POLITICAL NOTES

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19114, 24 September 1927, Page 14

POLITICAL NOTES

[THE PRESS Special Sendee.] WELLINGTON, September 23. Off to Raglan. There was a laugh in the House of Representatives this afternoon when Mr E. A. Ransom, the member for Pahiatua, rose in liis P latu luul moved that five days' leave of absence be granted to Mr W. A. Veiteh, M.P., "oil account of urgent public business. Members at once jumped to the conelusion that Mr Veitch's urgent public business was in the Kaglan electorate. No sooner had the House agreed to grant Mr Veiteh leave than Mr Howard was on his feet to ask a similar favour for Mr Peter Eraser, the Labour member for Wellington Central, whose present address is believed to be "somewhere in Kaglan." ,

Mr A". H. Potter, of the Koskill electorate, and Mr W. J. Jordan, the Labour member for Manakau, who are also electioneering, were satisfied with only three days' leave for the "urgent public business" that is claiming their attention in Kaglan. It is stated that the Leader of the Opposition (Mr H. E. Holland) and even the Prime Minister may have urgent public business to transact in Kaglan before- the 29th inst. Mr Holland, however, is at present handicapped with an injured -eg. Archives of the State. A suggestion that important State records of past years, which were in manuscript, should be copied on a typewriter in order to preserve the information they contain, was made in the House to-day by Mr D. G. Sullivan (Avon). He said that in company with the Hon. Mr Anderson, Minister for Marine, he had inspected a Departmental file of 30 or 40 years ago. The file contained a great deai of important information which, however, was likely to be lost, as the handwriting had faded badly. Mr Sullivan added that probably, many other important Departmental files and records were in a similar condition.

The Prime Minister said he would be pleased to consult the Minister in charge of the Dominion Archives on the subject. He took it that it would be part of the duty of the Dominion Archivist to select such documents as were of interest from a historical and other points of view, and to see that, if necessary, legible copies were made. The Licensing Issue.

An assurance that the Licensing Bill will be introduced this . session was given by the Prime Minister when he was questioned in the House to-day.

Mr H. G. E. Mason (Eden) was given leave to ask as a matter of urgency when the Licensing .Bill might be expected.

Mr Coates: I can give you.at this stage neither the day nor the hour.

Mr Howard: We don't want that. Will it be this year? Mr Coates: I can assure you the Bill will be introduced this session. The Government will give due notice, that your anxiety and inquisitiveness will be set at rest. Inspection of Machinery. Amendments,- to the inspection of Machinery Amendment Bill have been made by the Labour Bills Committee. The Committee has-deleted the provision enabling the Governor-General in Council to make regulations providing for the registration of designs and specifications of boilers, lifts, and eranes, and substituted a clause providing' for the submission of drawings to the Chief Inspector of Machinery, who is to determine whether they comply with the regulations (to be made by Order-in-Council) prescribing standard conditions to be observed in the design and construction of the boilers, etc.. and the fees payable for the examination of the drawings. The clause dealing with the age of young people left in charge of machinery, has been amended to incorporate steam boilers, and steam, gas, and oil engines. Another new clause enables a permit to be issued for the temporary use of machinery without a machinery certificate. Clauses relating to examinations, the commission of a breach through' acting without certificates, the provision for gold dredges, and the holding of certificates under the Act by drivers of steam stationary engines, have been deleted.

Shop Hours. The Labour Bilis Committee reported to the House of Representatives today that it had no recommendation to make with respect to the petition of W. Brims, and 1175 others, praying that the closing hours of business premises be fixed by Parliament, instead of by the Arbitration Court, and that Magistrates be . empowered to grant exemptions to shopkeepers. The Committee came to this conclusion because the prayer of the petition had been carefully considered when amendments in the Shops and Offices Amendment Bill were being framed.

Westport Harbour. .When the Westport Harbour Account was being considered in Committee of Supply of the House of Representatives to-night, the Minister in charge, the Hon. Mr Anderson, said the Government had chartered the dredge belonging to the Gisbome Harbour Board for work at Westport. The Government was advised by the engineer that this dredge could do .the. work very well indeed. If successful, the question of purchasing her would be considered. Mr Holland: AVould it not be better to buy a dredge? Mr Anderson: It would take much, longer. So far as the safety of the town owing to flooding of the river was concerned, said the Minister, that was a matter for the consideration of the Minister for Works. The Islands Ship. Reference to the new ship shortly to be launched for the trade between New Zealand and the Tropics Islands, in which the Dominion is specially interested, were made to-night, when the External Affairs Department's Estimates were being considered. Mr Horn objected that Dunedin was not being made a port of call for the vessel. He said 31,000 cases of fruit bad been landed at Auckland in one day, and nearly half of it was sent down the coast. If Dunedin were not to be included the Government' would hear something more about it. The Prime Minister mentioned that.the ship had cool storage. Mr Nosworthy replied that if any moreports than Lyttelton, Wellington, and Auckland were included there would not. be time for Ihc ship to get round the Islands. As there was refrigerated space, the fruit would reach Dunedin in good condition. The Sainoan fruit, he added, was of high quality.