POLITICAL NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12586, 22 August 1901, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES.

[From Our Special Correspondent.] WELLINGTON", August 21. THE FACTORIES BILL Tha Premier yesterday informed Mr Ar- > Hold that. there -were already sufficient proYieioins in the Factories Bill to prevent “swearing” in the tailoring trade. What ■was necessary was a, strict application of the provisions, not fresh legislation. Up to the present, something like sixty ■witnesses have given evidence before the Labour Bills Committee in opposition to the Factories Bill. Their evidence is almost exclusively directed against Clauses 18 ■- (pertaining to hours of work)., 19 (conditions of overtime), and 3p, 31, and 32 (holidays to bo observed! in factories). . A witness representing the Bootmakers Union, of Ohristchurdi, is to be examined to-mor- ■ row, and the committee, will then adjourn |tiH Wednesday next, When the taking ;of 'evidences with respect to the Bill will be concluded.

ADVANCES TO SETTLERS. A lengthy debate is probable on the third reading of the Government Advances to Settlers Extension Bill. Mr Ell is working tip a movement in favour of a discussion on • State bank of issue. • [From Our Correspondent.] ■' ... MORTGAGES. , The Joint Statutes Revision Committee reports on the Mortgages of Land Bill that ’ it - should .be allowed! to proceed with on amendment to tha second schedule!, which H that the mortgager will insure and keep ' insured, the mortgagee against anywork«ria charge under the Workers Compensation for .Acdidtats Act, 1900, and! if he iaala the mortgage© may do the same, and ! the sums ha .pays .either os premium, or id no insurance by way of compensation, must -be repaid forthwith by the mortgagor at ttw mortgage rates. THE NEW ZEALAND FLAG. The national flag of New Zealand is once mom 3a the .breeze. It is not the flag that yn Ibarro been accustomed to, but it is the , aubjocb of a' petition presented to-day by ' Mr Pratt. The petitioners, Maoris at Kaii apoi,; Arowhemua, Waihoa and) Westport, 1 have heard with astonishment the statement that there never was a national flag ■ cf New Zealand. ,A flag was hoisted, they - observe, as -such in 1835, and saluted by Alligator. This is the standard! at New Zealand, a white flag divided into four ■■■» by a red cross, the first quarter blue, such quarter. divided into four equal! parts by a red cross with "a. white star in the centre of each Hue part. It was Mr Busby, then Resident, who recommended 1 that there jbouJid be a national! flag, and! the Governor ! . of New South Wades approving, three flags were sent from Sydney to Waitongi, where .Mr Busby resddied, for selection by the ;: 'Maori, chiefs, and they chose this one. It appears from ’this that Mr Busby, who was known aa the man-of-war without .guns, was not at all events without a flag. This , : information the peltaitdloners quote from that dnoe famous .work, the “Pdoturesque Atlas of Australasia.” They have heard that the Royal! Navy will nlot endure anything like •the white ensign, anywhere, and they are astonished to hear that British officers can land and hanl down such a flag whenever they please, bub while -apparently, admitting that this national' standard! may reaamible 'the white ■etnsagn, they protest that the j.voyal Navy has no right to treat with indignity the flog of an independent oountry. It ils 'true that country joined' the •Empire subsequently by the covenahb'known as the Treaty of Waitangi, hut they cannot see tii'an, that makes any difference. They do nob object in the least to the flag that was before the Sense the other day; they ; ••are ©vein gotod enough to admit that it does very well for .the Pakeha-Maori colony, bub that other is 'the hdsborio standard of this country, and they want it "officially retcogiiA*ed oa it was recognised in 1835. The pride, and self-respect, and something of the naivete of the Maori come out strong . here.: