IN PARLIAMENT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3572, 7 September 1920, Page 5

IN PARLIAMENT.

THE MEMBER FOE WAIMARINO. i DISCUSSION OF ESTIMATES. | I I The case for school committees — Plunket Nurse provision extension — Hospital improvement urged and promised —Bush wanted for Go.-operative sawmilling—An appeal for Soldier Settlers. WELLINGTON, This Day. During discussion tm the 'Estimates Mr. E. W. Smith made several strong appeals for improvements of a most important and urgent character. On vote- for Education, Mi*. Smith said: “I wish to say a word or two on the matter mentioned by the lion, member for Eiccarton. No doubt the schools are not now allowed the amount necessary for incidental expenses. I am not saying this by way of complaint but by way of suggestion, | because I know the Minister is very ! anxious to do what he can for the ! schools, and for those dependent upon them. 1 wank to assure you that I know of cases ’where the; Lend master himself has at times found it necessary to do the charwork, and I am sure that the minister does not wish that, kind of thing to continue. I wanr also to draw attention to the fact that of recent years it has been almost impossil/e to get people to take the responsibility of becoming committeemen for country school's. I am sure if he> will look through the Departmental reports, he will find that in many cases commissioners have had to be appointed. An Hon. Member; —No attendance at meetings. Mr. E. W. Smith; —No, they cannot get people to attend the meetings. Country people get tired of attending for the reason that directly they take upon themselves he responsibilities of committeemen the Education Board of the distinct, calls upon them to find practically the whole of the incidental expenses. In this connection ' 1 is quite impossible to run country schools at anything like the same cost per head as town or city schools, I think that must be obvious to everybody. I do want to impress upon the Minimi ex 1 the very important point brought up by the member for Riccarton, that something more should be clone in the way of providing an additional amount to cover the incidental expenses in connection with country schools. I sincerely hope that, he will give this his earnest attention. As far as I am concerned I am willing to supply him with particulars which I feel qni-e sure wi’l open his eyes. The Hon. Mr. Pair: —I should be glad to have them. Mr. R. W. Smith: —I will write asking the school committees concerned, to send particulars. I trust the Minister wi 1 l see that something more is done, otherwise you are not going to gC“ people in the country to take up the responsibilities of school committee work, and without a good active school committee no school can ’"' A as 'effective and efficient as it ought to be. With reference to Hospital and Charitable Aid Mr Smith said he was very pleased to bear that the Minister proposed to increase the vote for the Blanket Nurses, ft was impos-

siblc to over estimate the good they were doing and there were not nearly sufficient of these nurses working in the country districts, and he hoped { to see their number largely increased j l in the very near future. He would j like to know from the Minister how i many Government maternity nurses j there were in the back-blocks of the j King Country. How many were | there, for instance, at present working i | in the back country between Marton j | and To Kuiti? I The Hon. Mr Parr said them were ! forty-two of these nurses in ‘the j whole of New Zealand, but. he could ; not say where they were located. It j was difficult to get nurses to go into 1 the back country districts. I ; Mr R. W. Smith said he was not 1 surprised at that, seeing how the nurj ses were accommodated in the back i country districts. Nurses would not j be coaxed there until the conditions 1 under which they worked were made I acceptable to them. Then, he hoped j the Minister would look into the sysi tom of establishing cottage hospitals. He recalled how the Taihape people i were stalled off time after time because the Wanganui Hospital Board wanted all patients sent to- its hospital. It was not possible to get a hospital at Taihape until the then Minister (the Hon. Mr Fowlds) | threatened the Board to establish a separate dis* riot for Taihape unless a hospital were given to the district. He hoped that suitable hospitals would be erected at Ohaknne and Raetihi. which were the centres of bush districts in which accidents .often happened. The local people had subscribed money and sites were ready, but for over two years they had waited in vain. Would the Minister take an active personal interest in the matter and make a point of going into it and seeing that the Wanganui Hospital Board did its duty by the people in the localities he had named. The Minister in reply, promised to give the matter of hospital accommo- ! dation his personal attention. Mr Smith supported those members i who had contended that the nurses I were not nearly sufficiently well paid. I for instance the payment of 11/ to 12/6 a week to probationers was absurdly low considering the number of hours they put in. He was glad to hear the Minister was likely to make better provision for nurses and in that.be would have the support of the \ whole country. To induce nurses to take up back-block work he suggested that arrangements should be made for providing them with a bonus In j addition to their ordinary pay. It was very necessary that someone should go out and do the country work, and nurses could not he expected to take up country work unless the remuneration was much higher than for the | same work in town. The amendi meats made in the law a few years j ago operated very harshly on back . i districts for the reason, that those engaged in maternity nursing, were, by those amendments, called upon to pass certain technical examinations or l give Up nursing, and as a result the i services of many splendid women, ' who had for years done magnificent > work, were lost, and those dependent 1 upon them suffered in consequence. * He knew of one small centre where ' the maternity nurse had been disquali--1 tied and as a result the womenfolk in that district had now to travel to ■ other centres for confinements. The cost of which had increased from

