NEWS AND NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 281, 20 August 1908, Page 9

NEWS AND NOTES.

THE TIMBER SUPPLY. Touching yesterday on tho matter of timber reservation, Mr. Ell spoko strongly as to the necessity to conserve timber • areas absolutely for .our own use. His.remarks were the result of a renort of the Lands De-,' partment as to the lifting of reservation, restrictions from a certain area.of. land. /In. Australia and America the seriousness of'tho position, he said; was being observed, and certain timbers were prohibited from being exported.' "White pine, for instance, was being exported largely from New Zealand, and. yet complaints were being made by the local dairy industry as to its scarcity for butter boxes. Nothing was said in tho Lands Report as' to the conservation of timber areas. He .could understand Parliamentary representatives. of sawmilling areas taking a stand in favour of millers, but would it not be wise to have some of the mills closed up rather than that the future interests of tho country should bo affected? The Minister for Lands created laughter by remarking that the return upon which Mr. Ell had based his remarks proposed to lift the reserve from, an area, of only 8J acres in the Taranaki district.

SECOND BALLOT BILL. Dr. Chappie has placed upon a supplementary order' paper' a series of amendments to tho Sccond Ballot Bill, the effcct of his proposals being to combine in one measure tho principles of tho Bill under notice and those of the absolute majority system, which was formerly associated with the name of, Mr. M'Nab. Dr. .Chappie's scheme is that tho voter shall be allowed to indicate .his order of preferenco of. the various candidates by placing numerals opposite-their names, and the votes will then be counted by the Returning,, Officer , and transferred from candidate to candidate, according to the principles of preferential voting, until one candidate has an absolute majority. Only in tho event of an absolute majority not being obtainable by this means will a second ballot, as provided by. the Premier's Bill, be taken. The object of the amendments appears to bo twofold, viz., to obviate the holding of a great many second ballots, and to meet tho contention that preferential voting has been found ineffective owing to electors failing to record their second and third votes.

IMPORTANT PETITION. . A petition from a number of holders of tontihe policies in the" Colonial Mutual' Life Society, resident in Auckland, was presented to tho House yesterday by tho Minister for Justice (tho Hon. It. M'Gowan). Tho petitioners state that the results of tho tontino policies now expiring as'being offered do not agree with tho representations upon which their policies were clearly understood to apply.. The,.petition set out tho representations as under:—"(l) Some of tho representations made were as_ follow: (a) That each member assured his lifo for a stated sum at a given premium per £100 according to. age. (b) That 110 profit would bo declared until tho expiration of the tontine period, and oiily tho amount assured would bo payable iu the,event of the assurer dying during tho period,, and that member's share of profit would be carried forward to tho completion of t)io. term and would then bo, added to tho survivors' profits for division amongst thorn.' (c) That those surviving tho tontino periods would come out 011 tho better side, for they would at the expiration bo offered several advantageous options, among which tho policy-holders'would havo tho right to discontinue the in'suriuico by withdrawing tho whole 'premiums paid, together with whatover profits wero added to tli.o policy. Some were even informed that. the amount insured for would )>o paid at tho end of the period, the company being satisfied at having t tho uoo of tho premiums and profits or interest. (2)

