POLITICAL

Hokitika Guardian, 25 November 1932, Page 8

POLITICAL

ANSAVERS TO QUESTIONS. EARTHQUAKE RELIEF UNION. •!i i, nj-.i •••' ' • WELLINGTON, Nove-r her 23. “Even when the Int. national Earthquake Relief' Union is established j + - SeemS most improbabj© 'that asiis,anefi to' tae extent of'a million pounds would 'be available to' New Zealand,” said the Prim^’Minister (the Rt Hon. G. AV. Forbes) in the House to-day, in reply to question by Mr AV. E. Barnard.

Afr • Forbes said that New Zealand had given notice of accession to the Convention and Statute establishing thd- Union' oh 11 November Bth., I£2B, The ’Convention'-did hot come into forte,' "however,- tf'htil ratifications dr rtessiofis" had : deposited by at contributions, ’ according to the scale provided j ""amounted “to 600 shares. The - first requirement had been complied with 1 , added the Prime Minister, but hot ; tlie s'ecolid, so flirt the Union was hot -yet in 'Existence. In accordance with the-Converttioh the Union’s funds were "to consist" “’Off : (1) An initial fund provided by contributions from’ : mouthers’ "Of '' 'W-' ich the amount payable by New Zealand' would be approximately £270; (2) voluntary grants miade by Governments; and (3) private contributions, donations,, and bequests.

CALLINGS OF ACCUSED MEN. Er fuiries by the Alinister for Justice (the Hoh-' J, 1 G, Gofcfce) do not bear out tile 1 allegation by AIrE.J. Howard (Lab.-, 1 ' Chifistcliurch' South) '.‘that the term'' ‘‘lahttfil'er’’is -indiscriminately applied to Cc-urt offenders. Replying to Mr Howard’s question in the Ho tire to-day, Mr Cohbe said the regulations of the Police Department" inquired an 'accurate d scrip-t-ion of* all' 1 offenders, including occupation, trade, or calling, to he entered iti the charge hook, Every c n re w 1 s t-tkciv ti-fensur* that the correct callin ms of accused men were entered on all occisidns.

•- FERTILISER PRICES. t' l--".) V " -• The apparent discrepancy between the North-- and South Island (prices for pdrtem ,i tfi'flnuies on which the Government subsidy' is pil'id' was' cxplainCd by tlie Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. C. E; Macmillan) in ’ tlie -House- .to-day in reply" tfi a question by Mr C. Carr . (Lnb.j ’Tifnaru). “ ' - ' The cause qf tlie discrepancy, -s”id the Minister, tvas^thf-fact .that in the North Island the pi ice was £4 a ton, free on rail, at the po;nt of manufacture', while in tlie South Island a system of- fixed delivery points existed underj which a sbahdhrd price of £4 ;5s wd-s charged iifiespectifie Of the .distance from the "manufacturing centre. ’Thus the bns'c South Island pride .might* (he- ; regarded iris £4, the extra five silillrngs renresenting railng© costs'-paid'by-'the mdirtuffirtt-iirtts.' 'The fixed •delivery pb-iivts were Hornby, Timeru, Onmaa'U. Raver sbfittraiey Dunedin, Bab clutlia, Go'ije and Invercargill. 'salaries of judges.

“A (reduction of Judges’ (salaries.. is now iindpi* consideration by the Government’’- said the' Prime -Minister (the R-t.- Hon. -G. AAL Forbes) in the Houi«e "td-dayy in reply to a question by Air Hv S. % Kyle (0., Ric-carton). Air- Kyle asked whether the Government’s attention lrad been drawn to the legislation passed by the British Government in 1931, under which judicial emoluments were reduced by one-fifth, And whether the New Zeeland Government would bring down similar legislation immediately.

TRAALEL FACILITIES. “The railway badge has been so long associated with members of Parliament that they would, I think, be loath to give it up,” said the Minister in charge of the Native Department (the' Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata) in the House this afternodn,- in reply to a> suggestion by Mr D.' AfcDougMl (0., Mataura) that members should be able to pay their own fares on the railways.

The charge mule against the Legislative Department for these travel facilities, added Sir Apirana Ngata, wa,s now under the Government’s consideration.

UNEMPLOYED PLACED ON FARAIS

A total of 562 unemployed men lias been placed on small farms. Half of these now are off the unemployment funds and a number of others are on reduced sustenance, according to information Air Coates gave the House toi-uight when a vote of £oLO,OOO for this purpose, was finder discussion.

SCHOOL BUILDINGS. A strong pfot-’Bt against the reduction in the vote for school buildings from £350, last year to £104,000 this year was ’fiiade by Mr Sullivan in the House td-hight. The reply to Mf Coates was that ■ it- was not intended to raise loan money for expenditure on schools this year, ’ resulting in only a limited amount- being availihle. He would he glad to inquire into rer-e«-sitous cases and see what ;could be done.

unfinished public works. \T r Voitch was informed 1 in the House to-dhy tint a committee would not be fl’et tm tin's fission to examine urifrninsiic.d .outlie works and make recommendations ns to whether completion would be loss costly than abandonment.

SCHOOL BOOKS

The new agreement with the pub

Ushers of school itext books does not contain a clause providing that any ' saving effected as a result-of the reduction of the wages of printers shall be passed oil. An announcement to this eflcct was made by Mr Forbes ii the House to-dav, replying to a ques tion by Mr Kyle. , Mr Forbes added that the agreement

was entered into after careful consid oration of business conditions ruling at tbh time.

THE NOTE ISSUE

/ 7 notc.s may be issued by banks up to the amount of gold and publi securities held by them, they are a present in a position to more tha’ double tlie note issue if necessary. This information was conveyed to the Hons to-day by the Prime Minister in roph to a tabled question. Mr Forbes addec that the Budget showed that amph credit wa« available and that what wa* lacking wa s business confidence to make more use of it.

destruction of sweet briar. Consideration is being given by th Government to the questions of sup i 'Ups of see 7am chlorate for killing sweet briar in the back country run' of Canterbury and Otago and to th necessity for enabling ‘settlers to ob> tain supplies at the lowest reasonably price. This informatics was given tc AT r RurneH in the 'House tc-d.av bv the Hon. V. F. Macmillian in response to a written question.

SAMOAN BANANAS. A series of questions concerning the > nis t tenders from Wellington, Auck land, Christchurch and Dunedin for th purchase of Samoan banana s "'as rupee bv Mr Barnard,■ and was ahswer°d by ]\Tr Forbes in the House to-day. Til' Prime. Minister said that tenders wor retired from all ' the centres and the offer .'f Turners and. Growers, lAd. was accepted, but net for the recr.or as suggested, that the Department pre ferred to deal with a singe purrbaser The number of southern tenderers wa' not thfee, and it was not the pol e: of the Government to disclose the prior payable. The' offer nf ! Turners- .ant 1 Growers, Ltd., was accented for tin single reason that it was the best obtainable.