POLITICAL NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1917, Page 8

POLITICAL NOTES.

A BAD LANDLORD. (From our Parliamentary Reporter. V. ellington, August 31. T:i (lie House of Representatives today "Mr. A. Glover (Auckland Central) read a telegram lie had received from an Auckland woman, the mother of four soldier; at present at the front. The women stated that 1 !it; landlord had pui the lmilills in her house iu connection with a claim for £8 Oh. mid she wantc.t the Defence Department to assist .her in her trouble by paying money allotted to her by her son.'.. Mr. Glover mentioned the name of the man responsible for the appearance of the bailiffs, and said that he was one of the worst landlords ir. Auckland. The member :idded that he intended to see what the Defence Minister could do iu the matter. Tire FINANCE BILL. The dt on to oti the second reading of the Flifinee Bill was concluded early this evening. despite prediction:- that it would extend into nex't week, '"lie Minister for Finance spoke for an hoar in closing the debate, but he had not much important pr'Ueism to answer. The keynote 01 his speech again was the necessity of raisin" the money required by the country in time of war. lie took tlia opportunity to say quite bluntly that the experience of a National Government did not give members the right to disregard allegiance to the Ministry and to form groups in support of particular interests. The taxation proposali -.vere interdependent and was not prepared to sacrifice any revenue. lie seemed to have boon attracted by the suggestion of Mr YYilford that as the tobacconists have added one penny a packet to the price of cigarettes the Government should take the whole penny instead of a fraction of it. This ean be done by withdrawing the increased excise duty and requiring a war stamp to be affixed to each packet of cigaretUi :-old retail. LAI'D PURCHASE. The chairman of the Land Purchase Commissioners, in his annual renort, says that over 50,000 acres have been purchased and offered for selection during the vear ut t. cost of nearly £000,00". The operations of the Department have been confined entirely to the purchase of lands tor returned soldiers, and th ' supply is now well ahead of flic demand. In some districts very Tew applications are being received. With the present extreme prices ruling for all produce there is little prospect of values for land receding; therefore some simpler but still effective method may be liecessiry to enable the Department to provide land for soldiers at a rental they can leasonably be expected to pay. No land settlement finance associations have been formed during the year, and until a more workable a/'t is provided it Is doubtful if much will be done. TAXPAYERS' BURDENS. Sir Joseph Ward, in closing the debate o-i the second reading of the Finance Bill, made an uncompromisimr reply to to critics who had su»w-twl that too many burdens were being placed upon the taxpayers. "The people of this couniry will be mighty ljicky if they do not have to pay a great dral more taxation ihnn we are charging now," he said. If the war continues after the end of the present year, then lite taxation imposed in next year's Budget nece.-sorily will be much higher than tile lavation imposed by this Bill. We need money and it is idle to talk of taking oil' any part of the txation now proposed. "A member interjected that it was not necessary to pile up reserves in London. The Jliivistcr for Finance said that was a matter of opinion. He believed that it was sound oolicy to establish a large reserve in London. The Dominion would be sounder and safer for the existence of those reserves, and would feci the benefit of them when the war was over. He indicated that ho was go ; ng to take further measures to avoid hardship in connection with the taxation of companies, and be announced that the personnel and the function; of tl)» Boa:-, that is to consider appeals of persons reouired compulsorily to contribute to the war loan would be extended. fie foreshadowed also a change in the incidence of the cigarette lax involving retailers an opportunity to make a profit on the added excise. Apparently he proposes to institute a system of affixing duty stamps to cigarette packets, PATRIOTIC FUNDS. Wellington, August 20.' The Minister for Internal Alfairs, answering a question in the House to-day, said that there was no proposal before the Government for taking over or In any way interfering with the control of patriotic funds at present in thi; hands of societies. There was no possibility of such a proposal being considered. The Government had already created a War Funds Council, which was prepared to assume responsibility for the administration of funds on behalf of any patriotic society which preferred to let the work be done by the central authority with tho aid of local committees. Tliat was the full extent of the Government's scheme. W.-IR PENSIONS. The work of the War Pensions Board was discussed brielly in the House today. Members slated they realised the Board was doing good work, but the members were not infallible, and applicants should have some right of appeal for the protection of their interests. Sir James Allen, in reply, -aid the fact was that the Board was treating applications with very marked liberality, Indeed the Board had strained the law in its liberality, lie believed that the establishment of an appeal tribunal would have the elfect of forcing the Board to give a closer adherence io the letter of the law, and that would not be in the interests of the applicants. It had been suggested that a schedule of injuries and payments should be prepared in conJK'Ction with the pensions system, on the lines of the British scheme. Tluit ar- j rangemeilt would not be to the advantage of Ne'.v Zealand pensioners, who already were getting morn than Jlicy would get under a schedule. Mr. Jfassey stated in answer to a question in "the House that stocks of coal for thi. fyees;i|ig works throughout New Zealand ww» '«■ present satisfactory. The high retail price of bacon and j the apparent discrepancy between the j retail price and the price paid to the j farmers for their pigs was being eonfidered by the Board of Trade, winch ; had already taken evidence in Wellipg- 1 ton and Christ-church. j ■Sir Joseph Ward said be did not ll'lnk ! it would be wise to make any distiitption ; ijn 'nvor of soldiers' wives iu the disjtriCui;ivJ} Bl N l6 war bonus to public ser- [ j vants.

'Sir James Allen saiil lie (lid not think it necessary to compel married soldiers to make allotments in favor of tlieir wives from the time of entering camp, instead of from the time of embarkation. A soldier could make an allotment in favor of his wife directly he entered I camp if lie wished, or ha jjjuld zrairamir i the money in some other way. The Defence -Minister said there was no definite term of contract between the Xew Zealand (lovernment and Geneva] (fodley. When General Oodley was promoted by the War Office to the command of an army corps lie continued to ] direct the administration of the Xew Zealand forces in general, and to coordinate the work of the generals commanding in France, Britain and Egypt. The responsibility for seeing that New Zealand reinforcements entered the trenches fully trained rested ultimately with (ieneral Jlusscl], commanding the New Zealand Division. Six months was considered a suliicient period of training. Mr. Jennings asked the Minister of Defence whether lie will take steps to prevent tho degradation of a soldier's uniform by the practice of informers (not soldiers) using' the uniform for the purpose of securing convictions for offences, not crimes? (>7ote. —If the uniform is degraded by a soldier or ail officer. military law properly deprives him of the right of wearing same.) The Iftm. Sir J. Ailcn replied: It is not known that Ihe uniform has been degraded by the practice of informers using' the uniform for the purpose of securing convictions for offences. If the honorable member will cite particular cases they will be investigated. Mr. Jennings asked the Minister for Defence whether any cases have been brought under his notice when returned soldiers have gone back to their former ■employment, after receiving their discharges, and have had to take reduced wages, or offered same, because they had a small pension allowed? The Hon. Sir J. Allen replied: I have made inquiries regarding this question, and am advised that neither in the Pensions Department nor in the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department has any information been received indicating' that a returned soldier has gone back to his former employment and been asked to accept reduced wages by reason of his being in receipt of a war pension.