POLITICAL NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 4 July 1930, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES

RELIEF GR ANTS increased. An ■ urgent question was; asked of the Minister of Finance by Mr H. T. Armstrong, a njemlber of the Lytteljton Hairibonr |Board,. which drew a satisfactory reply in the House of Representatives. Mr Armstrong explained that;-the board wished to contribute to the Cancer Research Fund and also to the Citizens’ Unemployment Fund, as it had no work suitable for employment of the men. concerned. However, it was unable to make such grants owing’to the absence of "statutory authority and lie hoped that legislation would be introduced to enable this to be done. The' Prime Minister replied that the Government had already drafted legislation to validate grants made by harbour 'boards and other local authorities towards the Empire Cancer Research * Fund. - Provision .was also being made to validate grants for unemployment relief and the Harbour Board- could be included in this legislation. ! - ‘ " £250 REWARD UNALLOTTED. Some months ago, when Christchurch was alarmed by a series of incendiary fires the underwriters offered a leward of £250, for information; leading to the conviction of the perpetrators. This has not been allocated, , and n reminder-Of thfe fact was contained >*' a question tabled in the House by Mr Sullivan (Avon) a B to the .reason fur the delay and whether it was intended to do justice to Constable Gillum, who arrested the Gray brothers. PRICE OF SODIUM CHLORATE 1 . A Ministerial statement concerning the price of sodium chlorate was made by the Hon. A! J.. -Murdoch, Minister ot Agriculture, in reply to an urgent question by Mr Martin (Raglan), who expressed concern that, settlers niight not be able to obtain supplies of the chemical at a reasonable : price. . “It is not the intention of the Government at the moment to undertake the sale of sodium chlorate,” said the Minister, who intimated that the Government had arriving at Auckland at an early date five tons of the chemical which would be used for l demonstration purposes in conjunction with farmers. ,It had been, ascertained that fivepence per pound was the price in Wellington, and he understood it could be obtained for the same figure in Auckland. If unreasonable charges were made the matter would Ibe looked into (by the Departmerit. NO CENSUS THIS \ YEAR. In the ordinary course of. events a census of the population of the Dominion would have' been taken this year, but the title of a . Bill, which the Hon. P. A. de U Perrelie gave notice to introduce, .indicates that tbo expensive process is to be postponed at least one year , The last census tv as taken in 1926, and as a consequence the votes for the Government .Statistician’s Department, whidh had been about £38,000,. rose to nearly £60,000 in the following year. Among items definitely traceable to the- collection and printing of the - census were amounts totalling £26,000, so that is the minimum saving represented by the proposed postponement. There will also be considerable economy in printing for the detailed analysis of the census figures enables a constant flow of publications to be maintained almost until the census of five years later.

The most interesting result from the postponement of the census '"’ill be that the South Island,' always under threat of loss of Parliamentary constituencies when the Electoral Boundary Commissioners make their report on the distribution of population, will be relieved of anxiety for a year. After the former census two South Island seats disappeared and the North Island received a corresponding addition to its Parliamentary representation. Mr Hamilton( Wallace) indicated the concern of southern districts over this process when he tabled a question to the Government to ascertain if it is intended to make any change in electoral boundaries before next election. A PETITION. A petition for relief arising out of the recent dismissal of employees of the "Post and Telegraph Department, Auckland, was presented to Parliament. This petitioner was Roland Blair, and he said he had been charged with obtaining racing information <by means of an official telephone. He considered that there was no justification for convicting him and that in any event the punishment meted out was out of all proportion to the offence, if the offence be found by the House to b e proved. He was dismissed in December, 1929, and his appeal was disallowed.