POLITICAL NOTES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 308, 24 September 1919, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES

• THE GRATUITIES CASE OF HOSPITAL PATIENTS | A suggestion of an anomaly in the gratuities scheme presented, to the House of Representatives. by Sir JaniM Allen i lust week was made by way of a question in. the House yesterday, by Mr. U. H. Poole. Ho asked the Minister of Defence whether, in. dealing with the gra-, tuitics ho had considered the case of tho sick and wounded men. undergoing treatment in New .Zealand. • Tho point ' made was that .if a man was treated in a hospital .abroad he received gratuity ' for the whole period of his; treatment, j while this rule did not apply to treat,ment in a hospital in New Zealand. He mentioned a letter that he had received on the subject. Sir James Allen: Might I suggest to tho'.honourable member that ha do as his brother members have done, and como to see me privately about this matter? • Mr. Poole: I don't want any censure from the Minister at all. Sir James Allen said that other mem- • here from the Auckland, district had all received letters similar to that mentioned )>y Mr. Poole, and some of them, among them the member for AVaitemata ; and tiio member lor Edon, had been to : see him on the question raised.' It was , not'iair lor'the honourable member to try" to tako advantage of his lellow- , members by advertising that he had had . this letter. Air. Poole;' You are a vindictive type of man, anyhow.'.',.' Mr. Ju'assoy drew, tho attention of Mr, Speaker' to this expression used by Mr. Poole'. ". .'■•-..' iTlie Speaker was on his feet to make some remark on tne permissibility of the expression, when, ' . " , iMr. Poole said: I don't know, whether , it is Parliamentary or not, but at any rate I withdraw.it.,'.l reserve my opinion of tho Minister.. Sir James Allen said' that h;s object was to protect othtr members-from be- '. ing at a disadvantage. "May I say, lie continued, "that the honourable member does know, because he has tho print- , ed'statement in his possession, that we have made provision for these men such as no other country has made, that every . man evacuated to' Now Zealand shall receive .the 'minimum gratuity as for eighteen' months' service." Mr. Poole: That, is beside tho question. That is not answering the question. ■ THE BUDGET. Tho reading of the Budget in the '. House of Rcnresentatives last evening :■ occupied the "Minister of Finance (Sir James Allen) almost exactly two-hours. The time would have been longer had not : ! the Minister saved himself and the. House Wine trouble.by "taking as read 1 sonio of tho tabulated statements includ--led in the Budget. Tho House was not | full,' and mcmberS gencrallv did not display as much interest as they did when - some of the war Budgets were present- ; cd. The substantial surplus had been ■. foreshadowed in official _ statements. There was a little stir, of interest when , the Minister announced his intention of using tho greater part of the accumu. i lated surpluses, a sum of over ijIS.OOO,000 to buv land for soldiers under the authority granted earlier in the session. The House remembered that'the cj-Mra-istcr of Finance, Sir Joseph Ward, had ' urged strongly that this money p.ught to be held as the nucleus of a sinking fund for the war loans. The Minister of Finance received a round of applause wihen he completed his task. The opening of the financial debate was ,then fixed for Tuesday next. MINERS' DISEASE. A definite statement that the Mining Bill, 6hortlv to bo nlaced before Parliament, woiild include provision for the compulsory use of water drills in the quartz mines was made in> the House , yesterday by the Minister of Mines (Sir William Fraser). The Minister added, jn replying to a question put.by Mr. R. Setnplo (Wellington,. South), 'that llie had taken,'an .interest in 'this;matter ever siheo seeing the tew drills at work in the Otira Tunnel....Using' these drills, ■ miners could work without; danger of dust. Mr. Seinple remarked that rainers were still being killed in' the .quartz , mines owing to the use of dry." drills, and the members of the House would deserve to be tried for manslaughter it they allowed the session to _end without removing this evil.THE LOCO. MEN. ■'. . The Prime Minister stated in tho House . of Representatives yesterday,' in reply to a question put by Mr. G. V. Pearce (Patea), that he had had two long conferences with the representatives of the railway loco, men—ono on Monday and 1 one a week earlier. He had promised to see the men'again prior to the Railway ' Bill coming before the House, with the object of hearing their views regarding the regulations that would require (o-.be drafted. "I have no doubt', we shall be able to arrive at some satisfactory setHemcnr," said Mr. Massey. Mr. Pearce, iii his question, ,had referred to Teporta that loco, men were resigning from the railway service in large numbers owing to dissatisfaction with tlie working con- ' ditions. ' - PAY OF RAILWAYMEN. ; '. -Tho Minister of Railways'-(Mr._ Mas- : i' sev) stated, in reply to questions in the i Houso= yesterday, that a Railways Bill , ■ was how in course of preparation, one t ' of the purposes of which was to give = effect to the promised increases in pay to : men-'in the Service.' Tho Bill would probably bo introduced into the House in the cou'vso of the next few days.,. Mr. Massey stated also that until this Bill '■• ' had bi?en passed the D 3 List could not be prepared. •'•.'.. child Labour. A report was recently.presented to thfl' >■ Otago Education Board regarding on ex- > ! ccssivo amount of child labour, by which, children attending. the schools, were required to work-long days for small wages, doing this work before and after : school hours. Similar reports have-been at .different limes before other boards. Sir.. Somple asked a question in tho House 1 on tho subject yesterday. He wished to know whether the Government : would introduced legislation this session, to prevent thn continuance, of tho evil. Mr. Mussoy, replying for the Minister of • Education, said that he could not give a complete answer to/(he. question, and ' asked that notice be given of it in order that inquiries might bo made. Mr. Semplo gave notice of his question accordingly. MINERS'. PHTHISIS. Air. H. Holland asked the Prime Min- ' is-ter in-tho House yesterday whether it .* was the intention.of. the Government,to » bring down legislation this session to ; amend the conditions for tho payment of the- pensions to- sufferers from pneu- 'i uomacosfs. He pressed (ho matter as ono of great urgency, Mr. Herries, Min- ' inter in Charge of Pensions, said that : tho matter was at presaut beforo Cabinet. • He wouM givo the honourable member j a reply to his question when.Cabinet had ; considered it. ' , I j ELECTRIC TRAMS TO THE HUTT. ' .A suggestion that' tho . Government I should adopt tho Hutt Rafiway end Road Improvement Bill was made in tho House ,; yesterday by Mr. T. M. Wilford (Hutt). : This Bill, iutrodiiccd by Mr. Wilford, ' gives authority for tho running of electric trams on the Hutt Road. Mr. Wilford assured the Primo Minister that ; it hnd'tlio support of all the Wellington ' members. Mr. Mossey replied that if , lime permitted ho would give tho House ' tin opportunity io deal with thn Bill. He ; knew thnt it-was a very short Bill, and ! he did not think it would take long to •.. get through tho House, but tlioro was '. other business that must coino first. In - all probability tho House would got an ! opportunity of voting on the Bill. .