POLITICAL NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 66, 15 September 1906, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES.

THE DEPUTY-CHAIRMEN. The Premier yesterday afternoon moved that Messrs. Flatman (Geraldine) and Wood (Palmerston) be appointed to act as temporary Chairmen of Committees of the House when requested to do so by the Chairman of Committees. Introducing his motion, the Promier said that he ivna only acting under Standing Order 200. He felt that it was a somewhat invidious task for the leader of the Houso to go on nominating an xYcting-Chairinan. Sir Joseph Ward then gave details of the experience of Messrs. Flatman and Wood in serving local bodies, and the Minister was well satisfied with the qualifications of his candidates. Tho appointment of the proposed panel would not mean an increase upon the amount already authorised, and ho did not intend to increase the permanent charge. The Leader of the Opposition did not think the motion should bo agreed to, nor did it commend itself to the Houso. The Standing Order quoted by the Premier had been in existence for years, but this was the first attempt to bring it into force. They had had long and trying sessions without the use of a panel of deputies, and Mr. Massey could not see that two deputies were necessary during the present session, in which early tours prevailed, and which promised to be a Fhort session. He thought there were already a- sufficient number of members who received payment in addition to their honorarium. There were seven Ministers, the Chairman of Committees, and two Whips, who were under the control of the Ministry. (The Premier : The country does not pay the Whips.) The Chairmen of the Nativo Affaire, Local Bills, and Petitions Committees were more entitled to payment for services rendered than the Deputy-Chair-men of Committees of the House. The Premier replied that the Houso ought to comply with the Standing Order, and reiterated his contention that the same expenditure as last year would be incurred if tho proposed panel was appointed. He was not against the suggestion that Chairmen' of the Committees mentioned by Mr. Massey should be paid, but that was another question, and should not be mixed up with the present motion. On a division being taken, "the motion was carried by 44 votes to 23. The following was the divisionlist:— / Ayes (44) : Barber, Barclay, ' Bennet, Buddo, Carroll, Colvin, Davey, Dillon, Duncan, Ell, Fowlds, Graham, Gray, Greenslade, Hall, Hall-Jones, Hanan, Helce, Hogan, Hogg, Hornsby, Houston, Izard, Kaihau, Kidd, Laurenson, Lawry, M'Gowan, R. M'Kenzie, M'Lachlan, M'Nab, Millar, Mills, Ngata, Parata, Poland, Ross, Seddon, Sidey, Smith, Stallwoithy, Ward, Wilford, Witty. No«s (23J: Aitken, Alison, J. Allen, Bollard, Fisher, A. L. D. Fraser, W. Fraser, Hardy, Herries, Jennings, Kirkbride, Lethbridge. T. Mackenzie, Major, Manlier, Massey, Poole, Reid, Remington, Rhodes, Rutherford, Tanner, Thomson. STRONG ON RAILWAYS. In the Houee last night Mr. J. T. Hogan, the new member for Wanganui, who was himself a railway man 6howed that he has an excellent grip of railway matters, his speech being one of the best delivered on the Estimates. Under present conditions, ho said, men 6ft in height, 21 years of age, and 40 inches round tho chest -were receiving the princely wage of 5s per day. He thought that when a man was 21 yeans of ago he should br getting at least 7s or 8s per day. „„ the present time a junior labourer entering the servico at 18 years of age received 3s 6d per day, at 19 he got 4s, at 20 4s 64, at 21 ss, and at the agQ of 24 he recived a man's wage. "Why," he indignantly demanded, "should a man have to put in his years between 18 and 21 qualifying to shovel mud. lift sawdust, or carry planks?" From the labourer Mr. Hogan went to the lifter of the service and the otheT branches labouring under grievances regarding payment, and then he informed the House of .his own experience. "I started as a junior labourer," he said, "at 4s a day. I got through two civil service examinations, and thinking that I was entitled to something better I applied for something else in the service, but nothing came ray way, and so I came here." (Laughter.) After giving some illustrations from Wanganui of how the long-service "casual" is treated, he concluded with an appeal to tho new Minister to take notice of the points he had made and have them remedied, as he felt sure Mr. Hall-Jones would. He would not shelter himself behind- the "'D3" list anct say an Act of Parliament would have to be passed to surmount the difficulties. "We aTe here to pass Acts of Parliament," he said, "and to do justice to these men." Subsequently the Minister stated that 200 to 300 men applied every week for positions in the railway service. EDUCATION REPORT. Following are extracts from the education report: — An increase of thirty-five inmates of industrial schools was recorded, the total being 1420 in Government schools and 533 in tho private Roman Catholic institutions. _ The total number of inmates actually iv residence was 317 in Govern ment and 331 in private schools. Admissions totalled 279, and (showed an increaso of 88. Though much remains to bo done for technical and manual training, it may bs said that the larger technical and art schools are slowly but surely becoming institutions worthy of the important work for which they are designed. Employe™ wore beginning to reali&o that it was to their advantage to encourage employees to avail themselves of opportunities now provided for systematic instruction in the principles underlying the various trades and induetrieo. Evidence of thia increased interest was to be found in the steadily increasing amounts paid as subsidy on voluntary contributions to technical classes. There were 394s recognised technical continuation and manual school classes, as compared with 2599 during tho previous year. Cookery for girls and woodwork for boys received special attention. Thero was only ono district whero dairying classes wero carried on, but more attention wa« being paid to practical.instruction in agriculture. The total expenditure on manual and technical instruction was £34,755 10s lid. ' There wcro 1949 freo pupils attending fcho twenty-one endowed secondary schools, 428 holders of scholarships and exhibitions and 2872 qualified pupils receiving instruction in the secondary classde of district high schools. The total was 5249, ns against 4273 during tho previous year. At the end of 1901, before the Secondary Schools Act came into force, the number of free pupils was only 963. There had. been a considerable inewmse in the attendance of pupils at district high schools, and the amount paid by Government to the secondary dopartmente of thesa schools exceeded the total for 1904 by J33284. Th© expenditure by Education Boards on scholarships was • £8013. High School Boards wero in a better finanpial condition than previously, their debit balances having decreased from J82153 to £480, nnd their cwxlit balances increased from £33,436 to £33,798.