PARLIAMENTARY NEWS

Grey River Argus, 20 August 1923, Page 8

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS

SHOP HOURS. WELLINGTON, Aug. 17. The Labour Bills Committee, has decided to endorse the petition of a number of Wellington jewellers, who desired the law amended to authorise the opening of jewellers’ shops until 9 p.m. for the six days immediately preceding Christmas. The same committee reported that it had no recommendation to make on petitions from Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington shopkeepers asking for an extension of the hours of employment of female workers in restaurants and confectionary shops. THE DOMINION’S WHEAT STOCKS. A return submitted to the House by the Wheat Controller gives the following particulars of the wheat stocks held in New Zealand:— Estimated wheat end Hour brought forward from 1922 harvest, 623,153 bushels; quantity of milling wheat gristed and available for gristing, 6,100,000 bushels; quantity of other wheat threshed and to be threshed, 1923 harvest, 2,213,000 bushels; making a total of 8,936,153 which the Controller considers will supply the Dominion’s requirements till March 31, 1924. NO GREAT REDUCTION IN PRICES OF LAND. There is a. fair area of land changing hands at prices which so far do not show any great reduction for the better upon those ruling during the war, states the annual report of the Land Purchase Controller. No doubU the high prices for our products have had a steadying effect. During the year ended March 31st, 1923, practically no purchases were made of lands for settlement purposes. There -were, however, 28 properties of an area of 49,535 acres offered, besides a few others, direct to the local land purchase boards. Up tjill March 31st, 1923, 624 estates of an area of 1,980,045 acres, had been purchased at a cost of £2,944.251. LABDUR ACTIVITIES. territuhiaXs AND CARNIVALS. WELLINGTON, August 16. Parades of Territorials and Senior Caacts for farnival purposes formed the basis of £i question addressed to the Minister of Defence (the Hon. Sir. R. Heaton h&hodes) by Mr J. A. Lee (Auckland Ea.<.) Mr asked the Minister whether he will issue instructions preventing local commandants of Territorial units parading companies of boys at the request of carnival ami advertising committee’s for purposes of raising money by listing the boys for public entertainnrent; and whether he is in favour of boys being compulsorily paraded fcr amusement purposes, or believes such parades are good either for boys or th? defence of the country. Hfir R. Heaton Rhodes replied.- “No compulsory parades have been hold for thq purpose of taking part in carnivals or public entertainments. The Defence A*ct prescribes both the amount and nature of obligatory training in the New Zealand Military Forces, and the honourable member should be well aware that parades for the amusement of the public are no 4 - part of the training laid down. I can see no objection to a company of cadets, voluntarily taking part in a public function, as such action naturally follows their training, one of the underlying principles of which is the promotion of good citizenship. Public displays also serve to bring before the general public the good work that is done during the period of military training. ’ ’ MINERS’ HOUSING CONDITIONS. When the .Mines Report was under discussion in the House of Representatives, several speakers condemned the housing conditions of th-e miners on the West Coast. The Minister of Mines (the Hon. G J. Anderson) confirmed this view, stating that the conditions were not satisfactory, except at Runanga and Stockton. “There is no question about it,” added Mr Anderson, “that, sooner dr later, the West port Coal Company will have io improve the housing arrangements for their men very considerably. I sympathise with the men in their case. ’ ’ “A STARVATION WAGE.” “That’s a starvation wage,’’ interjected Mr A. L. Monteith in the House of Representatives, when the Primo Minister mentioned that the weekly wage of the workers in the employ of a certain sugar company was £3 .17/-. “I heard someone say it is a starvation wage,” replied Mr Massey. “I would like to put this to the members of the Labour Party: Which are you going to have —black labour at 9d or your New Zealand fellow-citizens at 13/- a day?” Mr H. E. Holland (Buller): “Oh, that is not the question.’’ SUGAR FROM FIJI. “I hope and believe things will get back to normal so far as Fiji sugar 13 concerned,” stated the Prime Minister in the House “and that we will soon obtain our sugar as cheaply as we did years ago. I have been given to un derstarid that many hundreds of Indians’who left Fiji and went back to their, own country are now returning and settling down to work.” AMUSEMENT TAX COMMISSION. A short amendment of the. Amusement Tax -Act was introduced by Go-vernor-General ’s Message in the House of Representatives, the main purpose being contained in one clause. It substitutes for the word “ninepence” in

the principal Act the words “one shilling,” and the effect is as follows: Where th-e price charged for admission does not exceed one shilling, no amusement tax shall be charged.” A further amendment slightly alters the phraseology of the principal Act so as to remove any doubt regarding the exemption of swimmthg sports from amusement tax. As there is no further change, race meetings or any other meetings promoted for the purpose ot any game or sport will continue to bear taxation. BRITAIN’S STORY AND MR HOLLAND. Strong protest against the children in the schools of the Dominion being taught about the battle in which the soldiers of the Empire have participated was vented by the Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party (Mr H. E. Holland) in the House. “The Story of the British Nation,” a publication read in the schools, was what Mr Holland objected to. He quoted the opinion of Mr O. E. Burton, M.A., as expressed in the “Maoriland Worker,” that this is a “publication for the glorification of war.” “This is a soldier with, two military decorations, and a -Christian man, who is speaking,” said Mr Holland. “Hear, hear,” interjected Mr>L. M. Isitt (Christchurch North), apparently in approval of the “Story of the British Nation.” “This is a soldier and a Christian who reads from the Christian viewpoint,” repeated Mr Holland, who added that nothing was to be gained by simply drilling in the minds of the children the idea of the art of killing. It would bo far bettor, he urged, to teach the great lessons of science, and to give instructions in. economic history rather than war “Teach them the lesson of human, brotherhood and human love,” he proceeded, “and not the lesson of hate which some antiChristian religionists are so ready to say ‘hear, hear’ to. There are many things in the education system of New Zealand to be proud of, anl there are many things to be ashamed of. The Minister came to my constituency not long ago, and he will remember that when we went into the Millerton school we found the school walls decorated with pictures of men engaged w hand-to-hand battle of a hundred years ago, a series of pictures paraded before the’children of men engaged in trying to kill one another.” The Minister of Education (the Hon C. J. Parr) was not very sympathetic with Mr Holland. “The opinion of Mr Burton in regard to this book is not shared by cither the inspectors of New Zealand, or by the Teachers’ Institute,” ho said. Mr Parr intimated that he would deal at greater length with the book when the Education Estimates were being considered. STATE ADVANCES. EXTENSION OF TIME. Mr F. Langstone (Waimarino), referrins to advances to settlers, asked the Prime Minister whether he would consider the advisability of suspending the twcnty-ycar-loan period, and substitute a period of 361 years in lieu thereof Settlers borrowing money from the Advances to Settlers Office on a twentv-vear term have, lie said, to pav a 3 'per eent. sinking fund on such loan, together with a rate of interest o 5 . p er cent., allowing for the I per eent rebate. ~ Mr Massey replied that, wule ' State Advances Amendment Act, 1 the classification of securities had been abolished. Loans would be now gran _ cd solely at the discretion of the board for terms not exceeding 20, 30, _ an 361 years. It was not advisabl to'suspend altogether the 20-yenr loan period, because the securities offered i every ’ case were not deemed to be firs - class; further, applicants often requeued that loans be granted on the shortest term available. The rate of inter est stated, namely, 51 per cent applied oriy to advances made for the repayment of existing mortgages To ae quire a farm or erect a home the rat. of interest payable was 41 per ce