POLITICAL GOSSIP.

Evening Star, Issue 9470, 15 August 1894, Page 1

POLITICAL GOSSIP.

[From Our Parliamentary Reporter.]

W ELLINGTON, August 15. Bail way Management.

The Premier yesterday found fault with the Railway Commissioners for giving reduction of fares to football and bowling teams and not to men searching for worn. But he didn’t tell the House that no reduction below second class fares is made to such teams, and that they are merely allowed to travel first class at second rates, because the matches they go to play enormously increase the railway passenger traffic, and in so doing greatly increased the revenue of the railways. In other countries it is found profitable by railway companies to carry such teams free, or at merely nominal .rates. The “ man in search of work,” on the other hand, induces no traffic. So, from a commercial point of view, he is of no advantage ; while, however much it might be desired to help him from another, point of view, the Commissioners have before now pointed out that there is no possibility of distinguishing between the man looking for work and the man only using the railways for his pleasure, and they would be continually imposed upon.

The Wnlporl Dredging Trouble,

The attention of the House was drawn yesterday by the Hon. Mr Larnach to the hardship inflicted on. the residents of Waipori by the continued stoppage «f the dredges there, and to thqVreaultant distress. The Minister of Mines said he recognised the hardship that' existed as a consequence of the injunction that had been issued restraining tailings from being worked. The question of proclamations generally had now . reached such a stage, and the amount of compensation claimed was so unusually large,- v <Jtbat Parliament would be asked to deal with the matter later on. Bakers and Bread

formed a portion of the Council s debate yesterday in connection with the Adulteration Prevention Amendment Act, which is a measure to repeal the Act of 1891, and is to force bakers to make bread only in two and four-pound loaves, which must be weighed, whether they are “ fancy bread ” or not. If the loaves are short weight the bakers or sellers must make up the difference, or the seller is liable to a penalty of forty shillings. Some Councillors found cause for dissatisfaction in the non-inclusion of one-pound loaves, while the Hon- Mr Pharazyn gave expression to his regret that the bread made in this colony was not so good as that made in England, and decidedly inferior to that made ip France. Some hon. gentlemen were quite at home in bread-making; but the wicked "baker was harshly handled as one who cheats the poor working man, the Colonial Secretary quoting xeports of some scandalous evasions of the Act. Tobacco Culture. Dr Newman, in urging the establishment of a State monopoly of the growth and manufacture of tobacco for the purpose of providing an old age pension fund yesterday, said that he was quite surprised recently at the really excellent tobacco which was grown in the interior of this colony. In France the tobacco monopoly returned £12,600,001) per annum to the State. In Hungary and Italy hundreds of thousands are so obtained, and in Switzerland, where it has just been adopted, the State monopoly of tobacco _ is expected to return £500,000 per annum towards an old age pension scheme.—The Treasurer, in replying to the question, said that the conditions here were very different from those in Europe, where low duties on tobacco were the rule. In Switzerland the duty was 6,? d per lb on tobacco and Is Hd on cigarettes. Such a low duty should not afford the same temptation .to smuggling which our very high duties would afford. If the State were to monopolise the growth and manufacture of the weed it would be necessary either to so reduce the duties as to remove the temptation to smuggle or to keep about eleven cruisers going round the coasts to prevent smuggling.

Industrial Arbitration. Two of the amendments made by the Council in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Bill have been disagreed with by the House, and the Minister of Labor, Captain Russell, and Mr Pinkerton were appointed managers to draw up reasons for the disagreement. The points at issue are; —(1) An amendment by which industrial unions are not to be allowed more than one acre of land; and (2) the payment of fees to the members of conciliation boards. The Minister of Labor accepted the elimination of the district judge from the courts of arbitration. The Conspiracy Amendment Bill passed through committee of the Council yesterday, with the addition of a new clause inserted by the Joint Statutes and Revision Committee, which provided that no person employed by gas, electric light, or water companies shall combine with other persons to leave without fourteen days’ notice his employer if the combination may reasonably be expected to deprive the inhabitants of the place either wholly or to a great extent of their supplies of gas, electric light, or water, under a penalty of flO or a month’s imprisonment. Railway Rates.

After the Otago members had completed their interview with Ministers yesterday complaint was made on behalf of the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association that branch rates in place of main line rates were charged on all commodities carried on the line. They asked that the Commissioners be urged to reduce the rates to main line ones.—The Treasurer said that the complaint was a general one throughout the country, and that two-thirds of the members of the House would join in a remonstrance to the Commissioners.

