■ lise'd what the position was, and he would ' . eoon havo to ask the-Houso to sit on Moui days. It had not been possible to do eo i i up-till tho present, because Cabinet would ' ;M>t otherwise have had time to deal with tho work on hand. As one instance of | >• the heavy work put upon the Government h'e; : mentioned that tho.questions tor one , week had numbered ]12, and Cabinet had • occupied fivo hours in reviewing- the ! answers given.- He hoped that it. would - soon bo possiK.e for the House to sit' on five days a week, but .it certainly was not yet possible. to siit on six days a .week. . ' '. '

_Sir Josoph Ward asked when the Financial Statement wonW be brought down, nnd when the statement would be made by the Government'as 1 to the.gratuities to be-paid to'soldiers. ' He asked, too, whether legislation would be brought down this session to .make, provision for soldiers still, out of r.ho country on tho date of the election exercising their votes in the ejections. Ho was making this request -,on behalf of a number of soldiers who had communicated-with him.

,- Mr. Massey' replied that this matter , had already been considered, with a view of meeting the possible difficulty to which the honourable gentleman had referred.. As a matter of fact, if .the elections should be'held at the"usual date,,it-was expected that all the men would bo by that time back in this country. However, the matter had not been lost sight of, and legislation would bo brought down'in due course. As to the Budget, he thought that the fast paragraph.of it had gone to tho. printer that day, so that it was almost completed. There .would be one littfe. difficulty'about the presentation of it—owing to the restricted train services at would take longer timo for the Budget.to be circulated to the newspapers. It would be ready in any event in a very few days. ...

Sir Joseph Ward suggested that this year the old.practice should be followed, and that the Budget he by telegraph.

. lir. iMassey said ho would consult the Minister of Finance on this matter.

. . WAR' COSTS. ' New. Zealand's war , expenditure,. \ according to' accounts submitted to Parliament, amounted to. .£02,630,720 up to Aiarek 31 last'. Payments to the War Office on a per capita, basis for I tho maintenance of New. Zealand' troops in the field amounted to .£15,735,000. lla.tions in New. ; Zealand,''. Britain, Egypt, aacl Samoa cost ,£2,116,811!'' The-trans-port of troops'' cost ,£6,061,418. This in-' .eluded a sum of Jii,910,807 for ..the charter, ' conditioning, reconditioning, -etc.', •of transports under charter, to,the Nei> Zealand Government. , The charges and expenses'of raising loans amounted to •£658,748. Expenditure 'on equipment totalled £1,851,640. The lic.-fp.tnl - ' ship cart ; <£4€s,!Mo and the Mnrnum £507,900. Pay and allowances accounted for an expenditure of .£25,393,231.

■ THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS/' The report of 'the Auditor-General on the public accounts for tho year ended March 31, 1919, states that, up to that .date a total s;um of v£6 - 8,4C0,000 had■ been raised tor wair purpose^;-'-involving', tlio - issue of more than 68,000 bonds. Provision is being made lor i ic audit'of 6tores, accounts, and'every'effort is being made to bring the audits of Departmental accounts up to date. Experienced members of the staff are being released by demobilisation, and the • AuditorGeneral hope's to bo able to declare in his' next report that all accounts are up to date. '- •

; PROGRESS OF REPATRIATION. J The progress of .repatriations.is the. ■*' subject of a.'report placed before • the House of Representatives, yesterday.. Tho report suS-ss that on August 20 the-num-ber of "men on tho unemployment sustenance list for the Dominion was oiil}'\ 17 out of a total number of 66,309 return-' ed'soldiers. . Over, 1000 returned men ah being, trained in workshops and : factories. .Vocational training in'technical schools and special classes has beeri arranged for 557 men, and at present 118 men are" being assisted to learn •-pro-, fwsions. Over.Bo/meu have been' trained at tno 'Eunkuiu' State : Farm; and : about 30 men are. at present receiving instruction. Thenumfcer of loans ap- - proved up to August 20 was 1178, involving an expenditure of ,£261,849. "The Department," says the report, '-is honestly doing, its best in the interests-of the discharged soldiers." There is : - no camouflage,. and. each' applicant for' assistance :s sympathetically dealt with."

THE GO-SLOW POLICY. A question about the effect. of, the go-slow policy of llio- coal miners was asked in the House yesterday by-:Mr. H. .G. Ell. He called the attention oi the Minister-of lanes to the published statement that there had been a reduction in output of 15,000.t0ns in.the past two weeks. In view of the fact thai this • was going to affect the homes of. the poorer people of tho country, he aeked'j tho Minister whether there'whs available information as to the accuracy or otherwise of tho statement.. If so, would, he make a- statement to the House as to the exact reasons why the miners' were adopting their present attitude? -Sir William Eraser said that he had information from the State' Mines Department 'as to the effect of the policy on the output of the State mines, and tho. reduction was in one mino 25 per cent, less than normal, and in the other 83 per.cent, less than normal. promised to obtain the information asked for by the honourable member.

