REDUCED HANSARDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1917, Page 6

REDUCED HANSARDS.

, MEMBERS GREATLY EXERCISED. By Telegraph—(Parliamentary Reporter. Wellington, July 11. The House spent the afternoon discussing Hansard with a greater display ■jof interest than lias 'been evoked by any other subject during the session. The proposal ito reduce each member's allowance of Hansards from seventy-five to | twenty-five touches a member even more j keenly than the suggested curtailment I of the reports, since it forces them to make a selection among the-present recipients in their electorates, who, it appears, are thirsting for Hansard, and members are prepared to sacrifice the school journal, departmental reports, or almost anything else if the flow of embalmed speeches remains unchecked. The House contains several practical printers who were able to point to the wastefulness of the official printing methods. A saving of twenty-five per cent, could be effected at once by reducing the margins and spaces on many documents. The reduction of copies quite obscured the question of curtailed reports, but members had something to say about the newspaper reports which appear to be regarded in parliamentary ' circles as shockingly inadequate.. Speakers pictured the eager electors with appetites merely whetted by the daily press waiting for the satisfying fare provided by the volumes of Hansard. The report containing the committee's recommendation was talked out, but it will come forward again, and the Government Printing Office must reduce its output since otherwise it will run out of paper altogether.