POLITICAL NOTES

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 August 1920, Page 7

POLITICAL NOTES

TELEPHONE CHARGES.

[Our Parliamentary Reporter.]

"WELLINGTON, This Day

After the preliminary test of tht legislators' opinion on the postal increases the House settled down to. ?.. long uninteresting discussion on tht telephone charges, Mr. Mitchell moving a £1 reduction on the postal esti mates as an indication that tin charges to telephone subscribers outsid. the three miles radius be revised. The Postmaster-General,, who admit ted that the present system of charging is imperfect and that it should be re 2>laced as soon as possible by measure ment s\-stem, undertook to conside: telephone charges and to make a recom mendation to Cabinet if hardships c. l other anomalies were discovered. Xhif was a direct invitation to recite ; series of hardships, country member 1 being well to the fore in detailing exper dices on party lines and the stric 1 departmental regulations. After ; lapse of several hours Mr. Mitchel agreed to take the Minister's # assuranc and asked leave to withdraw his amend ment. The Labour members forced the mat tor to a division, when the motion wa' l'o--t .by 29 votes to 18. ; The idea of telephoning from Auckland to the Bluff is coldly viewed b; Dr. Newman, who described it in tin House to-day as an -. unnecessary ex pendituro. He was answered by thr Postmaster General, wlio said that th' idea was initiated before lie took (.'.nice It .was ph.pp.osed- that a prominent en girieer should visit New,Zealand to ie port on the laying of a cable acros 1 Cook Strait, but the arrangement waf not conclusive .and it was deckled thai one..of .the special thinaks to- be .investigated by the Chief Telegraph TCngineei when visiting America and England should be the newest methods of constructing cables.. -.The cost was very high, but the Department wasuiot committeel to any expenditure. It would carry out this work when the price of material was reasonable. PUBLIC OPINION. -The attention of the Minister'of External. Affairs was called by Mr. Holland to a pamuhlet by a Sarnoan Plant er Moors.' ' As the.nuestioher he wished do know if fhe Minister had read k. "Yes''' said" Mi\ Lee. "I have seen it, and the member for Butler 'is not entitled to get any extracts before the House by way of a Question." , , Mr. Holland said he was only goiiy; to quote three-lines frorolhe pamphlet which said that local administration had a controlling.interest in the "Samqan Times." I Mr. Lee replied that he had already denied this. ■'* ' ' ' . .*'.-