POLITICAL NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 80, 13 July 1910, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES.

HARBOR BOARD CONSTITUTION. Country members of the .House are going to show a considerable amount of activity when the Harbors Act Amendment Bill reaches the committee stage. There is a feeling that the country districts, where the actual producers ol the exported merchandise live, are to be inadequately represented on the new boards, as compared with the city members. Without upsetting the general arrangements of the schedule specifying the constitution of the various harbor boards, they will probably endeavor to appropriate for the country districts one of the two positions to be held by payers of dues, as they consider these interests would be well represented by the jmen elected on a municipal franchise.

THE NEW STATE COLLIERY. The big developmental work at the No. 2 State coal mine, Point Elizabeth, is progressing at a satisfactory rate, and the Minister of Mines (Hon. R. Mckenzie) informed a New Zealand Times representative that in twelve taonths the mine will be in full working order. ; The branch railway is well advanced, and the construction of big storage bins uas commenced. An inclined tramway is to provide communication between the ordinary railway and the colliery. j.nis has been under construction for some time. Headings are now being driven into the seam, and coal of splendid quality encountered. The mine, like most undertakings of the kind, has required an enormous amount of preliminary work before the coal can be marketed, but the indications are that it will prove a thoroughly satisfactory venture.

DOMINION'S MERCHANT FLEET. New Zealand's maritime interests are quite extensive in proportion to its population. Excluding the small vessels engaged in river work, there are 441 vessels registered in the Dominion, their aggregate tonnage being 133,852 tons. (Jpon them are employed 5233 men and boys. The home trade employs 366 vessels out of this tota'l, while 41 are engaged partly in home and foreign trade. The proportion of sailing vessels to steam is larger than that found in the bigger mercantile fleets, being 168 out of this total. BIG MORTGAGE FIGURES.

Transfers of land under the Transfer Act to the number of 3569 were dealt with by the Wellington office of that department last year, 1538. acres of .town land, and 197,731 acres of country land, of a tota'l value of £2,121,244, being involved. Wellington heads the, Dominion for the amount of money loaned on mortgage. The amount secured by the transactions of last year exceeded £3,000,000, while the total amount secured by way of mortgage on March 31, 1910, was £22,736,650. Canterbury came next with £17,000,000 worth of mortgages, the total for the Dominion being £77,777,721. This is an increase of £5,477,652 compared with the previous year.