HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 81, 8 July 1916, Page 7

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

lie plying to Mr Hunter, the Miaifter of Health said that the epidemic of d.p.ithevl.t at Hawke's Bay was en tirely'a school epidemic, and s cps were being taken to deal with the outbreak. Mi. Hunan, in reply to Mr Isitt, said he had made no remarks which would jus'ify any member of the Anglican Synod in supposing that he was coming over to the idea that the jiiblc should he taught in public schools.

| Mr Massey, in reply to Mr Field, said that no information had reached the Uo\ eminent that no more reinforcements would he required after j;bf> Sixteenth. He new nothing of ;he intention of. the Imperial Covernui( t to commandeer next season's Woo) clip. Jf any maltreatment, ol New Zealand soldiers in 1 fiermniiy'was reported he, ias a*eitr/.e«;--.0.f the Dominion, would be prepared to apply the Mosaic law to the le'ter.

MILITARY SEUVICE-JlpL. The.Legislative Council sitlmiitted reasons pi support of- Vibeir amendments in Oil 'MiFtary Service Bill. Tin; reasons were disagreed Messrs Allen, Herdman. and Forbes were appointed managers to confer with the Council. Mr J. V. Brown (Napier) was granted a few days leave of absence. ESTIMATES. The House went into Committee of Supply on the estimates. On Class XIII, Department of. Lands and Survey, £237,358, Mr H. G. Ell strongly advocated forever interest being shown in the;, work of re-affprestation. Mr Massey said that for years past the annual ayerage of tree planting by the CoyeVnment fia'd 'been 2000 acres. He proposed to bring before Cabinet, at its next'mec'ftig, the questibir : of employing returned soldiers at that-class; of work. A good deal of sandy country an the Vyest Coast of the North;lsland had been^ planted during the litst year or so. He was thoroughly in sympathy with' the 'project of tree-planting, and this persistence was probably the result of Cabinet voting a pretty large sum for its development. ~ -»-«* The debate was continued in a very thin house for some time. A number of Ideal reijny'jmjejits.

~-414'~-Mft:Sßt'y said, in reply to ro-maVksi-'frmb the time taken by a soldier with the Expeditionary Forces would be counted in his term of occupation of Government land under license. The erosion of lands on the talks ; of rivers was a serious questfidmU and the duty of settltjrtj 5 ,\yiis to assist, as far as possible, in preventing!'valuable land being' washed away. Tbps)Giovernmeiit was doing its share.

, A-t 4.55, j the first vote, £'159,450, was passed. .< j • Mr W. A. Yr itch said tlic vote of |£looo for tho: o .improvement of the Wangamii River was altogether inadequate. Mr Massey said he thought the best course to take would lie to hand over the keys of the river to the Public Works [Department. He recognised the importance of this highway. The vote for miscellaneous passed, and the House adjourned, at '5.30 p.m., The House resumed at 7.30 p.m., when the remaining vote of Class XIII. was passed without comment: ' Class XII., Labor, £32,520. was next considered. Mr W. A. Veitch complained that labor was not receiving from the Minister that sympathetic treatment to which in was entitled. He said that copies of awards were not now handed to the Unions. This was carrying economy too far. Mr A. H. Hindmarsh referred to the unsuitable si'es selected for some of the workmen's homes at Wellington.

Mr A. E. Glover urged that closer inspection of ships' loading gear was necessary to prevent fatal accidents to the men employed on the waterfronts. Mr P. C Webb urged the importance of providing workmen's homers in cities, especially Wellington, where the housing problem was a very serious one. Mr Massey said the copies of the awards had to be reduced owing to the shortness of paper. Alluding to workmen's homes, he said the cost of these buddings had gone up since the war started, but he hoped to see the prices of these homes kept down to £sso."■■■The Government had built 162 homes: in 1915, but, owing to the war, the number fell last year to 82, and now 37 were in course ol erection. A short Bill would be submitted dealing with the rent question. They had first to get clear of the war legislation before amendments of the Arbitration Act could be considered. I The vote was passed at d.ZU I Two votes in Class TX., held over from the previous sitting museums £3545, and Dominion laboratory '£5091, were passed. 'The St ate forests account £32.543 passed without 'comment. The State coal mines ac- , count £215,435. was under consideration at the supper adjournment. , i Discussing the State coal mines estimates, Mr «. J. Anderson do-

dared the accounts showed that no interest had been charged on the capital invested. He deprecated the conduct of the State commercial enterprises generally.

Mr C. H. Poole urged the Minister to open up the well-known coal areas in the Auckland district. Hon. W. 1). S. McDonald, replying, .said interest land been charged. So far as the State coal mine was concerned there had been no loss, but £38,000 had been lost in connection with prospecting operations, and £16,000 on the briquette works. The total capital invested in Stale coal mines was £509,721. The mines had paid £201,126 for railway haulage, which meant that in two years the mines would have paid for the railnay. Up to the Mist March last, the mines had produced 2,695,130 tons of coal, valued at £2,168,(567. Alter deducting the profi s from the Point Elizabeth mine, the loss on the State coal ventures was only £16,000, to which, however, bad been added thirteen or fourteen thousand which bad not been set aside as a reserve.. It. had, oi course, to be borne in mind that the State coal mine had been an important factor in keeping the price of coal down, and when they were able to get better shipping facilities there was a good time in front of State coal, The Mining Department had at present experts investigating the coal areas in the Auckland districts.

The vote was passed. The following votes were also passed : Government Insurance, £69,456; Public Trustee, £46,080; Scenery Preservation, £10,401; Government Accident, Insurance £7200; State Fire Insurance account, £40,994; S'.ite Advances account, £543,323, and Native account, £2095. The House rose at 11 p.m.