POLITICAL NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 83, 5 October 1910, Page 7

POLITICAL NOTES.

AN ABSURD CONTENTION. The member for Avon (Mr. G. W. Russell) was taken to task by Mr. James Allen last evening for asserting that foreign battleships could lie ten miles off Wellington Harbour and take the city. This statement was later characterised by Mr. James Allen as an absurdity. The amount of ammunition which a vessel of war could carry for long dista'nee firing was, he said, strictly limited, and the only damage that could be done in any case from such a range was to set a few buildings on fire, which could be easily coped with by a decent fire brigade. KNYVETT AGAIN. Speaking in the House last evening Mr. Massey expressed cordial approval of the provisions of the Defence Bill for conducting enquiries and appeals. It was better, he said, that we should have a military court, to which both officers and the rank and file would be entitled to appeal if they thought they had a grievance against their superior officers. So far as Captain Knyvett was concerned, all that those who espoused his cause asked was that he should be given a fair trial in open court. If it turned out that he should be punished, and if it proved to be his fate not to be reinstated, then Captain Knyvett would take his punishment like a man. A statement had been made that the men who took the platform in support of Captain Knyvett had been paid for their services, and that one of them had received £60. Mr. Massey produced a document denying this, and stating that not one of them had received anything more than out-of-pocket expenses. Sir J. G. Ward : What fund did they take it from ? Mr. Massey replied that he understood it wa« from the money collected for the purpose. PRISON REFORM. The Statutes Revision Committee of the House of Representatives, to which was referred the Crimes Amendment Bill, reported the measure yesterday. A new sub-clause has been added to clause 4, giving the right of appeal to persons sentenced to a term of reformative detention. Clause 8 has been altered in the direction of providing that members of the Prison Board shall hold office for a pei-iod of three years, with power of reappointment. As the Bill passed the Council temporary appointments as members of the board were limited to a judge of the Supreme Court or permanent officers of the public service. This limitation has been struck out. The power of the Governor to appoint "such secretaries, clerks or other officers for the conduct of the business of the Prisons Board" has been struck out, and clause 23, which provided a penalty for attempting to leave New Zealand while on probation, has also been deleted. INDECENT PUBLICATIONS. The Statutes Revision Committee reported the Indecent Publications Bill (which had already passed the Council) to the House yesterday. Two ' alterations have been made in clauses 3 and 6, making a person liable for the delivery of an indecent document "knowing or having reasonable means of knowing that such document was indecent." The power given to constables in clause 11, to arrest without warrant, has been deleted.