about £6 to nearly £3O and whereas in the past mothers were treated in their own homes, they now had to journey to nursing homes and leave their families to the mercy of others. If people were to be encouraged to go into and remain in the country, the back-blocks districts must not be penalised in this respect as against the cities. He would also like an assurance that the question of providing adequate hospital accommodation for Oahkune and Raetihi would receive the Minister’s personal attention. The Minister in reply, promised to give the matter of hospital accommodation at Ohakune and Raetihi his personal attention, and also to consider the suggestion of granting a bonus to back country nurses. He wished to bring under the notice of the Minister the advisability of letting our b«’ts of country carrying milling timber on the co-operative system, so that a. number of workmen could form a company and go in for milling on Crown Lands on their own account. It would result in the bush being cut out much tfleauer than under the present system and prove of advantage to the country and at the same time give the workmen an opportunity of doing something for themselves. He hoped the Minister would be able to consider favourably, the applications he had a7ready. placed before him in this connection. There was a large belt of country lying between Horopito and Baurimu upon which there was growing and lying a lot of useful st’ver pine, and bther timbers. Silver pine was required’ very badly by farmers for posts and also by the Telegraph Department for posts and poles. He asked that the minister shoo’d have a report made upon

the matter, because there had been too great an inclination to limit the cutting of that bush. The difficulty could bo got over by arranging with the Commissioner of Crown Lands and some of the members of the Wellington Laud Beard to spend a few days in the district and see the position for themselves. 1 Another matter he wished to refer to was the niggard)’y t ftmt the members of the Land Boards were receiving. They were receiving a paltry guinea a day with (id a aule one way for travelling expenses, with the result that, each trip they made to Wellington found them considerably out, of pocket. Some better provision should be made for them. There was a time when such remuneration might have been sufficient, but to-dav j the members of land boards did an , enormous amount of work. Meetings j lasting in some cases as long as four | days. They were frequently called upon to make trips in) o the country, which entailed coi.Mdcrab'k' expense and inconvenience. They were playing a very important part in connection with the land settlement of this country and were doing excellent work for both Government and settlers, and he hoped that the minister would see his way to make provision on me Supplementary Estimates foiv a considerable increase i the remuneration for Land Board members. The Minister in reply expressed his sympathy with the suggest, ion of letting out bush to co-operative parties and would do what he could to bring I it about . He promised to see what could be done to make available the silver pine and other ihTrTS -s b'-twe n Horopito and Raurimu, provided the land mentioned was not pan of the National Park. He recognised that members of land boards ware not receiving suffi- ; cient remuneration and would make provisiqn to have it increased. Mr. Smith wished to join with other members in congratulating the Minister for Lands on the very sat is fad (ffy working of his Department. There was a large area of Crown Land in his district and he must Say that the •treatment, of the Crown tenants and the management generally was ah that could be desired and reflected credit, not only upon the Minister hut also upon his staff. The eulogistic references jusit made by Col. Mitch eh, who was looked upon as the soldiers ’ representative, must have been most gratifying to the Minister. Mr. Bennett, chairman of the Mangapurua soldier settlement on the; Wanganui River —a settlement of between GO and 70 setldlers —had also borne testimony to the management of the Minister and his officers. He considered however, that there were