PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 88, 13 April 1918, Page 9

PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

NOTES FROM THE GALLERY, j (By Telegraph.—Special to •' Star.*. ' WELLINGTON. Friday. j FINANCE BILL AMENDMENTS. j As nearly every speaker in the second | reading debate on the Finance Bill found lit necessary to condemn the indefinite--1 ness of the clause providing for compul- ; sory loan subscriptions,. Sir Joseph Ward ■ gave an explanation, during which he j promised to add a Supreme Court judge. 'to the Appeal Board. There is unceri tainty about what happens if a taxpayer on being penalised, refuses to take up the amount of the loan assessed by the Commissioner of Taxes as his fair proportion, and this will involve a new amendment. The procedure under I the bill is that the Government can im- ' pose penalty after penalty, or take action in Court to insist on investment. ITo make the position less ambiguous, the Finance Minister wil submit an , amended clause. Tlie committee's consideration of the measure, tin moat iiu- ; portant stage, is expected to last' ■ throughout Saturday, and tie session is I lively to end i >at pvc.i_.». SOLDIERS' PARCELS. J Replying to Dr. Thacker. who asked if the Government would exclude butter, tobacco, cigarettes, cocoa, and soap from the list of articles excluded from soldiers' parcels in the post, Sir | Joseph Ward stated that the matter was entirely in the hands of the English authorities. Renresentations had been made already without success. SECOND DIVISION ALLOWANCES. Mr. Anstey a=ked if the Government would give the Second Division League further opportunity of raising the question of allowances. Sir James Allen stated that the League had raised points regarding pay and allowances of returned men used for instructional purposes. Anomalies had been rcctiSciL Tlie Government had the question of Second Division allowances under consideration, but he would not guarantee that they would be increased. PREVENTKG EXPLOITATION. In reply to -Mr. Jennings, Mr Massey stated that he understood that the steps taken by the Government to prevent undue increase in the pr : ce of grass seeds after the bueh Bros in Ractihi had been effective, and that settlers in the stricken area were exceedingly satisfied with the action taken. Mr. Guthrie said the Order-in-Couneil had saved settlers thousands of pounds. BANK ACCOMMODATION. In answer to a* question by Mr. Thomson, ac to the conditions under which hanks advanced money to customers for investment in the war loan, the Minister of Finance stated that the banks charged 5J per cent on the bank balante of a customer, which in some cases, he understood, really worked out at about four per cent for the money advanced. His opinion was that the banks should do all in their power to keep the rates as low as possible to their clients, to cnaible them to invest. He hoped to meet the members of the Associated Banks for discussion on this important point. He had heard of no case where a client had been put in a difficult position by the bank, as the policy of the banks in this country had been to help clients as much as possible. The Minister said he might aak the House to give the Government power to regulate the rate of interest, and also to regulate the sending out of the country money for investment. (Hear, hear.) It was the duty of the Government to keep down the rate of interest, and prevent as much as possible money from leaving the country for outside investment. PENSION HARDSHIP. Mr. Lee (Oamaru) mentioned an extremely hard case under the provisions which, he contends, should be instantly remedied. He knew of the aged parents of a soldier who went to the front, insured for £500. The soldier was killed, his insurance was paid, then the Pensions Department, acting no doubt in strict accord with the Act, stopped the pension as the parents had an excessive amount of capital. These poor people not only had to suffer.the lose of their son, but also their pensions, just because the boy had endeavoured to provide for his parent, in case of calamity. The National Government should not wait for another session to remedy this. REJECTED EST" ENGLAND. Mr. Wright, in the course of a speech to-night, touched upon the apparent excessive number of New Zealanders who were rejected by tho British medical authorities as unfit for active service. The member declared that an eye-wit-ness had told him that out of two recent reinforcements from New Zealand he saw six hundred men rejected by the British medical authorities. Even if the number was half —that was to say, 300 —it was an extraordinary proportion. He suggested that when the Premier and Minister of Finance were in England, they should make inquiries to see if the stajidard in Great Britain is higher than in New Zealand. He contended it was useless to go to the expense of training men who were declared to be valueless when they arrived Home.