POLITICAL NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 16, 11 September 1912, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

NOTES AND NEWS. Most of the attention of the llailway Department at present is being occupied with the proposals for increases' of pay already virtually promised to railway servants. The'Min-

ister has asked for a Departmental report on the question of whether or not it would be advisable to erect a small goods shed at Te Aro.

The Bill to reform the constitution of the Legislative Council, which is to be introduced in the Lower House, •will not necessarily be the measure which the Council recently rejected. The Government has determined, however, that- the principle of an elective Upper House, which the Council itself has affirmed, must ho retained in its

entirety. The new Bill will be introduced in the House of Representatives during the present week. (laiiler Ironsides, of the- Auckland Prison, lias submitted bis report on the administration of prisons in the Dominion to the .Minister for Justice. The report is confidential, and will not be made public. To provide for more regular inspection of prisons, Dr. Hay, Inspector-General of Mental Hos-

pitals and Prisons, lias been detached from hospital work temporarily, and he will be doing nothing but inspecting gaols for the next two months. The Minister for Justice, the Hon. A. L. ITerdman, stated to ai “Dominion” reporter on Monday that as soon as he can find the necessary time he hopes to be able to put the prison service on a proper footing. So far as be could learn no attempt had been made properly to classify prisoners. Wellington papers report that the attention of the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher, Minister in Charge of the Government Insurance Department, has been drawn to a paragraph which appeared in the Christchurch “Evening News” of

September 6 in which it is stated that somewhat strained relations exist between the beads of the Life and Fire Insurance Departments of the State, and that the friction between the manager of the State Fire Insurance Office and managers of private corn-

panics is increasing. The paper goes on to state that apparently dual control has not been a success, and that the Government will he compelled to review the position . Speaking to a “Dominion” representative last evening. Mr Fisher said that he desired to give the 'Statement an official and emphatic contradiction. There had been absolutely no friction whatever between the head of the Government Life Insurance Department and the head of the State Fire Insurance Department. The paragraph in the “News” had been brought under their notice, and its accuracy was emphatic ally denied by both officers. “So far as the statement about the manager of the State Fire Insurance Department ami the managers of private companies is concerned,” the Minister remarked in conclusion, “the best judges of that point would he the managers of the private companies, and 1 would suggest that the Christchurch ‘Evening News’ should interview thorn with a view to getting their opinion on the subject.”