A COLLECT TELEGRAM

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 266, 4 August 1920, Page 8

A COLLECT TELEGRAM

TE AWAMUTU'S COMPLAINT

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT PAYS 12/6

i''A "threat made by the people of Te 'Awamutu to keep: their children away from school -unless a new school building was provided wa? mentioned in the House 1 of .Representatives yesterday. Mr. X. A. Young (Waikato) asked the Minister of Educat/ion If he had any. information on the point. MY. Pari- replied that he had received a. telegram from the Mayor of Te Awa- ' mutt demanding a definite assurance within one week that a. .new school would ,b> provided. The telegram had been sent collect, and 'She Department had to .pay. 12s; 6d; for it. (Laughter.) He had taken steps to inform the Mayor, that if he'wished to make other communications to the Education, Department, h» must-pay for .his own'telegrams.. .■,.', . • I J'he':f.aols of the case, added Mr. Parr; ■were that, the Education Department, had made a grant of for the new school in June of .last year. The Auckland Education.Board htid been unable to'let-a contract. Tenders-had beon invited t\.ice, but no tender had been received. lieoratry.- the; board had made another etfort and. had secured three tenders, but the'lowest tender was ±1200 in excess of the grant. He had just received from tho board an application for 'Hie increase of the grant by this amount, and the .matter--would-be dealt with within a week or so. Mr. Parr added that lie strongly■ resented the;tone of tho telegram he had received from the Mayor of' Te". Awamutu.

~.„'.,N8 APOLOGY

't DISTORTED TALE.

Mr V. H. Potter (Eoskill) asked m the House.of.. Representatives yesterday if the ..Prime ! had received any apology from the member for Wellington Central' (Mr.'Eraser) concerning the 'etatoment-'that two war widows, immigrants from Britain/had been compelled 'So.'spend' e night in a shed on the Wellington wharves 'owing to lie neglect of tho Immigration.Department,&>An official statement,' published last week, showed that the two women had been ordinary passengers, their fares having '■ been paid; thati they were not the widows of-soldiers,, were not without.means, and riad nofciasked tho Immigration -Depart- ' ment for' assistance,' ~,,.,', Mr.-Massey'..replied'that he had not had any"communication from the member for Wellington Central on the BUbjeci;. . ' . . ' ' j. /■•' . ' Later Mr.- Fraser gave notice of a N question, intended, apparently, to show that his statement about the two widows 'had been based on ■ a newspaper paragraph. ';.'., ; ' -

NEGLECTED WIVES

MEf-HARRIS'S BILL.

;;, A Bill introduced by Mr. Harris (Wa). ■ temata), proposing tire appointment of speeial officers to undertake the collec■tfonroi money due on maintenance orders was mentioned in the' House of He.•prescntativea yesterday. A committee tccomirended that the Bill should not proceed on the ground that it was not workable as drafted. The Bill was intended to provide protection for wives and children who/ under present conditions are often unable to obtain the weekly allowances that have been awarded them under mairfenance orders. . , ~ Mr. Harris protested against the committee's recommendation, and suggested that the Government should adopt the principle contained in his Bill. Several 'other members supported him, and the Minister of Justice (Mr. Lee) agreed that the' Bill should be referred back to .the committee for further consideration. \ .'■; PAINrWANTED '-' NEGLECTED PUBLIC BUILDINGS. A-suggestion that the Parliamentary Buildings should be repainted was mado in tho House of Reparatives by Mr. ; ' G. Forbes (Hurunui). ' Vintore to this S ' place if they saw.our chief public bull 1Fngs and had not read the Budget, would think that the country'was hard up, said M*. Forbes. ■ , „, The Minister of Public Works (Mr. Coates) replied that the policy of the Government had been to concentrate the available labour on the erection of homes, even if members of Parliament were inconvenienced. If it 'V/as the general wish of members that the appearance of the Parliamentary Buildings should be improved he would look into the question and see what could be Bone. POWER FROuTIANGAHAO SCHEME OF ALLOCATION. The allocation of power from the first hydro-electric installation at Mangahao will (according to a reply given yester.day by the Minister of Public AVorks t» a question asked! by Mr. W- S. Glenn, Eangitikei) includo 2800 horsepower for Bunnythorpo sub-station, which will supply the following districts at tho rate of one horse-power to every ten persons up to the populations noted: Manawatu County, 4500 population; 0j0ua,.3330; Kiwitea, 2595; Eangitikei, 8958.' Feilding Borough will bo supplied at the specified iato up to a population of 3400; Marton, up to a population of 1600: and Bulls up to a population of 483. The usual rate of supply, the Minister observed, waa one, horee-power to every five persons; but the Department would- not be able to give more than ono to ten, until the Waikarcmoana scheme was launched.