PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 162, 11 July 1910, Page 6

PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

<By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Saturday. HARBOUR BOARD REPRESENTATION. The most striking feature of last night's debate on the Harbours Act Amendment Bill was the unanimity of opinion that while tha Minister of Marine was to be congratulated on his proposal to widen the franchise, he had not gone far enough. Almost every speaker 'protosted against tbe retention of the Government nominee system, whereby the Department nominates two members to each Board. A member- taking considerable i interest in the passage of the bill to-day expressed the opinion that there is a strong probability of the House asserting itself in this direction when the measure is considered in committee THE MANUFACTURERS' PLAINT. Mr. -J. p. Luke broke a lance for manufacturers in the House or" Representatives yesterday afternoon. "There is not a manufacturing firm in this country able to make both ends meet," he declared tvith some warmth. Wages, he added, wore 100 per cent more, hours were ten per cent less, and raw material was 100 •per cent dearer than in other countries. THE LATE SERGEANT McGULRE. The widow of the late Sergt. Maguire, •who was fatally shot at Palmerston North during the chase of Powelka, is petitioning tbe House for compensation. She states that she has already received the sum of £500 from the Police Department, and that that sum and an annual allowance of f IS from the Police Provident Fund represent her sole means, and that the income derived is not sufficient for her proper support and maintenance. Petitioner goes on to say that she is not in a position to increase her means to a sufficient degree by her own efforts, and that the sum of £500 in comparison with other compassionate allowances granted in the past, and in view of the special circumstances attending the death of Sergt. Maguire. is not a sufficient compensation. She therefore asks that she he granted such further sum as will, with | the sum of £500, when invested, provide j an income sufficient for her suitable and proper support. HAURAKI PLAINS. The Lands Department report, dealing with the Hauraki Plains, states that the amo-ant thrown open for selection — 10.53S acres, had been valued by competent valuers at £75.660. Tlfe report further states that it is anticipated that it will take five years to complete the drainage of the 00.000 acres and the completion of the great canal fifteen miles long, but of the ultimate reclamation of the whole area and its settlement with a thriving class of settlers there is no manner of doubt. The details are now settled as to the manner in which the works shall be carried out from year to year, and every six months areas ready for opening for selection should be available. The next opening of areas for selection will be in November, 1910. THE CURSE OF THE NORTH. In the opinion of the Hon. J. Barr, the legalised bookmaker does not constitute the worst form of gambling. The bookmaker, he is inclined to think, is a very small evil compared with some other gambling evils. It is, he says, easy to deal with the bookmaker, for the vileness of his calling ds visible, but in connection with other forms of gambling there is often considerable difficulty. "The North Island is cursed with the gambling fever, gambling in land and its ramifications are almost impossible to follow," served the Hon. Mr. Barr. "It has gone on to such an extent that you now look with suspicion upon anyone who talks shout cutting up land or getting access to native land. When you go into the matter properly, you will find that they are .interested, not so much, in the sett-le-mentof the land, as in. placing it upon the niarkit, so that it may pass through many hands, including their own." Mr. Barr added his conviction that the majority of men who go into the back"blocks do so in the hope that they will be able to get out in a few years and leave the land to someone else when they got the cream of it. CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. "The present Act is a dead letter," said the Prime Minister, in moving the second reading of the Contagious Diseases Act Amendment Bill. The Act, h e said, was not put.into operation, and he did not think that any Government in the country would dare to bring it in: Recently there had been a very strong movement among the women of the Dominion to secure the removal from the Statute Book of what he -must admit was an insult to their sex.- It was only right, in ■the interests of the women of the country, that Parliament should now remove the implied imputation upon them, particularly when the law had not been in operation for. many years. . The Wellington "Post" takes strong exception to the measure, and in the course of a leading article says: "Public health is to be sacrificed on the altar of blind sentiment. Unless the timid, illadvised.Government gathers some manly courage within the next few days, the medical men of New Zealand should strou"lv- assert themselves to save the people against the Government's cowardice." MR. DLNNIE'S APTOINTMENT. The appointment of ex-Police Commissioner Dinnie as a native land board president has been a matter for considerable comment in the lobbies, and is likely to'be referred to in' Parliament. The" Wellington "Post" deals it out thusly: "It is difficult to say whether Maori or pakeha will he the more surprised or the more amused by the prospective appointment of Mr. Dinnie, ex-commissioner of police, as a president of a native land board. Either the Government is lamentably ignorant of the qualifications which should be possessed by presidents of native land boards, or it is deliberately inflicting a grave injustice on the Maoris in its wish to find a cosy corner for-Mr.-Dinnie. In his stirring speech in the House last week, the Hon. A. T. "NTgata exerted himself in an attempt to glorify the "To-morrowful" Hon. J. Carroll, hut the young orator will need to he more brilliant ito find excuses for this latest move. The proposed procedure is a painful absurdity, which must eventu-. ally involve the Government in embar-1 ra'ssnient unless the Ministry can be speedily brought to its senses. A wise •Mr. Dinnie would decline with thanks the offer of a presidency of a native land board." AN. INTERESTING PROPOSITION. A decidedly novel proposition, and one that was received by a good-natured laugh, as well as some approval, was that made by Mr. Ross, member for PaK-iafua. Mr. Ross asked the Government whether they will, when framing their, Land Bill and other legislative amendments foreshadowed in the Governors Speech, consider the advisability of bringing all native rural lands, other than -those in occupancy and being farm-

Ed hy natives, and all the educational and other endowments of rural lands, under the operation of the Land Act, by placing them on the market under the optional system, and devoting the moneys so obtained from time to time to the purchase of town lands, which could be made inalienable and leased on short terms, 14 to 21 years. They would thus be .securing for education, hospitals and charitable aid, old age pensions, and the natives the full unearned increment, at i the .same time giving to each section of <. the community the tenure they advocate r —-that is to say, optional freehold to the i farmer, and short-term leasehold with re- c valuation to the townsman. 1 £ir Joseph Ward replied that the sug- 1 gestions made in this connection would 1 receive full consideration when any bills 1 I dealing with these subjAts were prepared - j for introduction into the House. I-