POLITICAL NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 48, 25 August 1905, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. "Tho bribery and corruption by Mint istera who go about the country promising roads and bridges ie a hundred thousand times greater than tho /bribery I and corruption amongst voters," said iho * Leader of tho Opposition, last night. " The bribery and corruption going an on itlie part of private individuals is re-tail," lie continued, "and that on the. part of the Government is wholesale." " Ho," said the Premier. CROWN LEASES IN WELLINGTON. There arc eight leases of Crown land in t'ho Cily of Wellington, according to a return presented to tie Legislative (Council yesterday. Tho original lessees are : The New Zealand Farmers' Dairy Union, W. Cable, Wellington Harbour Board (2), Wellington Meat Export Company (2). W. Chalmers, and M'Kerrow and Wilson. The total rent received by ihe Crown is £659. "Tlio total unimproved valuo of the land is £65,970, and the capital value £78,560. THE CAMEL AND THE GNAT. A brilliant example of the hair-split-ting and microscopical distinctions in •Parliamentary, or rather unparliamentary, language occurred in the House la6t night. Mt. Fla-knan had been opposing an amendment moved .by Mr. ' 'Massey, and he Tan his argumient tp a rather ridiculous reductio ad absurdum. "The Jion. member is talking rubbish as usual," said Mr. Maesey, energetically, as ho began a reply. Mr. Flatman appealed to the Acting-Chairman -to say i whether -the expression »vas Parliament-, ary. The Chairman ruled that it' waa I not, and ilhat it must bo withdrawn. "Then, sir," 6aid Mr. Massey, I will say the lion, member " "Does the lion, member withdraw?" broke in .tho Acting-Chairman. "Certainly," said Mr., Massey, "and I will say that the lion, member is, as usual, talking nonsense."' This drew an -angry in quoque from Mr. Flatman, but the nonsensical camel got through where tha i-übbiishy gnat failed. ONCERTKTGATED TEACHERS. The increase in the number of uncertificated teachers is, says ihe •Minister for Education in his annual report, greater, both relatively and absolutely, than the increase- of certificated teachers, but it should ba .pointed out that tho increase in ihe former is due chiefly to the large number of those who have partdally qualified for certificates, but have not yet completed all th* conditions, rather ithan to any increase in the number of tea-chore without any 6peciflc complications. It may, adds the report, be desirable to limit in 6ome way fcho facilities for obtaining -licenses to teach, as the conditions now obtaining seem to encourage candidates ito abstain from completing die course T-aquired to gain certificate;. The shortage of t-3aehr ; ie, xfc is further stated, etill Exists, but it is hoped that, when all four training colleges arc at work, the proportion of uncertificated teachers will bo considsrably reduced. ' THE LADY M.H.R. For a few minutes .the lady ,M.H.R. . flitted through the discussion in tho House of the Electoral Bill last night. Mr. Taylor .moved to amend a clause by deleting a subclause, providing that a nomination of a woman 6hall be invalid, on the ground that it was an insult to women, and that women should be given any post to which they were elected. Sir Wm. Steward pointed out that the first Jine of the clause said that "any 'man,' etc.," but Mr. Taylor said ii had been laid down that "man" included " woman," and Sir J. G. Ward cracked i'he ancient joke about man embracing ' women. One or two members sspoke in support of ths lady M.H.R., nnd it was mentioned that women could contest .seats in the Australian Parliament. Mt. Har-iSig pointed out that the striking out of the subsection would not alter tha present position, as clause 14 of the Bill, which had been agreed 4o lon* before, stated exprsssly that "every* male peTson, but jio other person" was qualified to be a candidate for election. ' Mr. Taylor, however, insisted on a division, and it took place amidst high good humour and noisy chatter. The Hon. W. Hall-Jones distinguished himself by voting for Mr. Taylor's amendment, but ■the ladies' champions were defeated by forty-eight votes to twenty-three. TRAINING TEACHERS. The subject of the training of school teachers is dealt with at length in tho ' annual report of the Minister for Educao tion. The increased grants to training^' colleges voted by Parliament last year have, he states, enabled ths two existing institutions at Christchurch and Duitedin to reorganise their staffs and bring" their work more into accord with modern" 1 ideas. The number of students has also largely increased, the number at present attending being nine men and ninetysix: women. Tho establishment of similar colleges at Auckland and Wellington has been authorised, so that at the beginning of next year there will be four such colleges. The