POLITICAL NOTES.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13610, 20 December 1909, Page 8

POLITICAL NOTES.

(SPBOXAT. TO "THE PRESS.") WELLINGTON, December ID. MEMBERS' PLEASANTRIES. A little by-play between Mr Bollard and Mr Ell took place yesterday. Mr , Bollard was complaining that the workers' homes, such as those at Ellers- ,! lie, were too elaborate for the men : who most needsd them. The dwellI ings, he said, were not required for I£4 a week men. Mr Ell interjected: J "You are wrong; eighty per cent, of I the m«ai in the houses are labourers ' and artisans." Mr Bollard retorted ; that fte thought that Mr Ell "had got ; a kink in his intellect." (Laughter.) j The Chairman ordered this remark to :be withdrawn, and Mr Bollard with- • drew it, but said that perhaps Mr i.ll I "had no intellect to kink." (Lalighter.) 1 The member for Eden was compelled , jto also withdraw this remark. Mr I Massey, in speaking a few minutes later, said that he noticed that one of the workers' homes settlements was named the "Lawry" settlement. He suggested that as Mr Bollard was the first advocate in the house of the workers' • homes' sohemes, one of the settlements should be named the "'BoHard" settlement. He would, he added with a smile, have no objection to a settlement being named- after Mr Ell, but I "it would be a dangerous thing to d 0 .,, (Lou<L> laughter.) HOW 'THE LORDS" DO THEIR WORK. The serene atmosphere of the Legislative Council is generally conducive to calm methods of legislation, but even in that Chamber there are not wanting signs of demoralisation. When the Legislative Council met yesterday afternoon the Hon. Dr. Findlay intimated that the Native Land Bill would be placed in members' pigeon-holes, and they might spend Sunday in studyins it, seeing that it was a work of necessity. In reply to some interjection, he said he thought that any day would be sacred on which one was endeavouring to understand the Maori Land BUI. The Hon. Mr ThorneGeorge suggested jocularly that they should put the Bill into Committee and consider it to-morrow (Sunday). Mr Samuel said that for his part' one glance at the Bill showed him that it would take him a month to understand it. LIEU BARBERS , POLES. "There is," said Mr Massey last night, "a feeling all over the country that the functions of Education Boards are being unduly interfered with by the Department." The Minister for Education declared that this was not a fact. "I emphatically challenge any member of the House, or any member of an Education Board," he said, "to point to a single instance of a tendency towards centralisation on the part of the Department that has not been laid' down by this House, either by legislation or reports of committees, and pressed upon the Department as a duty." Mr Hardy remarked that the Education Boards were so tied up with red. tape that they looked like barbers' poles. "SOULS AND SOLES." ■Mr Hogg, while the House was <Ms(Cussing the Estimates yesterday, noted that" certain officers supposed to be retrenched in New Zealand: had been provided with billets in London. He was referring more particularly to Dr. Mason's afppointment. It seemed to him, he said, very like the transmigration of souls. Mr G. M. Thomson, oatching the word "souls," at once thought of fish, and asked , whether Mr Hogg's criticisms should not be expressed under the heading of "Fisheries." At this Mr Wilford, the Chairman, could not resist his little joke., He said he noticed that the hon. member -was "floundering" 'somewhat. The House smiled, it was too tired to laugh. COMPLIMENTARY LUNCHEON. A return luncheon to the members of the Legislative Council was given by the Prime Minister at Bellamy's yesterday." Sir Joseph Waroi presided, and was supported on his right by the Speaker of the Council (the Hon. O. C. Bowen), and on his left by the Speaker of the House of Representatives (the Hon. A. R. Guinness). The members of the Ministry, in. addition to a gbod gathering of Councillors, were also present. The health of the Hon. C. C. Bowen was proposed by Sir Joseph Ward, who asked Mr Bowen to accept on behalf of the Council! a handsomelyframed duplicate of the cablegram sent to himself (S?ir Joseph Ward 1 ) by the members of the House of . Commons, congratulating him on the offer of the Dreadnought gift. (Applause.) The original cablegram, which had been framed, had, Sir Joseph said, been forwarded by the members of the House of Commons for presentation to the House of Representatives. Mr Bowen suitably replied, and proposed the health of the Prime Minister, which was enthusiastically received.