HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 22 July 1916, Page 5

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

11l the House, replying to Mr J C Thomson, the Minister ot Defence said an arrangement had been made with. the Dental Association to attend to recruits' dental requirements on the basis of reduced prices. In a general way the services of the Association are employed, but there was no bar to the employment of any qualified denti»fe who is outside the Association. The Minister said that a senior officer of th© Postal Department was leaving shortly for France to take charge of the postal arrangements. The House proceeded with the consideration of the Public Works Estimates, and went into Committee of Supply to consider the vote of £114 QQfc for the Public Works Department.' Hon. W. Eraser said the Estimate* this year consisted mainly of last year's unexpended balances. This was necessitated by the fact that so little money was available owing to the war. In order to overcome the difficulty i_ which this placed local bodies he proposed, next spring, to visit certain places in the Dominion, when he could hold conferences with local bodies and discuss the question of which works were most important, and arrange for a transference of votes where necessary. He was taking power in the Appropriation Act to do this. He defended himself against the charge that he had spent an undue amount on branch linesof railway, and that he favored the> South Island as against the North. Such criticism was quite unfounded. Considerable discussion took place on the first item, during which members ventilated their grievances and the requirements of their respective districts. Mr Fraser, at 10.30, replied tovarious points developed during the debate. Referring to the Otira tunnel, he said the country was oledged to the work and it had to be finished. With regard to the Rimutaka deviating when money was available h© had no rioubt the work woald be undertaken. As to the new Parliament Buildings, members could be sure that he would do his best to push on with th© worfe and have it finished in time for next session. H a admitted the Lake Coleridge electrical scheme had had lean years. but he anticipated it would pay handsomely in the future; so satisfied was he of this that he had given instructions to design- a similar scheme for the- North Island. Planfe had been prepared, but the engineer had not yet decided which source of supply wa» most suitable.