POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 127, 7 September 1910, Page 5

POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES

FACTORY ACT AMENDMENT. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent). Wellington, Last Night. The Factories Act Amendment Bill has been introduced by Mr. Millar. It provides that in every factory there shall be kept a wages and overtime book, showing the name of the employee, his age if under twenty-one years of age, the kind of work on which he is employed, the hours of his employment during each week, the wages paid each week, and such other particulars as are prescribed by the regulations. \The book shall at all times be open for inspection by the inspector. There are clauses dealing with the hours of employment in laundrijs. The hours that any male person over the age of sixteen may be employed shall not exceed 48 hours' (including meal times) in any one week, nor over eight and three-quarters of an I hour in any one day; nor shall any such person who is an employee be employed for more than Ave hours continuously without an interval of at least throequarters of an hour for a meal. The hours that any woman or boy may be employed shall not exceed 45 hours' (excluding meal times) in any one week, nor over eight and a quarter hours in any one day; nor shall any such person who is an employee be employed foi more than four hours and a quarter continuously without an interval of at least three-quarters of an hour for a meal. In exceptional cases the inspector may grant a warrant for the extension of hours to be worked. It is proposed in section 4, that on and after Ist January, 1011, it shall be unlawful for the occupier of any New Zealand factory to manufacture clothing and textile goods, leather goods, furniture, canned and preserved goods, unless each article is branded "Made in New Zea : land." A breach of this regulation. is to carry a penalty not exceeding £1 for each, unbranded article. The Governor is to be empowered to extend this section to other classes of goods in addition to those mentioned. Stock books are to be kept'by manufacturers, showing, with dates, the goods manufactured from day to day, and these books are to be open for 'inspection. "On being satisfied," concludes this section, "on the representation of any occupier] manufacturing any of the classes of goods to which these provisions apply, that it is impracticable to give effect thereto in respect to such goods until some time after the coming jiito operation of this section, the Minister may, bv notice in the Gazette, extend the time. Such extension may be limited to any particular occupier or district." MAORI''TOWNSHIPS. Mr. Jennings will ask the Prime Minister whether the Government will secure the Tepuru and Karewa Maori township sites, adjoining Kawhia, and dispose of the same to settlers. (Note: Kawhia' township is very cramped, and the natives are anxious to sell Tepuru and Karewa Maori township sites, which have been surveyed.) The purchase of these places would be a good investment oh the part of the Government. 1 GETTING TO WORK. 1 The principal, political event of the day, outside of the House, is a statement made by Mr. Massey to the reporters, to the effect that he is very glau to be able to say that the House is settling at last to business. As I had not observed this salutory ond much to be desired consummation, I felt somewhat astonished, but as Mr. Massey is the chief of the side whose business it ought to be to make the Government work, one ought to be satisfied. He wants to know why the estimates art not taken every Friday, night, as in former years. The reply of the other gide is that the Opposition stands in the way, as they are by no means ready to go into committee for supply or to do any other business, practically stonewalling the whole time. But Mr. Massey is not content with criticism. He has a constructive policy. He wants to have a general overhaul of all the Government accounts for the purpose of getting to the bottom of many things, which are now supposed to be bottomless. During his talk, he had something to say about the manoeuvre by which most of his followers were compelled to record their votes against the third reading of the Debt Extinction Bill It is clear that the Opposition did not like the move at all. They uphold the principle of sinking funds, but dislike the details of the present measure. When a division was called for, they felt nonplussed. They ought not to have been put into that position, said Mr. Massey. It will take the Opposition a long time to explain satisfactorily the vote they gave against the second reading. Mr. .Masseys chivalrous explanation is regarded as the main reason of the somewhat remarkable' interview he accorded this morning. A LITTLE LIST OF "INNOCENTS."

Mr. Massey's remark about the busi-l ness has set many tongues wagging in a sort of prophecy of wonderment. The majority concentrate upon the Oiv.er Paper, admitting that all the small bills are on the top and all the important ones at the bottom. They are now a goodly companv, these measures that count—Crown Suits Amendment. Secret Commission Defence Amendment, Contagious Diseases Repeal, Factories, Harbours, Coal Mines, Crimes. Destitute Persons Relief, Indecent Publications, Education, Tramways, Education Amendment. It is a little list, somewhat portentous and discursive . Then there is the Public Works Statement. One might almost name the victims of tjje usual massacre of the innocents. At present it is too soon. Thejact is that the session is going on in the leisurely into which most sessions fall. PROPHECY. At all. events whatever happens, it' appears safe to say that a bill will toe brought in for increasing to £4OO the the. Advances Act, The Auckland members, moreover, are organising a little surprise. It is a sort of grand procession and a fiery demonstration of strength, over their project to keep the present Government House of Auckland still a Government House, and raise "Cain{,' until they succeed. Then there is local government and the trusts—those immortal trusts which prey on the vitals of the people and furnish endless pabuluin for politicians to make merry over. Lastly—and this must be read in a whisper—there is the Land Bill. The most intrepid of tipsters takes care to risk as little of his hard earned reputation by prognostication. DO MINISTERS LACK STEAM? There are complaints about the lack ! of energjt on the part of Ministers inj dividuallyt This is a discovery, of some" 1 friends of Dr. Findlay, who have hit on this method of' elevating his mana. Hence, when they have exhausted language on the supineness of the doctor's colleagues, they set themselves roundly to the task of booming the phenomenal activity of the doctor. One might say that if Dr. Findlay were to stand for ;any constituency now, it

[would be safe to bet on his r ' -vn. Time was when the .betting was mrely the other way, but men change tc- the better when they are clever and le<u'iiea' and ready of wit. MENTAL DEFECTIVES. AN IMPORTANT BILL. A comprehensive bill of 47 pages to consolidate and amend the law relating < to the care and control of mentally defective persons has been introduced in the House of Representatives. A "mentally defective person," means any person who, owing to his mental condition requires oversight, care or control for his own good, or m the public interest, and who, according to the nature of his mental defect, and of the oversight, care on control deemed to be necessary, is included in one of the following' classes. Class 1. "Persons of unsound, mind," that is, persons who, owing to disorders of the mind, are incapable of managing themselves, .or their affairs; j class 2. "Persons mentally infirm," that is, persons who, through mental infirmity, arising from age or the decay of their faculties, are incapable of man- 1 aging thmselves or their affairs; class! 3. "Idiots,' that is, persons so deficient 1 in mind from birth or from an early age, that they are unable to guard themselves against common physical dangers, and therefore require the oversight, care or control exercised in the case of young children; class 4. "Im-I beciles," that is, persons who, though capable of guarding themselves against common physical dangers, are incapable or if of school age, will presumably when older be incapable of earning their own living by reason of mental deficiency existing from birth, or from an early age; class 5. "Feeble-minded," that is, persons who may be capable of earning a living under favourable cir-'. cumstanees, but are incapable from mental deficiency existing from birth, or from an early age, of competing on equal, terms with their normal fellows, or of managing themselves and their affairs with ordinary prudence; class 6. "Epileptics," that is, persons suffer-1 ing from epilepsy, who are also mentally! defective and require such oversight,! care or control as to justify their in- j elusion in a separate class.