LUXURIES FOR LEGISLATORS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXII, Issue 2035, 24 December 1907, Page 6

LUXURIES FOR LEGISLATORS.

If in rebuilding the Parliamentary Buildings, the Government ■wants to pick up hints in catering for the comforts of members, it cannot do better than go to Washington, though w.e hope for the sake of the Dominion’s finances that the example of America will not be copied in its entirety. According to the American correspondent of the Age, hitherto unheard of conveniences are being installed at Washington. There are being erected two wings to the Capitol solely for private offices for members of the two houses. Members will be some 200 feet awav from the Houses to which they belong, but they will be in constant communication with the Chambers. By the help of certain ingenious contnvnaces a member will be able to hear just what is going on in either House, or in the committee room in which the member is interested, as conveniently as if he were present. In order to do this he will not be obliged to hold a receiver to his ear. All he will have to do is to insert a plug in one. ot the several holes of a small bos that stands in the back of his desk, and from the box will come the sounds of the deabte which he wants to heart. A member may also dictate letters from his office in one of these wings to his stenographer in a conn mittee room in the main part of the Capitol. To do this he will not bother about lidding a telephone to his lips, but will simply talk quietly to the wall opposite. Every Senator will have two offices and a bathroom. The rooms will not contain beds, but who will say that these will never come? Every Senator and representative has a private secretary, whose salary is paid by the country. The doings ot the Houses will be recorded on a screen in the offices of members at the same time as a clerk writes a summary ot the proceedings in each House. lor the further convenience of members little trains will run between the offices and the chambers througn underground tunnels. _ They will be poerated by electricity, and summoned by pressing a button. Press.