POLITICAL NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 48, 25 August 1904, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

+~ A HESITATING PREMIER. Whatever may bo tlio cause (says the Mataura Ensign) tho fact still remains that the Premier now-it-days appears disinclined to tiust to his own powera of initiative in the mutter of new legislation. He has lost much of- his old da*h md flourish, and no longer demands that uiy particular thing shall bo inado law because he saye so. At tho faintest »how of hostility or opposition he heaiUitce and is anxious to compromise. What political Delilah has shorn him of his locks and reduced him to the last stage* of ilabbiness is not quite clear ; but nevertheless be has to a largo extent .renounced the mailed, flst of overbearing iutocracy for tho weakling's refuge of parley and proecrastimiUon. OUR GREATEST NEED. " One of tho greatest need» of this K>untry," declared Mr. Taylor in a semii&riouM mood yesterday, "is a man who tan show us where to get cheap montsy, kow to got it, and how to get as much is we want. No matter who ho is, any nap alive who can do this is urgently van ted. Or dead man, for the matter of what. If ho's dead, he should be dug MAORI ANTIQUITIES. An attempt to cope with the inroads ..nade upon the colony's store of Maori antiquities is contained in tho Maori Antiquities Act Amendment Bill, which was read a flr^t time yesterday, Thie measure provides a. penalty nob exceeding £100 against any person who, without the express permission of the Coionial Secretary, exports any Maori antiquity from the colony. Any Maori antiquity entered for export contrary to the Act shall be forfeited and vest in the Grown. The Colonial Secretary may require, that the owner of any antiquity, permumbn to export which has been granted shall allow it to be copied by photography, cost, or otherwise. THE PRICE OF POST-CARDS. In refusing to accede to Mr. Rutherford's request that the price of postcards bo reduced to one half-penny, tho Postmaster-General states that if tho kalf-penny post-card were introduced tiio revenue would suffer by £15,000 annualty. Ho further adds that the Governjiont was exceptionally liberal in authorising the sale of letter-cards at Id, as in the United Kingdom an additional chargo is made for the card itsolf. An addititional charge is also made in the United Kingdom for a poet-card itsolf. THE COST OF IMPORTED COAL. Reittltani upon (in enquiry by Mr. Rutherford »s to whether, as the drfferenaia.l rate on the carriage of coal by rail as between New* Zealand and imported is 5s 4d to 7s 6d per ton, tho Government will favourably consider the question of suottituting in import duty in lieu of tho differential rate, so as to place country users of imported coal on the same footing' as thoto residing in the seaboard cities, the Government states that enjuiries will bo mado to ascertain the rear son why, seeing that New Zealand is a largo coal-bearing country, so" much Newcastle coal is imported. It is beyond juestkm, however, adds tho Government, that whilst we export timber so largely to Australia the ships will return laden with coal for ballast at very low rates »f freight, particularly for the northern part of the colony. In consequence of this the imported coal is sold at lesser rotes than that produced in the colony. PETROLEUM MINING. It is proposed by tho Petroleum Mining Bill (Hon. J. M'Gowan) that the Warden of a mining district may grant a petroleum prospecting licenso for five years over Crown lands up to 10,000 acres, each application for such license to be accompanied by a deposit of £1000. Tho holder of a license ahn-H also havo the right of lease up to 1000 acres for a term not exceeding 63 years, every application for a lease being accompanied by a deposit of £5000. Tho lease shall not bo cancelled if the land proves to be >iuriferou3 or to contain tiny motal or mineral other than petroleum. The Warden may grant mining privileges to other persons over the leased lands if Hhe lessee's interosk is not prejudiced. The customary provisions aro made in the matter of development and tho roifunding of deposits. IN DEFENCE OF "JAY PAY." Justices of the Peace, with their blush.tng honours (as coroners) thick upon khem, are, in tho opinion of somo Legislative Councillors, in danger of being overloaded. The Coroners Bill gives Justices power to net as coroners in tbo absence of a Stipendiary Magistrate; And somo hon. members, notably the Hon. 8. T. George, considered that somo Justices are not quite equal to conducting a coroniftl enquiry without a jury. The Hon. C. C. Bowen bestowed but faint praise when he inferred that there irero all sorts of Justices, and that a Magistrate, in selecting one to act as coroner, would select the right sort. Replying to this kind of criticism, the Attorney-General took Justices under the Government wing. The Attorney-General could not understand the opprobrium enst at holders of tho oommiwion of the peace, among whom were many men of, high intelligence. It was not long since Dr. M'Arthur, now Stipendiary Magistrate at Wellityjton, was not a Stipendiary Magistrate but a Justice of the Peace, and hre intelligence was surely as treat then an it was now. His decision' fn the Newtown licensing