POLITICAL NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 3, 4 July 1910, Page 8

POLITICAL NOTES.

There was ' a palpable Monday quietness in Parliamentary Buildings .this morning. There was not even a deputation to disturb the calm temporarily enjoyed by Ministers, and there was not an abundance of those visitors who know we'll how to occupy strategic positions to catch an unwary member. CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES. One of the subjects most discussed in political quarters to-day, in and out of Parliament Buildings, ; is the Chairmanship of Committees of the House of Representatives. The present chairman (Mr. T. M. Wilford) has been much harangued by his opponents about a promise to resign from that position if lie was elected Mayor of Wellington. I Speaking to a Post representative to- [ day, Mr. Wilford scouted, all suggestion that he had any intention to leave unfulfilled any portion of his promise. It is understood among members that Mr. Wilford's resignation will be shortly in the Speaker's hands. The chief candidates for the vacancy will be Sir William Steward and Mr.'T. H. Davey. Other names are mentioned, but they are not taken very seriously by competent critics. There was a strong cohort in the House last year prepared to support Mr. Davey if he had contested^ the position, and it is stated that he \ will havo a large following this year. ! His prospect of success certainly looks bright/ CHARGES AGAINST THE LABOUR DEPARTMENT. A quarrel .which occurred between the Furniture Trade Union and the Labour Department some weeks ago is not yet settled. A deputation at that, time interviewed the Minister of Labour (the Hon. J. A. Millar), and subsequently both parties to the dispute — Mr. D. Moriarty for the union, and departmental heads ifor ,the Labour Department — set out their case in The Post. Mr. Moriarty endeavoured to prove that the Labour Department had declined to take up certain -cases in which, according to the union, there had been breaches of an award. The departmental reply was practically a denial of the charges. Mr. Moriarty announced that he would push the matter to a "logical conclusion." Hence he again communicated with (the Minister of Labour, and Mr. Millar's reply wasto the effect that he was satisfied with the procedure of the department's officers. The -union, however, is not content with that answer. The dispute has* been brought under the notice of Prime Minister, who has agreed to receive a deputation from the union on Thursday evening. INSURANCE OF WORKERS. The National Sick and Accident Insurance Bill, introduced by the Hon. A. R. Guinness, is on precisely tho same lines' as that introduced by the Speaker last year. It proposes to ensure all workers against accidents during thewhole twenty-four hours. The proposal is that the Government shall act as the insurers, and that the premiums paid .shall be in the proportion of one-quarter to the workers and three-quarters to the ■ employers. THE OPPOSITION. "The Opposition party has never been so united as it is at tlie present time, 1 ' •says Mr. C. A. C. Hardy, Opposition Whip. He adds that so far his position has been an absolute sinecure, and now that the younger members have become used to the position, all minor ■differences have been sunk, and unity is -the chief charactsristic of tho party. THE SURTAX. Last session the Government .asked Parliament to increase the taxation invarious taxation proposals of Minisstanding that the Government had some' difficulty in making ends meet, thevario.us taxation proposal of Ministers were passed by Parliament. This was the text of a portion of Mr. Massey's speech on the Address-in-Re-?ply debate. He pointed out 'that at the end of the year the Dominion bal-ance-sheet showed a surplus of £432,000, and in view of that fact he.urged strongly -that Parliament should, at as earjy a period as possible this session, be asked to do away "with the surtax in connection with Customs duties imposed last session MINERS' HALF-HOLIDAY. In the Half-Holiday for Gold and Coalminers Bill introduced by the Hon. A. R. Guinness the proposal is that a.hsdfholiday shall be observed on Saturday. A MOVE RESENTED. The Opposition makes no secret of th& fact that it was annoyed over Hon. A. Ngata being put up to reply to the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Massey) on the Address-in-Reply on Friday evening. It is, they contend, always the custom for the Government to arrange that a senior member of the Ministry shall reply to the Leader of the Opposition, and the followers of Mr. Massey resented the fact that a junior member of the Executive was deputed to reply to their leader. In consequence, the Opposition decided to refrain, for that time at any rate, from further talk, and the Govern»ment had to supply the vacancy. SAVING DAYLIGHT. Encouraging support from practically all parts of the Dominion has been received by Mr. Sidey in connection with his "daylight saving" proposals, contained in the New Zealand Standard Time Bill, which stands in his name on the Order Paper. Briefly put, his proposal is this : — "From the hour of two in the morning of the last Sunday in September in each year until the hour of two in the moromg of the last Sunday in .March in each year standard time shall 'be one hour in advance of New Zealand mean time, and from the hour of two in tho morning of the last Sunday in March in each year until the hour of two in the morning of the last Sunday in September in each year standard time shall be the same as New Zealand mean time." THE BOOKMAKER. The Bookmakers Bill, introduced by Sir W. J. Steward, is brief and to the point. The chief operative clause reads as follows:— "From and after the passing of this Act no license shall be granted to any person to carry on business as a bookmaker on any racecourse, and every such license theretofore granted shall lapse and be of no effect ; and every bookmaker who, either by himself or by means of any agent, clerk, or servant, makes or offers to make any bet ?or wager on any racecourse or on any land or place situated within one mile thereof, and every such agent, clerk, or servant who so makes or offers to make any bet or wager, is liable for a first offence to a fine of not less than £20 and not exceeding £100, and for a second or any subsequent offence to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months"* The Bill also proposes to prohibit bookmakers betting at rifle matches or shooting competitions, and to do away with the section in the original Act allowing racing clubs to license bookmakers.

Sitting in his civil jurisdiction at the Lower Hutt Court to-day, Mr. W. R. Haselden, S.M., gave judgment for defendant in the disputed case of George Bradley v. A. Samuels, claim 16s 6d, for a motor appliance.