POLITICAL NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 99, 24 October 1904, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES.

HISTORICAL RECORDS. The member for Malaura, (Mr. M'Nab) has been for some time urging on the Government the advisableness of publishing those parts of the early records of New South Wales which lefer to New Zealand. The request has been acceded to by Cabinet, which has also agreed to the offer made by Mr. M'Nab to edit the production, he having been for some time engaged in searching the records of New South Wales in connection with a work on the early history of Foveaux Straits, which he has in preparation. The Government of New South Wales has been asked for permission to reprint the documents and to reproduce any plates selected. THE LICENSING BILL. The amendments made by the Legislative Council in the Licensing Bill has been the chief subject of conversation in the lobbies. The proposal to close Bellamy's <H 10 o'clock on week nights and all day Sundays is resisted by a strong section bt the House, who deprecate interference by the Council with an institution which, they urge, is of far graater interest to the representative Chamber than it is to a branch of the Legislature which rarely sits at night, and spends but a small portion of its time in the precincts of the buildings. The suggestion is made by the extreme section of the House that if Bellamy's is to be closed for the sale of liquor it shall be closed altogether. This section, however, does not see any possibility of ihe amendment being agreed to in any respect, one reason being that without the manifold attractions which Bellamy's af- [ fords it would be difficult to keep a quo1 rum of members present during the late sittings in which the House so frequently indulges. It must not be forgotten, however, that a. certain number of members are by no means averse to Bellamy's being closed, at any rate on Sundays, and these contend that there is a reasonable probability oi the amendments being agreed to. As to the bona-fide traveller, he has not too many friends among members of the House, and it is quite on the cards that his abolition will be acquiesced in by the representative Chamber. NEW RAILWAYS. The following new lengths of railway totalling 122^ miles are proposed by the Railways Authorisation Bill : — Helensville line from Maungaturoto to the southern boundary of Maungatapero, about 20 miles; Gisbornc-Rotorua line, from liaraka to Motu, about 37 miles; Foxton-New Plymouth line, a • branch from Waipuku to Mount Egmont, about 9 miles; same railway, a one-mile deviation from near Aramoho to near Wanganui Station; Midland line, extension from Tadmor up the valley about 10^ miles; Westport-Inangahua, from Westport towards junction of the Inangahua and Buller Rivers, 12 miles; Culverdon-Hanmer, from Culverden to Montrose by Waiau Valley, eight miles; Lawrence-Roxburgh, extension to Beaumont, 13 miles; Catlins-Seaward Bush, from the termination of the line at present authorised by the Catlins Valley to the northern boundary of section 2, block 4, Woodland survey district, 4 miles; Hurunui-Bluff, branch line from Gore towards Waikaka, about eight miles. TEACHERS' SALARIES. The Bill to give increases of salaries to teachers was introduced by Governor's mepsace on Friday. Parts 1 and

2 of the first schedule of the Act of 1901 are repealed, and tho new schedule substitutes a new basis of attendance and scale of salaries as follows : — School not over ten, capitation £6, male or female teacher; and 10 to 20, fixed salary £60, capitation £5, male or female; 20 to 25, £110 and £4, male or female; 25 to 40, £130 and £2, male teacher, £130 and £1, female teacher; 40 to 50, £160 and 10s, male teacher, female teacher as at present. Thero is no change in the sth, 6th, and 7th grades, but from the Bth grade (school of 120 to 150) to the last (28th) grade (school of 1020 to 1050) there is an increase of £20 per annum to all male" assistants after the first. The second and third schedule of the original Act aro to be repealed, and the only alteration made in the new schedule is a house allowance of £10 to teachers of schools with an average attendance of over 10 and not over 20. A further amendment proposes that in the case of schools of over 10 (instead of 20 as .at present) the Board has discretion to either provide a residence or pay the house allowance. The salaries of pupil teachers remain the same, except .in the case of fifth year pupil teachers, who will receive £50 instead of £40. The Bill also provides that a male assistant at £100 or a female at £80 may be substituted for two pupil teachers instead of a male or female at £80 as formerly. The new scale is to come into force on Ist January, 1905. _ By comparing the schedule of the Bill with that of the Act of 1901 the amount of the proposed increases can be reckoned and shown in tabular form as follows :■— Attend- New Old ance. Salary. Salary. £ s. £ s. 10 60 0 60 0 15* 75 0 70 0 20 110 0 100 0 25 130 0 H7 10 30 140 0 (£135 female) 135 0 35 150 0 (£l4O female) 145 0 40 160 0 (£145 female) 155 0 45 162 10 (£147 10s female) 160 0 49 164 10 \£l49 los female) 164 0 At schools of fifty the increases stop, and there is no difference until we come to schools of between 150 and 200, in which the first (and only) male assistant gets an increase from £80 to £100. Thereafter it is the male assistants below the first who are to come in for the yearly increase of £20. The proposed alterations, therefore, are obviously fram • ed with a view to give more encouragement to teachers in the backblocks, and to induce boys to enter and remain in the profession.