NEWS AND NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1788, 28 June 1913, Page 6

NEWS AND NOTES.

THE ARCHITECTS DILL. OBJECTIONABLE CLAUSE DELETED. Tho Attorney-General (tho Hon. A. L. Herdman) gavo notico yesterday of his intention to introduce tho Now Zealand Institute of Architects Bill, but it is not by any means tho Architects'- Bill that has been condemned by municipalities iu different parts of New Zealand. A Bill (if tho same title was introduced by the Minister last year, but not with tho Intention of putting it through all stages. That Bill was drawn up by the Institute of ■ Architects, and simply introduced to tho House in order to allow members to fatnil- '• iarise themselves with its contents. Tho clause of tho Bill of last year to which such strong exception has been taken provided that no local authority could construct or alter a building at a cost of ,£IOOO or moro without employing -• a registered architect. This would havo had tho effect of preventing all municipalities from carrying out tlieir building programmes with tho assistance of their own engineering staffs. Tho local bodies who havo been alarmed at tho prospect of such a clause becoming law will be glad to learn that tho Bill which tho AttorneyGeneral lias introduced this session contains no such provision. THE OPPOSITION "LEADERS." "Tho Committee of Public Safety," qb Mr. Herdman onco playfully styled tho ' Opposition cabal of leaders, would seem to bo still in being. On two occasions dufing tho sitting of tho House yesterday it should havo been the duty or tho privilego of tho Opposition leader, if there had been one, to speak, but on each occasion different members of tho committee 6pokc. The first occasion was when the' Prune Minister suggested to tho House jjjat it would bo more seeming, in view of the faot that a motion of condolonco was to follow, if tho Houso allowed the Imprest Bill to go through without much debate. To this suggestion Mr. W. D. S. Macdonald replied on behalf of the party. The.second occasion was when tho Primo Minister movod'tho resolution to honour tho lato Speaker. This motion was seoonded by Mr. J. A. flanah. BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. Two members of tho Opposition party asked questions which had reference to tho proposal to introduce religious instruction, into tho curriculum of Stato schools. Mr. G. Witty (Riccarton) tabled a question asking whether tho Government wore I in favour of retaining tho present national system of free, secular, and compulsory education. On the other hand, Mr. T. M. Wilford (Hutt) wished to know whothci? tho Government would introduce legisla-. tion' to permit of a referendum being taken on the question of Bible-reading in schools, , ABSENTEES, Quite a number of members wer# • absent yesterday, and most of them will be absent for some time. On the Govern- ' mont side, Sir Waltor Buchanan has not 1 vet returned from his trip to tho Old Land, but ho is expected back in a fow days, and Mr. E. H. Clark (Chalmers), wlio has been. ill, is not in robust health 1 yet. On tho Opposition side there aro several absentees—Sir Josoph Waivi, Mr. T. Buiton, the Hon. A. T. Ngata, Mr. J. Vigor Brown, and Sir James Carroll. Sir Joseph Word and Mr. T. Buxton ara absont from tho Dominion, and will not bo bacK for about a month. Sir James Carroll has not wholly recovered from his recent illness, and ho was yesterday granted leave of absence for a month.' The other two members are detained by "urgent private business," and their absence from tho Housa_will be for a much shorter period. an ~~ : THE DEFENCE FORCES. Two returns referring to tho Defence Forces of the Dominion were asked for. in tho House yesterday. Mr. G. Lfturcneon (Lyttelton) moved for a return showing—(l) Tho number of young men in the Dominion betweon tho ages of 18 and 25 years inclusive j (2) the number of these who are enrolled in the,Dcfence Force! (3) tho number-who havo been rejected ns physically unfit or who have been excused from serving on. other grounds) and (4) tho number who havo been summonod throughout tho whole Dominion for breaches of the Defonco Act, Mr. G, Witty (Riccarton) asked for a. return setting forth: (1) The number of youths who have been . convicted onco for breaches of the Defence Act; (2) the cumber of youths convicted twice ( (3) tho number convicted threo times and over; (i) the number of youths eligible to servo under tho Defonoe Act; and (5) tho actual number now serving under tho Defenoo Act. MINISTERS' TOURS. Six motions, for returns, of which Messrs. Atmoro, Eussell, and Witty wero the authors,, wijro tabled in tho House yesterday relative to Ministers travelling, and tho expenses incurred on tour. Mr. Witty asked that the House be supplied with a record of the number of days oacli Minister had boon absent from Wellington from November 7, 1912! to June 25, 1913. All tho other motions oonccrned expenses. The movers ft6ked to bo furnished with tho total amount of travelling allowances and travelling expenses paid to every Minister in the recess, with special reference to Mr. Allen's trip to England and Mr. Fisher's trip to Australia. A UNIVERSAL PENSION. Mr. H. J. H. Okey yesterday gavo notico of his intention to move: "That there bo laid lwforo this Houso a return giving an estimate of what would bs the cost to the Dominion of providing every man and woman in tho Dominion with a, pension of £2d a year on attaining tho ago of sixty-five years." MR. WILFORD'S BUDGET. Mr. T. M. Wilford offered some suggest tions to tho Govornment yesterday uitho form of a question tabled, for legislation dealing with mOtor-cars. Ho suggests that a tax ue levied on motor-cars and motorcycles, assessed according to tho horsepower of the machine, such tax to bo expended on roads, and that drivers bo licensed with a ' strict provision that drunkenness while in charge of a motor vehicle must bo punished with the forfeiture of tho license for at least twelvo months. Mr. Wilford offered a number of other suggestions. He suggested that tho Prime Minister should declare do-, finitely whether State servants would ob-' tain full civic rights; he suggested that tho Minister for Labour nmend tho Factories Act in order to lessen tho hours of employment for women in woollen factories below -18 per week; Kud ho suggested that tho Government should introduoo legislation to enable local authorities to purchase, store, and sell coal. PRIVATE MEMBERS' BILLS. Notico of the following pj-ivate members' Bills (in addition to those mention- , od in the report of the proceedings of tho / House) was given yesterday :—We&tport Public Parks Vesting Bill (Mr, Colvin), Lights on Vehicles Bill (Mr. fiuddo), Gisborn? Harbour Empowering Bill (Mr, Macdonald), and Betterment Bill (Mr, M'Calhim). NEXT WEEK'S PR'OSPECTS, Prospects for next week both, in the House and in (lie Legislative Council aro that thc'itlirco silting days available .will bo taken up for the. most part with tho Addrcss-in-Ueply debates. It is thought not unlikclv th;»t the ' AiUlress-in-lieply debute in Inn House may fade out at a comparatively earlv stage. Some members prcdict that it will scarcely last out the week. None of the big policy measures are' likely to 1m brought down for a week or two, but half a dozen wnall Bills will probably be introduced as opportunity serves during th? week, so that they may bf* put through and provido the Council with *omo work to fall back upon when tho Addrcss-in-Reply debate concludes in that Chamber. LAND AGGREGATION INQUIRY. Ono item • of business claiming attention next week will be the setting up o£ tho sessional committees. As sson as posj siblo after the Lands Committee of tho House of Representatives has been appointed, the Prime Minister will mow, in accordance with his announced intention, that it be asked to inquire into chftrgcs of aggregation of land which have l>een raisrd by Opposition newspapers during the recess. Tho charges aa made referred principally to/areas in tho neighbourhood of Mangaweka, but the. proposal is that tho Lands Committeo should l>e empowered to broaden its inquiry on tho subject of aggregation aq its riicmbers may think necessary.