far too few Crown Land Rangers. The work had increased enormously, and additional, suitable officers should be appointed to cope with it. Hon. Mr. Guthrie: —There is £10.500 on the estimates this year for that purpose, Mr. R. W Smith said he was very pleased bo hear that He thought the ‘time had come when provision should be made for disposing of land to civVlians for settlement purposes. —especially men with families He agreed that' returned men should be supplied with the laud they required, but thought the Government should now be in a position to give the civilian population an opportunity of securing land. He suggested the opening up of portions of the large block of land lying to the east of the Main Trunk Line, between Waimarino and Te Xuiti. He was sure that if a report were obtained upon that area, it would be found that considerable portion of it, was suitable for settlement He did not suggest that the portions carrying milling bush should not be reserved for milling, bui* of his own knowledge knew there many ! thousands of acres in the block referred to which w°re of no milling value, but very suitable for farming | purposes. j Hon. Si v W. H. Henries: —We are v ■ „ f- , v-,.:,- interest now. Hon. Mr. Guthrie:—And we are { loading it too. M. R. W. Smith thanked the Ministers for the.ir replies and hoped that everything possible wow'd bo done to hurry F on to the market He wished to ask the Minister of Lairds if he could sec his way fo open np immediately for soldier settlement the laud belonging to the Wanganui River Trus l ' now being administered by the Lands Department? , He suggested that arrangements shoiVd be made to allow settlers to go on to that land before it was surveyed, or after only a flying survey had been made. There were a number of relumed men living in the locality, who would gladly take it up on those terms. 5e wished also to draw the Minister's attention to the small amount now allowed for fencing, which was not nearly sufficient, and many injustices had been done to those who found it necessary" to fence on behalf of their neighbours. He asked the Minis* e-" to take into serimus consideration the proposal to increase th o amount allowed anyone for ovontiug a fence. The whole expend • p •• r-n f ;; { tc ' iu-l’ldi’.

felling of lines was not less than £s' a chain, but the law allowed only £2. Ho also wished to see the officers in the Laud Department paid larger salaries, the good work done by thorn merited better recognition. He asked ! lie Minister to state what the vote of £144 in connection with the Wairuariuo township wag for, and also for information in regard to the votes of £250 and £7 ; 75 for Wanganui River improvement and Wanganui mail service respectively and he would like to know what the: Government proposed doing in. connection with this service.. It was high time that' " some definite policy was decided upon in this important matter. Aa one who had had to ask the Lands Department for remissions of rents for settlers —he appreciated what had been done and was glad t 0 riee tlie ion £ list of remissions provided for in the Estimates. It indicated how sympathetically the Act had been administered. He heartily thanked the Minister for the generosity shown for those who suffered through the'busk fires at Raotibi. The treatment that had been given reflected the highest possible credit on all concerned. Not one shilling of the money had been wasted, and the assistance was given at a most critical time, with a result that the settlers interested, were to-day in a much -better than it hey possibly could have betpi had the Government not come to their assistance. The Minister in reply said he hoped in the very near future that surveyors would survey the land on the Wanganui River which had been referred to. In connection with Fencing Act. he recognised that the amount at present allowed was too small and would give it his attention. Re Wanganui River service, he was fully alive to tlie position. The present arrangements in connection with, the service would expire af the end of this year, ana in the meantime Government would go into the whole matter, with a view of deciding upon a future policy.