POLITICAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 45, 14 July 1914, Page 7

POLITICAL.

I'KTITION FOli ltE-IMBURSEMBNT. A ipetition was presented to the House of Representatives 011 Thursday on behalf mf William T. Jennings, sometime mcmboj- for Taiimanmui- It will lie remembered that in April, 1019, the right of Mr limning* to sit as a member of the Waita.ra Harbor Board, to which body he had been -appointed by the late Government, was challenged by members of the Board 011-the ground, that he was uoi, then on the roll of the Waitara Harbor Board. Lately the J Mi»i»ter for Marine, after inquiry into the facts and consultation with the Crown Law Officers, called upon Mr lings t» Design. He'did not resign, and in December. 1913, Mr .lenuinirs was cited before the Supreme Court, Judgment want against him,'and lie had '0 pay all cof-ts. He is now petitioning Parliament to be re-imbursed for bis expense. SPIES IX Till-; PUBLIC SER.YICK.

In the liouse of Representatives, on Thursday, Mr C. K. Wilson, member for Tatimarunui, said that he knew of one public officer "who, in reply to complaints from settlers about ths noa-eK-peiiditure o r Government grants, lad leplicd that the money had not been made available, when in actual fact, t'he money had been authorised weeks earlier. "That is the type of man," said Mr Wilson, "that the expenditure of public money is being left in the hands of, and they are scheming for the purpose of injuring the present Government, who are doing everything in their power to give assistance so long delayed to settlers in the back country. I know of a. case that occurred the other day. Money had been authorised for months and months, and instead of the road overseer doing his work, the grant was wasted in an immoral way, and at the same time the overseer was trying to put the fault upon the Government. Metal for, tinwork for which the money was pirovid cd was cracked last year, and although he had authority to put it on, he formed and grade 1 the piece of road right late into the winter, and to-day that road is three feet deep in mud, the expenditure is blocked and all the metal iB still lying, not put on the road. That man is a public servant. . . There are men put into the service as political spies, and they are the paid agents of tilie Opposition to spy on the Government and give information to the Opposition. "The overseers are fooling with the co-operative laborersI—deliberately 1 —deliberately and wilfully fooling with) them. Why does an over-seer tell co-operative laborers tlat the rate for the work in hard is a shilling a yard when he knows very well he will have to pay 3s (id? j What right has the overseer to try and fool thess workmen? It is- easy to understand the object of this sort, of thing. . . 'Why should he toll the men that lie is getting a shilling a yard when he knows "very well they are getting 3s Od? . . . Thlese men can have, only one. object, and that sort of thing must be stopped, .because it is not fair to the working man, and most unjust to the Government that pays them their salaries.

The Hon. W. Fraser (Minister of Public Works) made (says the Dominion) a brief statement afterwards, "lest iis silence might be misinterpreted." I; the 'honourable gentleman would formulate charges" against certain officers, Jic said, giving the names of the men, and the locality, he would have a searching enquiry made into the matter. and if the charges were true._ the trouble would not occur again. "But," he said. "I have had complaints by letter from some men that they can't get work because the gangers would not put thtni on. And I have sent a competent officer who had seen the ganger and the man supposed to write a letter, and the man said that tlie whole thing was a fabrication. That sort of thing goes on. But I do' not think T should take as proven charges against my own officers until I have proved .them, myself."