POLITICAL NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 82, 15 July 1910, Page 7

POLITICAL NOTES.

(By Telegraph.—From •hir Parliamentary Reporter). Wellington, Last Night. THE STATUTES. The cost of a set if the Consolidated Statutes is £5 8s ...1. The number of copies printed up to day is 2506. ACOIDSNTS IN STATE MINES. In the two years ended 31st October, 1909, there were no fewer than 210 accidents in the State coal mines at Point Elizabeth and Greymouth. The accidents range from "a finger injured between two pieces of stone whilst throwing one piece away" to "killed by fall of stone" and "killed whilst riding on trucks against regulations." VALUATION DEPARTMENT. The net cost of the valuation Department for the year was £9902. The total expenditure was £28,252. Salaries absorbed £19,732, fees to valuers £lOl6, and travelling allowances and expenses £3804^ OLD AGE PENSIONS.

Gross payments during the year amounted to £302,498, being £25,735 in excess of the previous year's. After making allowance for payments not passed through the accounts on account of some informality, and also for refunds of pensions over-paid, the net charge against the Consolidated Fund was £302,195, to which has been applied a credit of £20,152, being revenue from the endowment lands. The net increase in the cost for the year accordingly stands at £5521. The total now paid since the Act came into operation has reached the sum of £2,767,011. The distribution of the year's payments in the various parts of the Dominion is indicated by the following table:—

FARMS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS. The Government's scheme for settling retrenched civil servants on the land, upon favorable conditions, was only taken advantage of to a limited extent. It was decided to set aside for this purpost an area of about 13,!)!)!) acres, lying' lying westerly of Raurimu, Owhango, Kakahi and Piriaka, situated on the North Island Main Trunk railway line, and sub-divided into 102 sections, each of 20!) acres or under. Notwithstanding the fact that retrenched civil servants had a certain amount of'preference, only some thirty-five applied, whilst some of the successful declined to take up their sections, and at the present there are only four retrenched civil servants on the settlement. Of the 102 successful applicants, twenty-nine, for various reasons, either declined to take up or would »ot comply with the preliminary conditions. These vacant sections are being allotted and balloted for chiefly amongst men with families who were unsuccessful originally, and who are now resident along the railway line. A little later on, as the sections being milled by the Railway Department become cleared, they will ibe opened. The Lands Department's report shows that seventeen settlers have taken uu residence, five in houses on their sections, the rest in tents pitched on roadside, or on natural clearings. There are thirty-nine souls on the land. Sixteen other settlers are employed on roadworks in the block. Little in the way of improvements has been done this year, except in clearing fern and light scrub, and in a few cases the erection of cottages. About 200 acres have been cleared of bush, scrub and fern, at a cost of £125, and five houses have been built, improvements to the value of £264 being effected. As the first of the settlers did not arrive on the land until the end of November, it was then too late to fell any heavy bush, as it would not have dried sufficiently to ensure a burn, but it is expected that a good bit will be cue down during the winter. The settlers have had meetings to discuss the question of starting dairy factories, and it is probable that within a few years several factories will -be under way. It was arranged with the Public Works Department that the improved-farm settlers should have preference on road-works. Contracts were iept for some of the Mttlers who had written prior to proceeding to this block, but, notwithstanding this, they did not appear, and, therefore, now only men actually on the land are given road-work. Two miles and a half of bridle-tracks have been made, r.nd half a mile is in hand.

Postal District No. Am t Auckland .. 36,982 £75,110 Thames 0.503 13,505 .. 2,300 2,587 0,471 13,038 New Plymouth .. 3,091 0,200 5,324 11.091 Wellington .. ,. .. 17.831 30,107 3,030 7,359 2,007 4,126 Christchurch .. .. .. 29,468 60,183 6,783 13,574 Greymouth .. 6,290 13,295 6,432 13,591 3,439 7,267 3,747 7,640 .. 27,304 54,653 Invercargill .. .. 11,162 23,038 Totals .. 23,038 £177,839