POLITICAL POINTS

Evening Star, Issue 18050, 18 August 1922, Page 8

POLITICAL POINTS

[Fao« Oca Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON. August 17. EXPENSIVE REFRESHMENT. The faro at railway station refreshment Vw>ths varies, according to an incident reCited by Mr Vigor Brown to-day; so do ihe charges. The member for Napier told )he House that on two occasions lie had teen charged Is for a cup of tea at Paefcakariki. On the second occasion lie tenierect 2s, and a gentleman alongside him noticed that he got only Is change. They drew the attendant’s attention to the tact, but she Insisted that Is was the charge. He jisted the Minister of Railways was it not time he looked into the matter and took ever control of the booths. , , . The Hon. Mr Guthrie admitted that this ■was not the first occasion that complaints yf the kind had been made. Recently he ted been asked to reduce the charges at Rations, but bad replied that the present Vas not the time to do so. If the non. Member would furnish him with particuhrs he would make inquiries at once, the Minister was understood to remark finally ihat he know an effective way to deal with ihe case. * * * * CONSUMPTIVE CATTLE. The suggestion that the inspection of *tock for traces of tuberculosis was not being vigorously earned out was emphatically denied by the Minister of Agriculture in reply to a question from Mr Sullivan today. In the Canterbury' district 420 cattle had been condemned last financial year, while for the first three months of the Emt financial year ninety-six cattle had condemned. The tubercular test had applied in suspicions cases on the application of owners. Last year 300 head were examined. # * * » EXTENDED EDUCATION. “From what classes in the secondary or trim ary schools will pupils for the proposed junior high schools he drawn? isked Mr Wilford of the Minister of .Edupation. He had been requested by a number of teachers to secure this information. The Hon. Mr Parr replied that it would draw from tho Fifth and certainly the Sixth Standards of the primary schools. Every modem educationist admitted that ihe primary stage should cease at the ago d twelve, and when this proposal for inermediate or junior high schools was conddered by teachers representative of trimary, secondary, and technical cducaion they strongly recommended that tho experiment in other parts of the world be followed. , Mr Wilford: Does it mean building new schools? t J ' Mr Parr; No; only a different type of instruction will be given entirely by present masters of primary or secondary schools. He agreed with the suggestion of Mr Fraser that it really meant secondary instruction for all; hut he declined to commit himself to a statement as to when the provision extending the compulsory age for education to fourteen will come into operation. • «■ * * NO MORE INSPECTORS—RESULT OP RETRENCHMENT. It was suggested to the Minister of Agriculture to-day by Mr Masters that it was false economy to cut down the number of noxious weeds inspectors and permit weeds to spread. The member urged the Minister to introduce an amendment of the Noxious Weeds Act, also the Pure Seeds Bill, this session. The Hon. W. Nosworthy’s reply to the criticism of economy plans was an emphatic declaration that, whether it was pleasant or unpleasant, until such time as phe financial position was better ho would iffot increase the expenditure. He would tot appoint more inspectors, but it was just possible that -before the session closed he would introduce the Pure Seeds Bill. He introduced a measure last session, and the strongest opposition came from farmers, including branches of the Farmers’ Union in Mr Masters’s own district. He proposed to discuss the question of noxious weeds with the chairmen of tho county councils throughout the dominion, with a view to the reorganisation of the whole jehome dealing with the difficulty.