POLITICAL POINTS

Evening Star, Issue 18999, 22 July 1925, Page 11

POLITICAL POINTS

■.I. «i> OfJEiPLOYiEIIT CONTRACTS TWO AND A-HAI.F MILLIONS IN PENSIONS [I'BOM Opr PABLUMBNTAur REroirrea.! WELLINGTON, July 21. Christchurch luis provided a daily question in Purlinuient over unemployment. Wellington took its turn today, when Mr M'Kcon asked if the Prime Minister would subsidise the expenditure by Wellington Corporation on relief work, which the mayor had been obliged to put in band this week. “1 would like to know what class ot work is being done, and where.''” was the Prime Minister’s answer. . “Roadmaking and levelling sand dunes at Lya.ll Bay,” replied the Wellington member. “Obviously cilv work, was Mr Coates’s retort, “ work which ought to he. done by city lands. Where we have to make contributions it should bo lor work of national importance, capable of being used by everybody, though 1 am.not suggesting that the work is not of great importance to Wellington.” Mr Dl‘Keen: “The provided, and wo want a subsidy.” Mr Coates: “And it will subsidise the Wellington rates.” He added that the Government was only too anxious to relieve unemployment, and several works had been selected for this purpose. One was a cutting on thePetoneSilvcrstream railway deviation, nhich was a national work. Mr Howard: Any hope for Christchurch ? Mr Coates: Every hope. I have authorised an extra two or throe hundreds, which will absorb tycnty-six men. ~ , „ Mr Parry: What about Auckland? Mr Coates; Auckland, strange to say, has not made an appeal. They have sot a good example of self-reliance. * * * FINANCIAL STATEMENT, The Prime Minister obtained the opinion of members at to-day’s sitting on the question of the time for presentation of the Financial Statement, which, he said, could bo made ready by Thursday. He decided to follow the usual practice, and ask the Minister of Finance to read it on Friday night, the debate to commence on the following Tuesday. ARBITRATION ACT AMENDMENT. The Minister of Labor has given notice that ho will ask the House to road the Arbitration Act Amendment a second time, pro forma, with the object of referring it direct to the Labor Committee. SLEEPING CARS. Complaints about the sleeping accommodation on the Main Trunk expresses caused Mr Leo (Auckland East) to frame a caustic question to the Minister of Railways regarding the up-to-date sleeping ear which will bo exhibited at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition. He urged that this carriage he put into prompt use instead of showing it at Dunedin as an example of the comfort which the Railway .Department docs not provide. ft ft ft STATE AND RELIGION. Professor Mackenzie and several oilier Wellington educationists havo petitioned Parliament against the Religious Exercises in Schools Bill, introduced by Dir Isitt. They claim that the j exorcises prescribed in the measure con- I stitnte a plain violation of the secular! ty of New Zealand’s education system, and that the limitations imposed on this teaching would make it of no real service to the cause of religion. The passing of the Bill would moan abandoning the State’s neutral attitude towards religious issues, would expose teachers to serious risks, and inflict grave injustice on denominations unable to share in these exercises. * * * * COMPENSATION FOR STOCK. The Department of Agriculture’s veterinary inspectors condemned last year 5,867 cattle, four pigs, and one horse on account of disease, and in accordance with the Stock Act_ £15,092 was paid in compensation, being half value of the beasts destroyed. The State secured the modest sum of £1,477 from the disposal of the carcasses.

THE FOURTEEN-OUNCE POUND. What Labor members called the “confidence trick” was described hy them when the Weights and Measures Bill was considered to-night in committee. They stated that housewives who expected to buy a lib tin of jam usually got Linz, while some tobacco was packed in tins of 1-Joz, similar to tlio 2oz tin in appearance. The critics were reminded that the Bill provides for a £SO penalty if the not weight is not correctly stated on the packet. Mr Masters asked why a retailer should bo held responsible for incorrect weight when the wholesale packer was the culprit? Tiie Minister of Labor said ho was prepared to put the wholesaler into the penalty clause. Dir Jsitt, who advocated laughingly that the Bill should specify what quantity should comprise a “ spot,” was heard with shocked astonishment, Mr Holland expressing surprise at the proposal, ■ which meant greater consumption of liquor. This clause was debated more than any other, but the Minister described it as the best in the Bill, and it remained unaltered. **# , » COST OF PENSIONS. War pensions head the list of ten varieties of pensions paid under the various New Zealand Statutes, the cost of this item being £1,244,483, old age pensions expenditure being £800,953, widows £236,378, and the gross expenditure £2,408,598, equal to £1 16s 4d per head of European population. The increases under last year’s legislation meant additional annual payments ot £131,000, including £6,000 to blind persons. * » * «• TRANSFERS OF LEPERS. An amendment to the Cook Islands Bill, introduced by the Government, authorises the compulsory transfer of lepers from the Cook Islands to Makofii, the Fiji leper station, when the inemoa in a low weeks takes New Zealand leper patients to this island. ;t- * » ■» STREET SALES BY CHILDREN, The Minister of Education, when exE ladling to the House the Child Welire Bill, stated that it could not deal with street trading by children, as it was too difficult a problem. He would ask the House to authorise the department to deal with it by regulation, and hoped to get the help of the Education Commit Ice on this _ problem. His officers would give evidence upon the result of their investigations, which showed that a, large proportion of hoys who engaged in business about the streets became delinquents.