POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 18, 21 July 1900, Page 2

POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES.

DEFENCE APPOINTMENTS. Country youths and young men who may desire to join the permanent defence forces are placed at a great disadvantage by the condition that applicants must have served in a volunteer corps. In pointing this out to the Government yesterday Mr. R. Thompson also drew attention 'to the fact that in many country districts there are no volunteer corps. Therefore he asked that the prohibitive regulation should be repealed. The Hon. J. Carroll promised that the matter would receive the attention of the Government. "SPOILS TO THE VICTORS." Yesterday the junior member for Wellington (Mr Fisher) asked the Premier if he would inform the House of the approval of next recurrent period fpr the distribution of Government patronage. In his blandest manner, and with a fine assumption of innocence, Mr. Fisher stated that he had received information that Conservative members had had promises of appointments for their friends to the offices of policemen, mes-sengei-s, charwonieri, etc. fie thought the Party which had been successful at the recent elections should also receive some share iv the distribution- of Government patronage. The Premier should give notice when next he intended to make appointments so that all could share and share alike, and the "spoils to the victors" not be given ' exclusively to the Conservative Party. ' The Premier, in reply, chaffed the Wellington members, and stated that if all the applications for Government billets that came from Wellington were granted there would be very little left for anyone else. (Mr. J. Hutcheson emphatically denied that he had recommended such applications The Premier said he had quite recently seen one made by Mr. Hutcheson. Mr. Hutcheson— Read the list. It would not take two minutes to read the whole of them). Every member was well within hisrights in recommending persons for appointments in the public service, and a member's constituents were within their rights in asking him to use his interest in obtaining such positions. They all did it. (Mr. Pirani — You don't distinguish between recommendations and testimonials). If he saw the name of a member to the letter of a person desiring an appointment he would consider that that member recommended the appointment. If a member, simply to curry favour, sent in a recommendation and would not hold himself responsible for that recommendation he (the Premier) would take very good care that the recommendation got a very short shrift. It could be said fairly that the Government had not punished members of the Opposition and' those who had applied through them by ignoring their applications. He thought, however, that a roll of applicants recommended by members for positions outside the Government service should be kept, and appointments made m rotation. {Mr. Fisiier — I'll have a chance then). He was not so sure that Mr. Fisher's memory in regard to the appointments that had been made on his recommendation was not for the moment defective. However, he hoped members would be careful in making recommendations. Let them be reasonable and fa\r, and so far as the Government was concerned it would mnlco appointments upon their recommendation.