POLITICAL NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10104, 1 August 1893, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

[from our special correspondent.] WELLINGTON, July 31. THE LABOUR DEPARTMENT BILL. The Labour Department Bill authorises the collecting from Friendly Societies, Trade Unions, or any other industrial organisations, as well as from employers, information concerning labour iu its most comprehensive sense, especially in relation to capital. Power is given to obtain from employers raturno of the number of workmen, hours ot labour, &c., and such particulars as they are willing to furnish respecting tho coat, prices of goods or the approximate cost of any business. Information so obtained is to bo kept secret under pain of a penalty not exceeding £SO, and the Minister shall frame hie annual report to Parliament iu such a way that no particular employer or workman may bo identified. The penalty for refusing to supply the department with all information made compulsory under tho Act is not less than £2O. The Minister for Lauda has received a full report from Mr Marchanfc, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Christchurch, embodying a scheme for the subdivision of the Cheviot Estate. As the Minister has not yet had time to look into the report I cannot give details of the proposals, but it is expected that these will shortly be laid on the table of the House. I have reason to believe that the Railway Commissioners will report adversely on the Midland Railway Company’s proposals, in so far as these relate to the Belgrove-Motueka section of the line. THE VOLUNTEERS. Considerable dissatisfaction is expressed with tho principle on which capitation is paid to and withheld from volunteer corps. A question on the subject will be put by Mr Taylor to the Minister for Defeace.land it is hoped that the result of attention being drawn to the matter will be an alteration of the principle on which capitation ia apportioned. The following very anomalous rulings are pointed out in connection with Christchurch Companies:—The City Guards, with a roll of 37, of whom 31 are efßcient, earned £63 capitation and drew nothing. The College Rifles SI strong, of whom only 33 are efficient, received £67 capitation. The Christchurch Rifles 49 strong, of whom 44 are officiant, earned £49 capitation and drew none. The A', Company 63 strong, of whom only 24 are efficient, drew £49 capitation. Tho Canterbury Scottish 48 strong, of whom 24 are efficient, drew no capitation. The Richmond Rifles 33 strong, of whom fifteen are efficient received no capitation. The palpable deduction from these figures ia that there should bo a certain proportion.of efficients to the full strength before capitation is granted; and it is also claimed that the minimum of sixty strong, upon which capitation, alone is paid, might with advantage be reduced. MR CADMAN. The Premier has received a letter signed by the Mayor of Dancvirke and fifty-two old residents, on the subject of the Umutuoroa Block, which ia the land in which Messrs Cadman and Smith wore concerned. The object of tho communication is to counteract the false statements and impressions that have gained currency to the effect that their dealing with the block in question was not in tho interests of the district or of the Native owners. It ia pointed out that the purchase of the block by Mr Smith had the full approval of the people of the district, who were benefited by the extensive sawmilling operations established by Mr Cadman; that the Natives have ample lands in the district, one block alone being 35,000 acres in extent j and that no complaints had ever been made by either Natives or Europeans against Messrs Cadman and Smith. ELECTORAL BILL. The Speaker ia reported to have given his opinion that the ruling of the Chairman of Committees on Friday night, by which a leasehold qualification was added to the Electoral Bill, was erroneous, and that at a later stage the words added must be struck out. Sir E. Stout argued at tho time that the subsection having been passed, it was not competent to insert nowwords ia it, and this view is upheld by the Speaker. THE DIRECT VETO. Sir E. Stout’s Licensing Act Amendment Bill will be the firao order of tho day for Wednesday, and it is expected that the brewers and their friends will talk at such length as to prevent a vote being taken on the second reading. There is redoubt whatever that there ia majority iu favour of the second reading, but Chose who would so far uphold tho direct veto principle are by no means unanimous as to the details. A section will support the insertion of a compensation clause, and another section will insist upon a majority of two-thirda or three-fourths being fixed before prohibition can be enforced. Long odds aio now offered here that Mr Cadman will wrest the Auckland seat from Mr Eees by a majority of at least two thousand; this, iu face of the fact that Mr Rees has the influence of Sir G. Gray and the President of tho Trades and Labour Council, is a strong indication of the confidence felt in the result of Friday's contest. workmen’s wages. The Workmen’s Wages Bill provides that workmen employed in manual labour shall be paid weekly wages, to be a first charge on money due or iu the hands of a contractor. Any assignment of money due or received under a contract to have no effect until all wages are paid. Moneys received by a contractor are not to bo attached except by workmen until all wages are paid. The contractor ia to keep accounts, and must show the same on demand to any workman whose wages are in arrears. A workman may attach money in the hands of a contracteo due to a contractor, and a workman obtaining judgment against a contractor may compel the contractea to pay him from the money due to tha contractor. [Per Press Association.] Mr F. Martin, Sscretary of the Municipal Association, has forwarded to tha Premier, on behalf of the executive, who held a meeting here last week, a latter endorsing Mr Ball’s protest against tho action of the Government respecting tho Municipal Corporations Bill, and covering communications on the subject from New Plymouth, Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson. AUCKLAND, July SI. A meeting of the Auckland Liberal Association was held to-night to consider the position of tho Association with reference* to tho city election. A motion was submitted that the Association do not express any opinion on either candidate. An amendment was proposed that tho Association support Mr Cadman. After a heated discussion of two hours’ duration, tho amendment was carried by a large majority. Mr Rees’ supporters consider that the action taken will disintegrate the Association,