case was supported by the Privy Council against «ho Court of Appeal of this colony. The Efon. G. Jones: No credit to either. The Attorney-General added that there were many men of the same intelligence is Dr. M'Arthur holding the commission •f the peace in New Zealand. LOCAL BODIES LEABES. The Local Bodies Leases Bill, introduced into Parliament yesterday, prorides that a local authority may lease lands or buildings (a) for any tefm not txceeduig 26 years ; and (b) for any term not exceeding 21 yeara, with the provilions that the lessee may have the right of renewal for 21 years, or that before the expiration of the 21 yeara a new lease may be put up for public auction fit an upset price which has no regard for the lessee's improvements, or (a third provision) ttyat the lessee may have the option of a renewal or a new leaso by auction. Valuations are to be made by three independent persons. A local lufthority may reduce the rent paid by i. lessee, accept a surrender of lease, or compromise rent duo. Sub-leasing is nanctioned, and nlso the leasing of lands by private contract? for tenancies not •xceeding a year. It is also provided ihat on ' the application of any local authority the Governor may proclaim ihat any lands under such authority's | control may bo leased by a Land Board is if they were Crown lands. TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTIVES. Some interesting observations are made by the Minister for Public Health in reply to an enquiry by Mr. Hogg regarding the treatment and isolation of consumptives. Ho says that when the Cambridge Sanatorium is completed it will be able to bouse sixty sufferers. ln« Government does not propose to do any more at present in the way of getting up other sanatoria. He hopes that other hospitals will follow the lead of the Wellington Board in providing for consumptives. It is a pressing necessity that something should be done for indigent consumptives, nnd the Hospital Boards have hod ample time to move in the matter. He odds : It has

been suggested that the Government should erect a homo for theso incurable cases. That somo such home is required 1 am firmly convinced ; but T would rather ! see advanced cases of consumption housed in theso open-air annexes attached to a cottage hospital than herded together in ono largo homo wiui persons suffering from other incurable diseases. From an economic point pf view this system of annexes has much to recommend it. With regard to all such annexes, tho Government, of course, will, in accordance with the law, pay tho usual sulwidy. ISLAND TRADE". Mr. Vile aeked the Commissioner ol Customs (Hon. 0. 11. Mills) yesterday whether, as the. Union Steam Ship Company cannot put on an alternate service to the Cook Group ami Tahiti, tho Government will make Wellington tho fu«t and direct port of call in tho present servico. The Minister replied that further consideration of the question had better ntiind over un til bhe completion of the accommodation house which is being built at Rarotonga, the Union Company having promised to offer inducements, to Now Zealand people to visit tho group, and to extend tho service- if the increased traffic justifies it Commenting on the Minister's reply, Mr Vile said his question chiefly concerned the island fruit, and ho read a long letter from a Wellington firm, in which it .vaa pointed out that .tho steamer arrives in Auckland on a Thursday and cannot leav< till tho Saturday, so that Wellington get* ita shipments on Tuewtlay, Christchurch on Wednesday, and Duneclin ou Thursday. This delay is stated to bo prejudicial to tho fruit, and if the steamer in delayed by stress of weather and cannot tranship to tho Saturday steamer SouUi from Auckland, Wellington does not gjet its tdiipmcnt until eight days after its arrival in Hk> colony, and GhrMtchurch and Dunedin suffer proportionately. Tho Minister replied that tho Union Company did all it could to bring the fruit down as early as possible. PERSISTENCY. Mr. James Allon again dealt with tho Waitati Homo yesterday. Ho had asked for Dr. Trilby King's report on tho home, and ho got 'an unsatisfactory reply from tho Minister. "I asked for it last year and I have asked for it again, and I will ask until I do get it. There must bo somo reason for its being withheld," he daid. "I will ask for it until anothor party is on the Ministerial Benches." JOTTINGS. "My experienco of asking Ministere questions has taught mo that it is as hard to get a paper brought down as it ta to draw first prizo in Tattersall's sweep," said Mr. Major yesterday. "Or pak-a-poo," suggested a member who recollected the debate on pak-a-poo on Tuesday. " One of tho best Governors tho colony ever saw— Lord Onalow."— Mr. T. Mnckenzio's tribute. The ptoint of tho Rating Act Amendment Bill, which was introduced by tho Colonial Sccrotary yesterday, is a provision that tho decision of tho Assessment Court under the 1894 Act shall bo final on all objections as to value, but not on other quostions (which will carry the right of appeal). The Public Health Amendment Bill, read a first time yesterday, provides that "Hospital Board" in tho Public Health Act of 1903 shall include "District Boards" under tho Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act of 1885.