PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 212, 7 September 1922, Page 9

PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

• — I KOTES FROM THE GAEEERY. I (Ky Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. THF. GARRISON DISPENSARY. Ih.- expense of continuing the garrison dispensary in Auckland City was not warranted owing to a large decrease in the number of service patients requiring im'di.-.no, state-- the Minister of Defence. T.. nice: the needs of a few remaining service patients arrangements wore made tor .. local eh? mist to supply medical requirements r:i authority of tho pensi..;., me.iical officer. The chemist concerned was .'hosen after full consideration had heen Liven to the question by the pensions medical officer, and military modi al stocks were transferred to this chemist on payment at valuation rates. RCAKI RA STATE FARM. Mr. H. Poland lOhinemnri) was tc "iitlv asked to arrange that the buildings at present established at Ruakura farm of instruction for repatriation purposes shall, when no longer required for that purpose, h.. retained for a permanent farm school. The Hon. W. D. Nosworthv (Minister of Agriculture) replied to-day that tho buildings in question will be retained for use in connection with instructional activities of the farm. The form in which this instructional work will be developed is under consideration. PAEROA-POKENO RAILWAY. The Minister of Public Works has informed Mr. 11. Poland that the amount of \v..rk which the Government has iii hand and financial ' commitments involved are so great I hat he is unable to hold on! any hope that it. will be possible to start the Paoroa-Pokono railway this Tear. PURCHASE OF GUM. The gnmdiggers of the North =ecm to have had a difficult lask in disposing of their gum. through the Government purchase office, for the past couple of years, and the Minister of Lands has again and again been urged to make a decent sum available to facilitate regular purchases. This afternoon Mr. Vernon Reed (Bay of Islands, again brought the mat+cr under his notice. Ho asked if purchases had ceased, an.l why some of tiie diggers, he Paid, h.i.l accutnula; ions of gum. and. were in linancial difficulties because the department would not purchase it. Mr. Guthrie replied that he was unable to give all the information he would like to on '.he sufcject. but ho would state that purchasing had not ceased. Tho Govemme il had to restrict it to most urgent ease*. The Government had a lot of gur on its hands, and the market was not at present a good one. This month, he thought, there would be about £4000 available for purchases. COUNTRY SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS. The Minister of Education expressed sympathy with a suggestion from Mr. Field (Otaki) that country children should have improved opportunities of .securing scholarships, because they are handicapped compared with city children enjoying much finer educational facilities. The Hon. C. J. Parr explaifflsfthat in the Nation*!- school scholarship Some attempt was made to overcome the country children's handicap by permitting them to obtain scholarships for 10 per cent fewer marks than those from cities. On last examinations, candidates from small schools wcrv one in thirty. but they obtained, he was pleased to Bay. one out of each twenty scholarships. Tlie Department was considering further measures to reduce the country handicap, and possibly it could be done by allocating a definite number of scholarships Solely for children coming from small schools, by which he meant those having a sole teacher or one headmaster and an assistant. SWIMMING AN AMUSEMENT. The question whether swimming it* amusement, and as such should be subjected to amusement tax. was raised by Mr. Vigor Brown. He emphasised that 25 per cent of the people who used baths, and swam at sports were between the ages of 12 and 13. The Premier replied that he would be glad to consider the matter, which was not mentioned in the Amusement Tax Exemption Bill brought down the previous evening. He thought that it would by? admitted that swimming was sport as well as education, but he would be glad to look into the question raised. WOMEN AS SCHOOL INSPECTORS. A suggestion that women should be appointed school inspectors led the Minister of Education to reply that, owing to the arduous and difficult journeys that have to be made by inspectors of schools in visiting remote parts of the country, the Department advised it was quite impossibly for women teachers to undertake the full duties of inspectors, and that it was not desirable for manyreasons that women inspectors should be placed in circumscribed area". From thy proportion of girl pupils and women teachers in schools it would appear reasonable, however, that women should lie allowed to fill some places as inspectors. Personally, he would not be averse to making an appointment as an experiment. •AN ABSOLITE CURSE." Dr. Newman. M.P. for Wellington East, worked up considerable enthusiasm about the possibilities of using New Zealand's mountainous regions by stocking them with reindeer, opossums and other animals, which he considered would increase the wealth of the country. He got a prompt cold douche from the MinisU-r of Agriculture, who emphatically declared that the opossum was going to become one of the biggest plagues and curses New Zealand had seen. It was going to lieconw one of the biggest problems for a future Govern merit. The Minister, however, had a gocd word for chamois, which kept to high country, where there uas no pasture suitable for .-beep. Deer constituted anothvr pn/b.om, especially to the forestry r-ervicv. They had been an absolute rur.-'o. especially in the back country of ilarH orotigh