A BUST DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 103, 3 May 1911, Page 15

A BUST DAY.

HOk. J. A. MILLAR IN THE SOUTH. RAILWAYS AND OTHER MATTERS. ' [B7 TELBGBAPH — PBESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH, 2nd May. The Hon. J. A. Millar was kept busy the greater part of the day receiving deputations, some of which were only of local interest. A deputation from the Canterbury Fruitgrowers' Association stated that in consequence of the new railway Tegulation they had to pay almost as much railage as what the boxes cost, and growers in other parts were getting their cases at half-cost. They were all competing in the same market, but Canterbury was_ penalised, and after a while fruitgrowing in this province would be but a thing of the past. They asked that -timber for fruit-cases should be carried free from the nearest timber district. The Minister, in reply, said the matter was not a new one. It had^heea before him some time. The policy of the Government had been to encourage the fruit industry, and they had endeavoured to do that. It did not pay the Government to carry fruit at the price they did, but when the Hawkes Bay Association demanded as a right that trucks should be. sent to -Rotorua and fruit-cases sent free from there to Hastings, the Government considered it was time to take action. The .Canterbury fruitgrowers had timber near at hand if they wanted it — at' Caes and near ' Greymouth. They asked him to carry cases free. He did not believe in that, but he might consider charging only a nominal rate. If he granted their request all the other industries would .be asking to have their goods 'carried free. He had been faced with a public cry that the railways were not paying, and commissioners had been demanded. He was asked every day to increase railway facilities, yards, and wages, and to reduce fares. But how was it to be done 1 They would not like to put their money into a business like that. He would, however, grant 100 miles free railage and a nominal rate for the rest. ACCIDENT PAY. Replying to a deputation from the Lyfctelton Casual Labourers' Union, the Minister said he recognised the necessity for the prompt payment of accident pay, and as soon as he returned to Wellington he would look into the matter. He would itelegraph to the General Manager regarding the cases of men who had met with accidents and who had not yet 'received payment. The deputation also made representations on the subject of .accident pay being paid in cash where injuries were received that incapacitated the worker for less than one week. The Minister said that he fully sympathised with these representations, and added that he had introduced in' Parliament a clause providing that in addition to accident pay £10 should be payable for medical advice. This proposal he had had to abandon, and he had had to modify his views on the point referred to by the deputation, because representations made to him showed that if given effect to the proposal would mean that premiums would D» increased by 210 per cent., and that small industries would in consequence be wrecked. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS ACT. Replying io a deputation representing the Municipal Representation Committee, which asked that the regulations governing Parliamentary elections should govern, municipal elections, that the Parliamentary aid municipal elections be held the same day, the Minister said the request fur alteration in the Municipal Corporations Act would be placed Defore Cabinet. Personally, he would like to see the Municipal Corporations Act amended to give a th'fee years' lease of office to local bodies, including that of Mayor, because at the present time county representatives took office for three years, some road boards for one year, and city councils for two years; but if they took all the elections together on one day it would mean absolute confusion. He would, however, lay the> matter before his- colleagues. The suggestion that the polls should be extended till 8 p.m. was, he thought, a good one. and he would place it before the Cabinet. It could be easily done, ' THE FINANCES. Mr. Millar, in the course of an interview, stated that he intended dealing' fully with the resultß of the financial year in his address at Dunedin, which 1 will be delivered probably on Monday evening next. Regarding his visit of inspection this afternoon to Addington Railway Workshops, Mr. Millir said that he saw the new plant and. machinery, and was pleased to learn from the manager of the economies effected as the result of their use. He also noted that good progress was being made with the construction, of ten locomotives of the "B'-'type. CARRIAGE OF DOGS. A Tecent local case in which cruelty was alleged in connection with the carriage of dogs on railways was brought under the Minister's notice. He said that there was no more cruelty in putting a dog in a box on a train than in putting it in a kennel, so long as too many were not put into one box. There was plenty of accommodation in the boxes, which were also fah'ly well ventilated. It was the only way that dogs could be carried on the railways. They could not be put in. the guard's van, for instance. EXPENDITURE ON MANAWATU LINE. Referring to almost daily requests for expenditure on railways, the Minister stated that shortly considerable expense would have to be faced in connection with station and other buildings on the Manawatu line. ■ RESULTS OF THE CENSUS. As to the likelihood of the North Island gaining several seats as the result of the census, and of the work of the Representation Commission, the Minister remarked that he did not think that the South Island was going to lose the number of seats that some people anticipated. So far the census returns showed increases of population in almost every district if the South Island, but it was impossible to say accurately what the final result would be until aU the census figures were in. The Minister leaves by the first express for the South to-morrow, and en ] route to Dnnedin will receive deputa- ' tions on railway matters at Ashburton, Temuka, and Timaru.