NEWS AND NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 282, 22 August 1908, Page 7

NEWS AND NOTES.

NATIVE SCHOOLS. A return presented to the H'ohse yesterday shows that at present there are in the TJrowera district threo Native schools with an avorage attendance of 70 children. Four schools had been closed since 1900. In that year there were seven schools with an averago attendance of 157 scholars. The Waiwera School was closed last year owing to the removal of the Natives to Rua's Settlement, _the school at' To Houhi was closed in 1905, owing to the block of land on which . the school building , stood being claimed' by a European, Galatea School was closed in 1904 owing to the poor attendances, and tho Kokako School was closed in 1900 owing to small attendances and the apathy of the Natives. DEFENCE. A series of interesting questions on defenco matters is being put to the Minister for Defence by Mr. Bollard. Tho questions aro_ (1) What steps tho Minister proposes tak-ing towards increasing tho number of Volunteers to the necessary strength for tho protection of tho Dominion? The Voluntoer Force is 'at- present 17,000 strong —on paper. Of this number only 8000 turned out for the Easter manoeuvres. Tlio object of these manoeuvres was. to test tho attack and defenco of tho four chief cen T trcs. (2)' What is being done in tho matter of horsing and equipping the field artillery? Mr. Bollard says tho system adopted hitherto of hiring horses from time to timo is altogether wrong. Both horses and drivers need to bo highly trained to bo of use in field, manoeuvres. (3) What precautions have boon taken for tho ■ safeguarding of the cable-station in tho North, in tho event of hostilities and of tho fleet being elsewhere? Th 6 Hon. Mr. M'Nab had said in a spoech at a banquet at Otautau, in December last, that tho defences of tho Dominion woro being put in a very forward condition, every post of strategic importance and every possiblo system of land attack having been submitted • ,to careful study. Did the turn-out of last Eastor bear this out ? (4) Has tho battery on Mount Victoria been protected against an attack by land, it being tho key to .tho defence of tho Auckland North Shore? (5) What stops is tho Government taking towards keeping up a proper- supply of rifles in tho country? The present number is some 50,000, when thero ought to bo at least 150,000.

. Mr. ,J. Allen wants the Minister for Dofenco to mako provision to refund to Volunteer corps who wero in camps of exorcise last Easter tho amount paid by the Volunteers for .cooks, and also sco that iii any future arrangement for camps of Volunteers provision was made by the Defence Department .to moot the necessary cost of cooking. Agostino Rizzi, gardener, of Wellington, has petitioned Parliament for a rehearing by another Magistrate of tho case Clark v. Rizzi, which was heard by Dr. M 1 Arthur, S.M., on March 3, 1908; "I think it would be a good thing for tho country if wo had an election only onco in every five years," said Mr. Hardy last night. .He thought that under a system of quinquennial Parliaments better work would bo .done by members. "There is no solid work," iho declared, "being dono here, it is nothing ' but members talking, talking, talking, to their constituents !" Mr. Barber wants to know whether the Government are taking any stops to acquiro tho Day's Bay property as requested by a largo number of petitioners.