POLITICAL POINTS

Evening Star, Issue 19020, 15 August 1925, Page 12

POLITICAL POINTS

[From Owe Parmamenxart Reporter.]

WELLINGTON, August 14. The Post Office Savings Bank is such a valuable institution that Mr Forbes suggested to the Prime Minister that ( here should be a definite policy adopted of advertising its utility among the people. The Leader '' of the Opposition promptly secured a satisfactory reply, Mr Coates assuring him that, in addii iou to tho usual publicity, the department this year would spend £I,OOO on advertising its Savings Bank branch, recognising that so valuable a bank should bo kept prominently before the public. * » # a TELEPHONE RATES. Utilising, apparently, the good financial position of the telephone branch as his main argument, Mr Forbes tried to” induce the Prime Minister to-night to promise some reduction in telephone charges to country settlers. He urged that, if the prices of New Zealand products came down, the high rates would press heavily on farmers. Mr Coates replied that it was not proposed to reduce telephone rates this year. _ The service should pay interest and sinking fund, as it was a revenue branch, and it should be run as a commercial concern so long as the charges were not excessive. * * * MOTOR SERVICE RECORDS. The Prime Minister caused considerable interest among members when he mentioned that the department was keeping a very careful record of the service given by the cars in use by the Government departments. This included mileage, repairs cost, and expenditure on tyres and petrol. All departments had been keeping records in different ways, but tho whole system had been standardised. Mr Lee remarked that tin’s was well worth publishing. The Premier agreed that when a year’s records were available they would be well worth publishing. Answering a question, the Minister ■ aid that tho majority of the motor nicks used were English, except for me of lighter class. » # * * DAYLIGHT SAVING TRIUMPH. The best paragraph in the Cook Islands report in the eyes of Mr Sidey was the announcement that the Islands Council had adopted daylight saving, a.nd that the results had been very satisfactory. He called the general attention of the House to this development, expressing genially a hope that it would influence some New Zealand sceptics w(io had long opposed this reform. Mr Fraser, who was the next speaker, congratulated the member for Dunedin South on Ins triumph, which, he laughingly added, showed how far-flung was Ids influence. He might live to convince a recalcitrant Parliament of tho error of its ways. (Hear, hear.) it * * * MAIL SERVICE. The difficulty of inducing the Postal Department to inaugurate a rural mail service between Greenfield and Tuapeka Mouth was mentioned in the House by Mr Edie when the Postal Estimates were being passed. Tho member for Clutha was informed by the Prime Minister that the whole matter was for the settlers to decide. If they desired the service it could be arranged if they would agree to allow the department to close the post offico.