PARLIAMENTARY NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXII, Issue 87, 9 October 1901, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS AND NOTES.

LABOUR DAY. The. Hon. S. E. "SJxrimski sharply protested against the resolution carried yesterday by the Legislative Council, adjourning the Council till 8 o'clock this evening on account of Labour Day. He regretted that Ministers, after having been spoken to as they had' been by labour people, should yield to pressure from that qifarter. The Hon. J. Bigg said that the Council could get through its business, and that it adjourned last year. The Hon. R. Scotland, thought it a mistake to have a, holiday because the unions held a procession. It wastaking these people too much at their own valuation. They caused too much trouble in the country already. The Hon. R. Reeves urged an adjournment till Thursday. The motion to adjourn was carried by 20 to 6. CIVIL SERVICE PENSIONS. Pensions in this colony are like kissing in that they go by iavour, said Mr. 1. Mackenzie yesterday. He disapproved pensions altogether, holding that ll public servants were paid good salaries, the country should nob be burdened with them after they left the Service. Mr. Fowlds agreed; -with .pensions, but he also urged that when a" Civil Servant had completed the term of service stipulated by the Act he should receive his pension, and, it was nob fair tor the Uovernnient to keep him out of it. The matter was discussed at some length, some members considering that Civil Servants should be retired after they had served the statutory thirty years and we're over 60 years of age so as to make room for those of lesser rank, while others urged that there should be no hard and fast rule on the subject, and that a man was frequently of more value after 60 years thaa before, owing to his matured judgment and his knowledge of his Department. The Premier said that it was the intention of the Government that a large number of public servants who had attained the age- limit should! be retired. Discretion- would of course be exorcised, but it was not economy to keep on a lot of men who had got past their work while there were, a number of younger men fitted to take their places. Mr. Piraoi pertinently remarked that the remedy was a Civil Service Board, which would deal with the question of retirements on common sense lines, and not retain them because a member who was a supporter of the Government desired that they should be retained for political reasons. , TROUT AND TOURISTS. A strong plea' for improving the troutfishing in New Zealand as an additional attraction for tourists was made by Mr. Wilford last night. Ministers; he said, had set up an expensive Tourist Department, with a capable man at its head, and had told the House and the country that it was their intention to foster the tourist traffic. Many people came from Great Britain, America, and Australia to fish for trout in our streams — in fact, the country did not realise the tremendous asset that we had in our trout streams, and Ministers did not seem to realise that a great deal could be done towards encouraging the tourists, wh6 would spend a. considerable amount of money here, t by improving our trout fishing. He hoped that next year the Government would devote a considerable amount of money in helping the Acclimatisation Societies, which had very small funds, to fully stock the various; rivers. If that was done there would bo a much larger influx of visitors than at the present time. The Government did not make any answer to the appeal. ' Perhaps they* will "keep it steadily in view." A REPEATER. The subject of. invitations to trips in the Tutanekai was discussed in the House last evening. Mr. Fisher — " The Tutanekai and the Hinemoa belong to me as much as to any member of the Ministry. If I wanted a trip I would merely walk on board, and I should like to see who'd put me off." Mr. Pirani said that the Premier and the 1 Minister for Marine had last year cordially invited him togo for a three weeks' trip, during session. The Minister for Marine— "l don't mind making the offer now." Mr. Pirani — "There you are— repeated." AN -IMPORTANT PERSON. Mr. Pirani stated last evening* that the steam steering-gear of the Tutanekai had been shifted aft at a cost of £400 because the most important personage in New Zealand had hurt his knee by falling over the chain, and in. order that the chain should not obstruct the promenade that was used by those invited to the Tutanekai's excursions. The cheapest and easiest way would, he said, have been for the gentleman to step a little higher when he came to the obstruction. . STRONG LANGUAGE, Quite a stir was caused in the Hquse last night when Mr. Wilford referred to Mr. Napier as a "political rastaguer." Members wanted to know what it meant, and some one asked the Acting Chairman of Committees (Major Steward). But the Major didn't know— he confessed it in a tone of sorrow, because 1 -'a Chairman, more especially if he is an ex-Speaker, is supposed to know everything. Any way, he didn't know, and there was an end of it. Then Mr. G. W. Russell suggested that the words might convey a frightful innuendo, a«d urged that Mr. Wilford should be compelled to call in «n interpreter. Mr. Pirani set the

House laughing by suggesting that the phrase- meant, "A gentleman who desires to be saluted." Mr. Napier, by the bye, did not laugh at the joke. Eventually, Mr. Wilford, urged thereto by the ActingChairman, explained that the words meant "A political quibbler in figures."' Then the House breathed again. jottings: • There are eighteen officials in the Customs Department who will eventually be entitled to pensions. "A gentleman in whom I' believe the House as a whole has implicit confidence. " — Mr. Laurenson on Mr. Glasgow, the Secretary of Customs. * • "It's always the same, Auckland is always being left in the cold," plaintively remarked Mr. Bollard last night. "It was not only flapdoodle, it was intentional flapdoodle." — Mr. Collins, oni the Minister for Publio Works. Fourteen days' leave of absence has been granted by the Legislative Council to the Hon. Colonel Pitt on account of illness in his family. Mr. G. W. Russell says that the Government steamers are being used much more as Ministerial yachts than was formely the case. "I may convince twenty-five members of this House, but what on earth is the use of that if I do not' convince the Premier, especially as the Premier is determined not to be convinced?" — Mr. Fisher. Every one knew that long ago. • Mr. Massey— "l wonder whether the Premier will retire at sixty years of age?" Mr. Pirani— "He intends to retire before that." The Premier said nothing. "The most economical department in the State."— Mr. J*. Hutcheson on the Customs Department. In regard to the petition of Thomas Ray, of Carterton, praying for compensation for land taken for railway purposes, the Railway Committee recommends that the Government place a sum on the Supplementary Estimates to compensate Mr. Ray for the land taken. Mr. Guinness asked last evening whether the increase of salary granted to Captain Post, of the Tutanekai (£5 on a £350 salary), was not very small for many years of faithful service. The Minister for Marine agreed that the amount "was small, and said .that the matter was under consideration. Mr. Laurenson on Mr.' Pirani— »"lf I hindered the House as much as the member for Palmerston I should be ashamed to rise and speak." Mr. Pirani on Mr. - Laurenson — "If ton. members talked such nonsense on the Estimates as he talks we should never get done at all." The amendment in the B^abbit Nuisanqe Bill recommended by the Stock Committee is to the- effect that liability for further penalty for failure to exterminate rabbits begins after the lapse of a fortnight from the date of the first conviction — instead of a month as provided in the Bill, i