THE HOUSE FAMINE. 'Apparently people are being turned oui of nulled in Uinstcnurch. tu make room for new buyers, just as in AVeltiiifjtuji. Dr. Xkacker is not at present attending the House, but yesterday'he telegrupneu to Mr. WiTty to ask a question oi the yl v riiue Minister 011 his account. Dr. ' I'luvckcr stated in his telegram thai owners of houses were turning out old tenants because other people weiy coining along, and pay ins very high' prices for the -properties. .

Mr. Massey asked tbht particulars be furnished. If ho were given particulars lie would ask tho .Board of Trade to taake inquiries.

MINING BILLS, The ineinbf.T for Ohinemuri (Mr. folandf asked the Minister ol Mines in the House yesterday whether he couio. indicate to the House when he would bring down the Mining Bill and the Coal Mines Bill. This would.be a very short session, he said, and these Bills .would have to go before a committee, and possibly evidence would have to be taken oii them Unless the Bills came down within the next few days there would not be much prospect ot getting them, through the House this session. . Sir William Frnser said that the honourable gentleman must know from his experience as a member of t)i? House some of the reasons for the delays in the introduction of the Bills in the House. TJie Bills had certainly been prepared, but they had been altered since he had taken over-the Department. He had yet to submit the Bills to Cabinet, out really Cabinet had been so busily engaged on other work that he had not yc-t had an opportunity of doing this. As soon as the Bills had been dealt with ov Cabinet they would be brought down 'in (he House by Governor's Me3aage.

THE WANGANUI RIVER. .' An' appeail to tho Government for dnVelopment' of tho Wanganui River ser-

vices, for the benefit of settlers and tourists, was made in the House of Representatives by Mr. W. A. Veitch (WangTinui). The difficulties of navigation were becoming greater each year, said Mr. Veitch. The clearing of bush froiu the .'hillsides was reducing the depth of water in the river. The Government ought to establish State launch and steamer services on the Wanganui, undertake dredging operations, and • construct good roads alongside the river, with bridges at intervals. Development of the Wanganui River would give, a big return to'the Dominion. The river was « natural avenue of traffic. Sir Joseph Ward said he thought the timn had arrived when the Government should acquire the Wanganui lliver services.

'TOURISTS AMD.jioUNTAINS. > The presentation of the Tourist Department's report afforded an opportunity to members,, to state their opinions about the advertisement of our resorts. All who spc-ke were of opinion that the Government did hot do enough to advertise these, resort?. Northern members epoko of the attractions of tho-Tongariro National 'Park. Mr. Parr urged the development of winter sports on Mount Tongariro, the best mountain in tho country for ski-ing, and such amusements. To make, these available to the peoplo an accommodation house should be built on tho mountain, but all that the Ministor had promised in reply /to repeated representations was a hut. This would bo, of some convenience to tourists, but with better accommodation many morp oeonle would go to the mountain. Mr Talbot, who lives withiri near view of Mount Cook, at once'rose to press the claims of his mountain, declaring thai by comparison with it Tongariro was "a mere mole'-hp."

'CONTROL OF FISHERIES, A suggestion was made to the Government by Mr. T. M. Wilford in the House of Keprescntatives yesterday that control of-fill fishing> inland and sea. should bo under the control of one Minister. At present the Tourist Department controlled the fishing of some lakes, the Internal Affairs Department controlled all trout end salmon fishing, some lake fishing, and the curing of take trout, and the Marine Department controlled sea fisheries nnd oysters. 'At present tho divided control ••cd to great waste of money, and more good could bo done with tho votes given if all fishing were under the control of ™ Minister. Mr, Massey interjected: We'll havo' a new system of business after the elections."

KAPITI ISLAND. Mr. W. H.'Field (Ofaki) has asked the Minister of Lands whether the Government have yet completed, and, if not, when they propose to complete, the purchase of tlio rcmnining' Native intercom in the island of ](apiti; and whether the Government will without delay announce tiieiT general policy respecting the island, anUl i"if- particular with regard to the grass land thereon?' '

AGRICULTURAL COMPETITIONS. Mr. Talbot (Temuka) bos asked tho Minister of Agriculture if he will provido subsidies to: assist progress, expansion, or development leagues, agricultural /and pastoral associations, farmers'' unions, or other organisations in promoting competitions among boys in the growing of agricultural produce 'on the same, lines as ■ those in operation in Ataerica in connection with the boys' cluSs there? He mentions that a successful commencement lias, already been made in this movement in the South Island.