POLITICAL POINTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXI, Issue 140, 15 June 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

POLITICAL POINTS.

"There was, however, one thing which one lamented in Parliament, and that was the feeling of jealousy which existed between town and country members. Every piece of legislation that was brought forward by a city member which was likely to affect the country members or country constituencies in any way was looked upon with jealousy and with a .certain amount of opposition, and vice versa : " — A Dunedin member on the question of Town v. Country. "Last session eleven Labour Bills were placed before Parliament, but, practically only two passed — the Workers' Compensation and the Public Contracts. The fact that only two of the measures passed was due to the large number of country members in the House, and to the fact that many, city members were conservative on labour matters. It was one of the hardest fights members had, even with the great Liberal Party of the day, to get labour measures placed on the Statute Book.' — A Labour member's lament — Mr. J. F. Arnold at Dunedin. Mr. J. F. Arnold, one of Dunedin's members, is not altogether satisfied with THie composition of the Cabinet. When he made his recess speech on the 4th instant he' was loud in his praises of Messrs. Seddon and Ward, but he went on to say:— "Those two gentlemen were surrounded by others who were very much weaker. The last man who was attached to the Ministry was the weakest of them all, and in his opinion it was not right to find in any Government two men who were head and shoulders above the rest of their colleagues. If there was to be a reconstruction of the Ministry presently, as he believed there would, be, he thought they would have much stronger men united with the two he had mentioned — men such as the one who had to resign his position as well as his portfolios early last session." During his speech at Napier the other day Mr. A. L. D. Fraser said it was never intended that the liquor legislation introduced last session should be passed. A Bill had been brought down, but Mr. Seddon, whose life had been worried out by both parties, had drafted it with such cuteness and cleverness that each, was bound to be dissatisfied. Which is the sort of thing one naturally expects from Mr. Seddon. It is rumoured (says the Thames Advertiser) that Captain Russell will retire from the leadership of the Opposition before next session. Mr. James Allen, of Bruce, is .likely to succeed to the leadership. During the last twelve years the assessable income of Great Britain has increased by the enormous ' sum of £120,000,000. Sir Win. Harcourt, speaking on the Budget in the House ot Commons, said he regarded the formidable growth of the country's normal expenditure with grave apprehension, for if it continued there' would be danger of financial ruin. The Chancel'-or of the Exchequer expects a yield of no less than £2,100,000 ironi the export duty of Is a ton on coal. Mr. Morris is the only Irish Catholic Unionist in the House of Commons. Among the speakers on the Budget in the House of Commons was Mr. J. C. Wason, member for Selwyn in the last New Zealand Parliament, who said he foresaw a time when Great Britain would have to reconsider her fiscal posh tion and to resort to some form of protection. Several Irish Nationalists urged in the House of Cotnnions that Ireland ought not to be made to contribute towards the cost of a war which had been carried on against the wishes of her people. A strong attack was made by Mr. Griffith Bcscawen on the marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister Bill while that measure was under consideration by the House of Commons. In,, America and some .colonies where this violation of the law of affinity had been sanctioned, he declared, the principle of oneness of flesh between husband and wife was in practice no longer recognised. Lord Percy also 'opposed the Bill, Baying that it was certainly illogical to propose that a man should be permitted to marry iris deceased wife's sister when no' proposal Was made to allow a woman to ma-ny her deceased husband's brother. During the last fifty years Great Britain has paid off £200,000,009 of debt. There was a widespread "belief, says the London Times, that the increased income tax (from Is to Is 2d) -will "alienate that middle-class sympathy upon which Ministers have hitherto placed 1 so much reliance." Coal going to the Channel Islai&s from Great Britain will be liable to the ex--port duty. ,• The total quantity of coal exported from all ports in the United Kingdom during- 1900 was 44,089,197 tons. The proposals for increased taxation in the British Budget have evidently been carefully considered by the Continental press. The Berliner Politisphe Nachrichten, which is often supposed^ to reflect the opinions of the Prussian Finance Minister, considers that the. ' duty on, refined sugar will have the effect of a protective duty for the English sugar refineries, a fact which cannot be regarded with indifference in Germany in view of the extensive export of German refined sugar to England. The tax, it says, will have a detrimental effect on German finance, as it will render, it impossible to abolish the bounties on the export of sugar so long as the English duty is maintained. v As to the export duty on cool, the same paper is of opinion that it will facilitate the competition of German "coal with English in Germany, Belgium, and Holland, and other European countries. On the other hand, it will benefit the British iron trade to an extent which must not be under-estimated. In the first place it will increase the cost of production' in those branches of German industry which have to employ English coal. In the second place, it is anticipated that the duty will cause a diminution of the price of coal in England, and will thus give the British iron workers another advantage over their foreign competitors. Among these the firaf place is held by the German manufacturers, who will th\ia be the most severely affected by the duty.