Jottings. The Government have under consideration the question of making a remission of the Income Tax where the profit does not reach 5 per cent. So the Treasurer said yesterday. The Under-Secretary for Justice says he is rapidly coming to the conviction that it will be belter to extend the jurisdiction of resident magistrates and abolish district courts, as Judge Kettle proved “ too, too much.”

The Minister of Marine told Mr Graham yesterday that experiments are being made to show a light over the passage outside the beacon off Jackson Head, and if these experiments fail a light will be placed on the beacon itself.

Mr Pirani was urging yesterday that a court of appeal for railway servants, similar to the Post Office Board, should be formed, when the Premier read a reply from the Commissioners that the employes already had a court of appeal for themselves. The Premier said he did not agree with this, and suggested a provision in the Railways Bill “ to do justice to both sides.” Trees are to be planted on the Lighthouse Reserve at the French Pass, with a view to improving the scenic effect. An excellent suggestion of Mr Mills’s, but pinus insignia and macrocarpa ought to be barred. The Minister of Lands yesterday told Mr G. Hutchison that the Government are considering the question of assisting the establishment of dairy factories in new districts by means of small loans. The Premier says that the Railway Commissioners hope in three months’ time to resume full time in the workshops; but a proviso was added—“if circumstances warrant, it.”

The Minister of Justice yesterday told Mr Button that intemperance was not a factor in the Johnson suicide at Masterton.

Mr Grbwther says that whenever a discos- . Sion gets into the hands of several members of tiie House the question that members lose any little may have possessed of it. The Minister of Lands has promised to

jnqpire whether the interim advances made to deferred-payment settlers to enable them to make improvements can be protected. Mr Hall moved in the matter.

Mr Larnach yesterday asked that the Government should introduce a Bill this session to limit the maximum rate of interest chargeable by any financial institution or individual to 6 per cept per annum. He hoped that the Government would prevent high rates pf interest being changed in future. The Treasurer said that the Government were bringing in a Bill in the direction Mr Larnach had indicated. The Minister of Education told Mr E. M. Smith yesterday that he is paying capitation on working average, and presumes that the boards will pay their teachers on the same basis.

Mr G. Hutchison said yesterday that the A.M.P. Society had reduced the interest chargeable on advances to policy-holders from 7to 6 per cent. The Treasurer replied that the matter woold be fully considered, and if it were as stated the Government Insurance Department would have to follow suit.

The Consolidated Revenue last year contributed £56,000 to main roads. So the Minister of Lands says; and he added that next session the Government will bring down a Bill which will enable local bodies to obtain sufficient revenue to maintain all roads without coming to the House. The Treasurer says that the advances to policy-holders in the Government Insurance Department on their policies are chiefly small sums, and that the average is £SO.

There is (the Minister of Lands says) a Government agent continually at work endeavoring to buy land from the.Natives along the North Island trank line. * The Government had not been able to prevent speculators buying Native lands along the trunk line route, out the Minister told Mr Newman, who was complaining about it yesterday, that if he would support the Government’s Native Bills they would soon stop speculation in Native lands. The petitions recently presented by Mr Larnaoh that the Moa Flat should be thrown open for settlement by small farmers has been referred by the Waste Lands Committee to the Government for their favorable consideration.

The form in which the sentiments of the Legislative Councillors will find expression on the death of Miss Miller will be by a letter of condolence to Mrs Miller, signed by all the members of the Council, and to be presented to Mr Speaker to forward to his wife.

Sir Maurice O’Rorke'has ruled in reply to Mr G. Hutchisou that the Legislative Council exceeded its functions by amending clause 86 of the Industrial Conciliation Bill in the direction of making provision for the payment of members of the boards of conciliation. It was a breach of the privileges of the House for the Council to put a money clause into the Bill.

Mr Pirani was told yesterday that the reason why the carrying of chaff in trucks had been abolished and cattle trucks substituted was that chaff had fallen off the ordinary trucks, to the danger of the trains. Mr W. Hutchison wants the Government to introduce a BUI to prevent architects and others from using ambiguous letters in their contracts.

Dr Newman is inquiring whether legislation dealing with the annexation of Samoa is to be proposed this session. The Balclutha and other hotelkeepers, whose licenses were taken away lost June and who petitioned Parliament for compensation, have been told that as their licenses were lost through the operation of the Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act they have claim against the colony. Those engaged in the flour-milling trade of the colony work in two shifts of twelve hours a day; hence the petitions of millers from Southland, Oamaru, and Timaru that legislation be introduced limiting their hours of working to eight hours per day. The Government are being urged by Mr Joyce to afford the House an opportunity of discussing the advisability of a tariff treaty with one or more of the Australasian colonies.