SESSION INCIDENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 453, 7 September 1928, Page 16

SESSION INCIDENTS

Queries and Asides

(THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter)

WELLINGTON, Thursday. Rumour that the House intends soon io start sitting on Mondays are current. No definite announcement has been made, but it would not be surprising if Monday sittings were soon instituted, as the Government has much business to get through before the session ends. Yesterday afternoon was devoted to departmental reports. After accepting the report of the Marine Department the House agreed to the release of six other departmental reports, the motions to print which had been talked out earlier in the session. The House was in a working mood in the evening and dispatched 20 local Bills to various destinations. The only serious hold-up occurred on the Christchurch Tramways Amendment., on which Christchurch and district members indulged in prolonged discussion. *5 * Neglected Harbour The condition of the Westport Harbour was referred to by Mr. H. E. Holland, Buller, in the House. He said there was evidence that the bar was silting up, and that ships which, in other days, would have gone out with 3,000 tons of coal, now went but with only 1,500 tons. Mr. Holland said there was at present no marine engineer in charge of the harbour, and no one locally was capable of doing what was required to keep the bar open. They wanted the removal of Government control and the resumption of local control. What they wanted was a good dredge, guided by the advice of a skilled marine engineer, and the restoration of local control. * & & lAnother Railway Return I Mr. W. A. Veltch is a persisItent critic, by inference, if in no other

way, of the railways. To-day he asked for a return of the number of car and wagon axles renewed between 1918 and 1928, of the amount of expenditure thereon, the number of axle failures, and the number of accidents caused by those failures. & X & Lonely Lighthouse-keepers Presentation of the Marine Department’s report gave Mr. T. M. Wilford an opportunity, to-day, to plead for greater consideration for lighthousekeepers, particularly in respect of facilities for -recreation, holidays, literature and sick pay. He characterised the Government’s, present allowance of £IOO a year for literature and reading matter for lighthouse-keepers as niggardly, and said that a staff of relieving lighthouse-keepers should be maintained. Minister In Airy Mood The amount which Auckland members had to say on various maritime subjects, principally the serious depletion of the Northern fishing grounds, made the afternoon largely an Auckland day. In his reply the Minister, Sir Maui Pomare, showed no disposition whatever to treat the representations of members seriously. & rh Auctioneers Bill The Auctioneers Bill, which was introduced some weeks ago and which raised some controversy, particularly as to the clauses requiring auctioneers to establish trust funds, was returned substantially amended by the committee. Minor alterations have been effected to the clauses covering the issue of licences, while the clause prohibiting night auctions has been thrown out altogether. The general effect of the amend-