demand for teachers is, says the Minister, still so great that for some tinie to come probably many ex-pupil teachers will accept appointments without going to the training colleges. Nevertheless, it may, he says, be confidently stated that the advantages of a thorough training are obvious, and the allowances and privileges to students so liberal, that^ before long tha four institutions will in all likelihood have their full complement of teachers in training. The total cost of tho four colleges when they are full and in working order will be from £20,000 to £22,000, which includes the .cost' of' teaching from 1600 to, 1800. children,.: whose instruction would otherwise have to be provided for. ' ' ACCLIMATISATION MATTERS. Acclimatisation Societies will be in-, terested in the Fisheries Conservation,'. Act Amendment Bill, which has been introduced in the House by the t*6lo:ii;il Secretary. It proposes that the Gov-T ernor in Council may make regulations (a) for prohibiting or restricting tho sale* during the close season of any fish, whether frozen or, chilled or not, of a like species to any fish existing or acclimatised in the colony; (b) for the mode of keeping books or registers by' carrying companies or proprietors or tenants of freezing chambers, and forYarding agents, showing the receipt and delivery of all parcels containing fish, and the inspection cf such books by any fisheries officer; (c) for the inspection of freezing chambers and refrigerating works; (d) for prohibiting or regulafi'i;.; tho export from tho colony of trcmtj salmon, or any other acclimatised fKh ; (c) for the construction in any \raU-t» in which salmon or trout exist of fisi ladders or other means of ingress or egress for fish, so ns to allow -fish to pass and return at all times. THK MEIKLE CASE. _ Mr. J. J. Meikle presented a peti« tion to Parliament yesterday thiough Mr. Barber, in which the history of hia case is set out, prefatory to »a" prayer x that the House will give effect to previous recommendations of the Public Petitions Committees. He also prays that Parliament will grant a full enquiry into a certain "alleged foSged document.'' ; Mr. Meikle's reference to the document in his petition is to the effect thai ho was accused by heverul members of Parliament of having produced a forged ■ document before the M to Z Crnnmitttn in 1897. He is most anxious to provo that tho document was not a forgerj. "Colonel Hume, Inspector of Prisons," he saya, "stated before tho CcmmiUee

on 4th November, 1897, that two prisoners got hold of an old wooden stamp 'of Judge Ward's in the Lyttelton Pri&on und stamped the paper, and Butler and Martin forged the document by writing and filling up tho document. On 21st August, 1903, Mr. P. S. Garvey, the gaoler of the Terrace Prison, appeared before the Committee, and produced a largo stump weighing about three-quar-teis of a hundredweight, and Mr. Ua-r-vey stated that he had had the stamp in ,the Terrace .Prison at Wellington for 14 or 15 years, and that Butler and Martin stamped the paper in the Wellington Prison, and'wrote upon the document, and made Mcikle believe it was genuine. Colonel Hume before the Committee denied that he had ever stated anything about the document." ; .mother, section of the petition makes interesting reading: — "On 10th Decem-■ber,-<1903 the. .Premier instructed the Government Printer (John Mackay) to print a part of the Premier's statement dated 21st November. 1903, and Judge Ward's report 'dated 28th" April, 1883. ;Thttu.sa»'ds' o'f.lcppies "lefts' printed, by theGovernment Printer, and sent out to tho Liberal League from . the Premier's office. Mr. Culver, the head man of the Liberal Federation of New Zealand, sent out copies to the members of the Liberal Federation. . • . -Your petitioner could not get one of the' Government copies that were printed by John Mackay. Your petitioner is now in possession of •fifteen' copies . containing . Judge Ward's report 'and the Premier's statement dated 21st November, 1903, that ■ were print- • ed by John Mackay, Government Printer, \Vellirigton, 19C3."" THE OPPOSITION. . The Opposition held a caucus this morning to consider, the course of action 'to be pursued in 'regard to the land •gnestion.