Your petitioners believing the aforesaid representations were true, signed, as they clearly understood, proposals purporting to acquiro such results, and in good faith accepted such policies as were assured believing them to bo in accord with such proposals. • (3) That . your petitioners .now discover at tho closo of tho tontino period, that theso policies did not nor never wcro intended to givo such option, and were nothing but ordinary whole-life policies, witji tontine option, and we aro entitled to receive 110 cash, but a paltry sum of a few pounds; as a bonus, or to surrender the policy at a heavy loss on tho premiums, and total loss of profits, and Cease all future membership. . (4) Your petitioners aro of opinion that tho then local manager and his officers did wilfully misrepresent tho principle of these tontine assurances and whilst leading tho public to believe thoy wero signing proposals in accord with such representations, did really forward to the Company proposals not according to the representations and ultimately causing your petitioners considerable loss. The petitioners ask that an'inquiry bo made into the mattor. RAILWAY FARES. Speaking yesterday of tho cheapness of faros 011 tho New Zealand railways compared with those of Australia, the Hon. W. HallJones said ho knew some foolish critic, in criticising some of his previous remarks, had taken half of a return fare in Australia and compared that with a singlo faro in New Zealand. This was a most absurd thing to do; Ho (the Minister) had taken the ordinary fares for a certain distance, and had proved conclusively that tho faros in New Zealand wcro far below tho ordinary faros of the other States. He proceeded to show that New Zealand, in railway mattors, should not bo compared to places that had large populations, especially in regard to suburban faros. Returning to" tho remarks of the critic mentioned above, he mado a few comparisons. The cost of a first-class single ticket in Now Zealand for the trip to Auckland was £119s. Id., and second-class £1 Is. 2d.- To travel 428. miles in other States would cost: — Queensland £3 Bs. od., Now South AValos £3 155., Victoria £3 16s. 4d.; second-class, Queensland £2 Is. !)d., New South Wains £2 lis., Victoria £2 10s. 9d. Ho was proceeding to show how tho return faros would work out, but the allotted time for his speech had elapsed. "I have ready and waiting the command of his Excellency to have' it laid on tho Table, what is, 1 suppose, the finest report in. a way of a botanical survey ever made undor the direction of the State, in any part of the world. I refer," proceeded the Hon. It. M'Nab, " to. the botanical survey of tho National Tpngariro Park, by Dr. Cockayne. It is intended to follow-up thftt report with a Bill effecting the oxtensipn of the Park. That Bill is now being prepared." (Hear, hear.) The Post and Telegraph Department Classification List was prgsented to Parliament yesterday. Tho salaries of No, 10 sccond class, Nos. 10 to 13 third class, and Nos. 3 and 15 to 20 fourth class, aro, subject to adjustment on account of salary, to bo paid by the Government' Insurance Department in lieu of commission. Tho allocation of the Post and. Telegraph and Government Insurance salaries will be announced in the official circular. The salaries of officers below the fourth class, who aro at present in receipt of Government Insurance feos, will bo adjusted later on. '. Sometimes Mr.,-Parata is very informal. When the House grows weary he generally admonishes it with, " Get a move on." Yesterday . the Speaker, in putting the usual question which results in discussion of Ministerial replies to questions, asked if there wore six members who would support tho motion. "Yes, any amount!'" cricd Mr. Parata, as be lay- back in his chair. Tho reason for Mr. Parata's remark was apparent a little later. The Southern Native representative had a quostion on tho Order Papor, and ho evidently - suffered under a sense of injustice at tho reply. He was asking for stops to bo taken to have a permanent water supjjly for tho Maoris at Pukotoraki and liaritano (Waikouaiti). The answer of tho ■•Prime .'Minister .Xas that 110 Government officer was available at present. Mr. Parata in:'taking exception to this " did a deal of desk-thumping, speaking with a vehomonco quite foreign to his usual placid disposition.

A return presented yesterday gives the quantity of Oregon pine imported into New Zealand on steamers of tlio Alley lino, which are subsidised by the Government. Tho quantities since August 1, 1906, to July 16 1908, are 3,403,450 feet of laths, 30 tound logs, and 2,844,519 superficial feet of roughhewn, sawn dressed, and sawn undressed timber.

' 'The cost per 1000 rounds of .303 ammunition to the Government is £5 Bs. 3d., and ; the. price'charged'to rifle clubs and volunteers js £5' 10s."' 11 'Tho cost of distribution is iiot included in tho first-named figures.

: Mr. Flatman yesterday asked tho Minister for Lands a question without notice, viz., whether he had moved in tho matter of securing the estate of the trustees of tho late Mr. Cameron in Canterbury for closer settlement, and if 'he had riot, why was it that ho had not so moved? (Laughter.) Mr. M'Nab said that he had moved in that direction, and had sent the communication on to tho officials. Mr. Ilardy: "What is tho reply?" Mr. Flatman: "Oh, you don't want to know anything about it." (Laughter.) Mr. Hardy: "Oil, don't 1? You'll know later on whether Ido or not. It's only another caso of robbing tho widow."

Mr. Okey will move that there bo laid before the House any reports or correspondence forwarded to the; Minister for Agriculturo by Mr. Cuddio, Dairy Commissioner, and Mr. I?,cakes, Assistant Chief Veterinarian, -in connection with their visit to London..

Sir William Steward has given notice to ask whether the Government intends to prooeed'with tho Hospitals and Charitable Aid Districts Bill this session.

Mr. Okey will ask the Minister for Agriculture, whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Homo authorities intend to prohibit' tho importation of boned beefs and, if so, afj.the matter is of such considerable importance to the farmors of the Dominion, will ho mako jucli representations as will satisfy the Board of Trade, in London, that tho boned beef shipped from New Zealand is subjected to the most rigid inspection by the meat inspectors and tho Veterinarian Department, which should bo sufficient guarantee that the meat is of sound quality and free from disease.

Dr. Chapplo'intends to move: That in the opinion of this House the time has arrived jvheri tho necessary community of interest within each electorate requires that the present number of electorates' in the South Island should remain, and that a proportionate number of new members bo given to the North Island, in order to preserve tho representation 011 a population basis.

.Little disposition to work was shown by tho House yesterday. It will be next week, probably, before much business is transacted.