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LOBBY GOSSIP

SESSION NEWS AND NOTES BUSINESS THIS WEEK

;■ TJie Licensing Bill will bo 1 the one bi" item of businbss before tho House of iwspresentatives' to-day. It is intended to proceed to;ife consideration in Committee as soon, as formal business has been disposed of. Only two days are available :for Government business this woek; Wednesday will be set aside as usual for private- numbers'- Bills, and ■Thursday for' Local Bills, of wliich a number now await attention, and it u-ii no ? be surprising if the Licensing tim takes up both Government days this week. The air of the lobbies is as thick as ever with rumours about tho probable fato of tho Bill, but tho weight of opinion all through has been tSat it lias poor prospects of being passed with .its principal clause (providing for the reduction of the- majority at tho national prohibition poll to 55 per cent 1 intact. .--.■' ,' '' AN ABSENT MEMBER. It had,been generally supposed in political circles that Mr. Edward Newman, member for Rangitikei,-would return to Now Zealand this week from America, but news has just-reached'die Prime Minister that Mr. Newman was detained in London by serious illness and will not reach New Zealand until next month. The letter " which Mr Massey received is dated Juno 15, and in it Mr. Newman states that eminent specialists whom he consulted in Lon('ou■refused him permission to travel, bat lie adds that ho now has an assurance that with care, rest, and attention there is no reason why ho should not regain his health completely, and be as strong as ever he was. One passage m the letter reads: "I need hardly assure you that I. am deeply distressed at being away from my duty while tho tiouse is sitting. Had ■ it' been at all possible , I would have risked a good deal.to got away from hero at the time (intended, but on consideration I find that this cannot be done. My absence is particularly annoying to me, but the cause is beyond my control. I am sending certificates from the doctors to the Speaker, so that he-cau see what •the position is." ' .'.'"' ' '. ' , The Prim© Minister has now received a cablegram from Mr. Newman to the effect.that ho is on his way out, and is due to reach Auckland on August 25. A MAORI APPRECIATION. When ,a deputation of Eastern Maori ■District ; Natives recently interviewed the Prime Minister, in reference to the candidature of Hetekia Tβ Kani Pere in the.Reform interest'in that electorate, a , very eloquent address-; was delivered by a Maori chiftainess named Meri Mangakahia. Amongst other'things she said:—"We admit and entirely believe that you are the Premier who has the interests of your Maori people honestly at heart. ■'You have upheld the' Treaty which hasybeen wept over by your Maori people during many years past.. The soldiers who 'took part in the battles of former days it has boen decided by your Government shall be given pensions. .For the fact that you have done these great things for us, we desire to give you all honour and thanks. Kia ora unto you continuously; you are the first Premier-who lias given effect to Paragraph-111 of the ..Treaty of Waitangi:—,.. ~ \ ..'■.' : "'ln consideration whereof, her Majesty the Queen of-England ex- ■ tends to. the Natives of. New Zea- ' land her Royal,protection .and im-' parts: to them all the 1 rights and' privileges of , British subjects.' "Por-the-above-written reasons onr principal desire, 0 Premier/ is that your Government may never be disturbed by the Opposition. - We would be- injured by tho laws of Sir James Carroll and. the Hon. A';. T.Ngata. because the said gentlemen .have continually stated at the great meetings of the Maori race right' throughout tho island that the Treaty of vSV.'aitangi' is decomposed and buried, and that there is no good in ■looking backward, hut 'look ahead.' " 'LABOUR LAW. Amongst' the Bills projected for this session .is one to amend the Industrial Conciliation and : Arbitration Act, and it will deal amongst other things with the position of industrial unions which go out on strike "during the currency of awards to which they are parties. Following upon the big strike of 1913, comment, was excited by the fact that the authorities \did~not prosecute the Arbitration unions which took part in it. The Crowii Law Office, reporting, to the Government at the time, stated that there wera grave difficulties in tho way. of the "prosecutions, and._that in previous cases in'which unions-had been proceeded agaiiisf. instead of members,. the difficulty in-proving the complicity of the union had usually proved insuperable. ' In case of a contiction the registration of a union could be suspended by the Court, but this would not have the effect of extinguishing the ■ union ' or prevent it from enforcing the right to obtain subscriptions ■ from its members. The Prime Minister stated, in connection wtili; the' Crown Law'report, that Ith'o la'w seemed to be defective, and that-he intended to have legislation drafted., '..."'.,. ■■'/ /WAR, AND FINANCE. : ■"-' There was talk in the Parliamentary lobbies yesterday about the war situation, in Europe, and incidentally the effect it is likely to' have upon the ,, financial operations of the- Dominion. When the matter was mentioned to the Prime 'Minister lastevening, he remarked: "A : European ,war will, undoubtedly affect our finances, but apart from that there is nothing' to bo said; Wo can only hopo for this best." .■' . THE GRADUATED TAX. \ ■ In.tho.course of a discussion on the graduated land tax in the House- of Representatives : last, week Sir Joseph Ward expressed an opinion that the effect of the alteration mado, by tho present Government-in 1912 was that men with properties of smaller value, Bay, from £5000 to £15,000, were paying more than they formerly did. The Hon. Jas. Allen explained that while there were individual instances in which estates Between tho values named were paying more, the general effect of the new system had been to reduco taxation slightly in the smaller estates.

Owing to the fact that the tax now increases.. gradually instead of by_ big steps' the ieduction in taxation is in some cases quite considerable. This was demonstrated by Mr. W. H. D. Bell, who took as »n example an estate having an unimproved value of £11,000. • ■ ; Under the scale provided by tho Act of 1908 this estate was taxed at tho rate of Jd. in the £, and the annual amount of the graduated tax was £11 9s. 2d. . , .

Under the Act of 1912, which is now in force this estate is taxed 1-32 plus 1-32,000 s 6000 d. in the £, equals 7-32 d. in the £. The amount of the graduated tax on an estate having an unimproved value of £11,000 is therefore now £10 Os. 6Jd., or £1 Bs. 7fd. less :than it was under the old system. THE MERE POLITICIAN. A somewhat ..uncoinjjlimontnry similewas employed by , Miss M'Lcan (a member of the Bible-in-fecliools deputation on Saturday) when sho had occasion !to refer to politicians in their collective capacity. "The politician," she said, "is an elusive animal—one of those agile little boasts who, if you put your hand where he is not. he is there, and if you put .your hand where .ha isj he ia nob there,"-

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19140728.2.47

Bibliographic details

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2213, 28 July 1914, Page 6

Word Count
1,198

LOBBY GOSSIP Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2213, 28 July 1914, Page 6

LOBBY GOSSIP Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2213, 28 July 1914, Page 6

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