- All the members were'present, including one member who' has hitherto ""been 'classed 'as 'an Independent. • The strictest secrecy^ is being observed as tothe result of the meeting. '•- • FIRE BRIGADES "BILL. Some indication of the course the Government proposes to take in connection ■with the Fire Brigades Bill may be gathered from amendments of which the Minister in charge (Hon. J. Carroll) has given notice to move -when the Bill is in Committee. In the first place, the definition of "life district"' is limited to the four centres. In regard to the revenue of the Fire Boards, he proposes that, instead of the cost of the brigade being paid by the insurance companies and the local authority, the Government shall pay out of the Consolidated Fund tho amount it is liable for in respect to the rating (rf Government buildings, and the remainder shall be paid, half by the insurance companies and half by the local authority. The amount of the rate is increased •■ from three farthings to- a penny, but in case there are no buildings -on, the property_lhe .rate, .will he-reduced, to oneihalf that! amoutot. ; Further, in' districts where the system of rating is on - the unimproved value the rate will lie' levied on.' the. value of the buildings and not on the value of the land. TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. Dealing with the subject _of manual and technical instruction in his annual report, the Minister for Education states that considerable progress has been made by controlling 'authorities throughout- the colony in the direction of improving existing arrangements and providing additional facilities for instruction in subjects of technology and manual training. The number of technical, continuation, and school classes recognised during 1904 ■was 2599, as against 2287 for the previous year. The! total expenditure on manual and technical instruction for 1904 was £27,425. EDUCATIONAL MATTERS. The annual report of the Minister for Education was presented to Parliament, yesterday. The report states that the average attendance during the year ending 31st December, 1904, at " all the schools throughout the colony, which in 1903 showed a falling off of 664, rose to 116,506 in 1904, an increase for the year of 3459. This, it is remarked, is a greater increase than has been ihown in any one year since 1894. The increase in attendance was fairly regular throughout the yaaT. There was also a very satisfactory improvement in -the standard of regularity of attendance — namely, 85.5 per cent., or 1.6 per cent, above that for 1903. This improvement took place gradually throughout the year. - This percentage, it is stated, compares favour--ably with that of th<J United Kingdom or of any of the States of the Australian Commonwealth. Of the adult teachers at the end of 1904, 1272 were men and 1797 were women ; of the pupil teachers, 144 were male and 505 female. There is ' probably, it is stated, no room for doubt | that the continued steady reduction of the proportion of pupil teachers to adults is a mark of progress. The total of all salaries and" allowances at the rate 3 ptid at the end of the year was £418,635. In' December, 1904, the "number on the books of all tho industrial schools was 1918, or nine more than at the close of 1903. -The number of -admissions during the year (191) shows a decrease of 40 1 from, the number for 1903. The number of children on the. rolls of native schools at 31st December, 1904, was 3754, as against 3693 -ab the- end of 1905. i ! THE TIBJ3SB TRADE. «S» - - STEADY DEMAND— PRICES . * . MAINTAINED. In conversation with a Post reporter,~-a " gentleman" mUreate'd'ia. the timber trade, who has lately been through Wellington and Hawkes Bay districts, stated that its present condition is satisfactory. Referring'to the time, a year or more ago, _ -When millers of • the Wellington and Hawkes Bay 'districts met in conference at Palmerston North and talked, about restricting output to maintain profitable prices, our informant stated that prices had been maintained, not by limitation of output, but through improved demand, and the mills were now working full time. One of the chief factors' Had been increased demand in ., Canterbury and Otago, which had._r_e!ieved. the Wellington market, and liad absorbrd a good deal of timber from, the wcit coast ot the South Island, wliich otherwise would have competed in the Wellington market. This improved market in the South he attributes to increased pr.ospcri.tv there, arising oat of the gqud values" of wool and shecp-productfi. Certainly, the con sumption in the South of Northern timher has greatly increased, and there is no sign of a revival of troubles referred to in tho local trade. Jlawkes Bay is .not turning out i>o much white pine owing to it« increasing scarcity. Mo&t of the output from Tail, ape and adjoining places on the Main Trunk line is in white pine, but three-quarteM cf tiie white pine supplied to Australia comes from the Auckland province. The competition of jarrah with totara, notwithstanding the 2» duty on the Westralian timber, will, he thinks, be more and more felt. Jarrah doe 3 not compete much wilh rimu and matai, except that in some places it is used ' in substitution for the latter as flooring. Labour and other troubles in the trado Beem to be satisfactorily quiescent. The New Zealand Military School of Instruction, of which Lisiitenant-Colom-l Owen is i'he director, will sit in Wellington early next month. It is about two years since a sitting was held in this city,,