A Parliamentary Notebook

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 157, 23 September 1927, Page 8

A Parliamentary Notebook

Mostly Tariff

(■IEE SL.V’S Rarlia ’nentary Rrportrrl WELLINGTON, Tenia/ The presentation of the report nf the Tariff Commission gave member; of the House of Representatives tb opportunity of discussing the general question of tariff, an opportunity wwS. was fully availed of. Wci Government hills were dealt wi-h the evening. a The Counties Amendment Bill the chief provision of which is to eh-f councils power to make bv-laws ora hibiting hoardings passed the second reading. a I The Legislative Council passed the Summer Time and the Marriaa» Amendment. Bills. ** a The House rose at 1 a.nu Bible-i n-Schools BiII The Education Committee of the House recommended that the proceed' ings before the committee In conned tion with the Religious Exercises ii Schools Bill should be open to reore sentattves of the Press. The House agreed to this. Deadlock on War Disabilities A deadlock appears to have been reached between the Legislative Council and the House of Representative, respecting the War Disabilities R*. moral Bill, with which the Council disagreed recently. When the Council reported its insistence in disagreeing with the Bil to the House to-day the House passed a further resolution maintaining an adamant stand, and suggesting that a conference should he arranged to produce a compromise and secure the effective passage of the measure. %f He Higher Prices for Movies Will picture theatre patrons have to pay higher admission prices if the Government's tariff proposals are given effect to? Several members of the House of Representatives say they will. They work it out this way: A programme of 12,000 feet of film contains about 2,000 feet of British film. If the American stuff carries s.n extra duty of twopence a foot, the film importers, and incidentally the exhibitors, will be hit so hard that they will have to pass the extra cost on to the people in 90 per cent, of the theatres of the Dominion. The extra cost to the people as a result of this is estimated at £86.000 per tnnum. Mortgage Indemnity The Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Downie Stewart, hopes before the end of the present session of Parliament to have legislation introduced adjusting the present, position respecting the mortgagee indemnity assurance, recognising that the liability is far too remote. He informed the House today that the question was being considered as to whether it would lie possible to do away with it entirely, or to fix a nominal system of charge, id? r{v Foreign Cocksfoot Inquiries are being made by the Department of Agriculture into the question of staining cocksfoot seeds imported from Denmark, so that these may be discriminated from the New Zealand product. In reply to a suggestion made te the House to-day by Mr. McCombs, the Minister of Customs promised to look into the question of whether a small duty could be Imposed upon foreign cocksfoot seed. The Minister said he understood that the farmers preferred the New Zealand seed. He would investigate the position before the tariff wai finished with. iK iK i Signs and Portents “I thought yon were pulling my leg,* said Sir Maui Pomare across ths House of Representatives tonight to Mr. D. G. Sullivan, Avon, who had taken him to task for the answer he had given to a question on advertising hoardings. Mr. Sullivar assured Sir Maul that he had taken him seriously as having entered on a campaign to clear hoardings from railway stations. Sir Maui, ir. justifying the elimination of country hoardings, mentioned that he had seen an advertisement, “Drink Blank's Tea,” while immediately below it was advice of “T. K. Jones, undertaker.” Mr. P. Sullivan, laughingly: What about the sign, “Prepare to meet thy God.”? Sir Maui: I have not gone that far yet. I will leave that to you when you get over on these benches.