SECOND EDITION. POLITICAL NOTES.

Mataura Ensign, 1 July 1914, Page 5

SECOND EDITION. POLITICAL NOTES.

"t ;■ — — . ~,„, vTHE GOVERNMENT SERVICE. WOMEN AND LEAVE. DI TELEGRAPH, FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. WELLINGTON, July 1. A return which was laid on the table | of the, House of Representatives yester- . day on tin- motion of Sir Vigor Brown (Napier) shows that the women employees in the Government service had 302") days' leave for the year ended September 30, 1912, and -WOOJ day* in the .year ended September 30, 1913. All female employees are medically examined before appointment. Exytevience has not proved that it is necessary to have a special medical examination . of women already in the herviee. In . individual eases a special medical examination is sometimes required. The sanitary conveniences for female employees in the different public buildings are «s private as can be made and no complaints have been, received a& far as can be gathered. , INSPECTION OF HTOOK. By a return which has been furnished it is learned that .*JiJ4B cattle were condemned and slaughtered during the. year ended March 31, 1014, but only Jo pig* were fimilarly .dealt with. Full value to the amount of £73 los and half-values to the extent of £8632 Njs '3d were paid. The total amount received iu respect to the disposal of condemnedl carcases was £1093 8s 7d. BIBLE IN SCHOOL'S. Cards of members which were pricked to-day on the question of the. Bible in Schools referendum question show that there is an overwhelming majority in the present House of Representatives against taking n referendum, on this subject. TIMBER. FREIGHTS. Mr Anderson (M.P. for Mataunt) has again given notice to ask what tho Government intends to do regarding: imported timber freights on the railways. A number of members" are interested in this question and in all probability the new railway tariff will make some amendment in the present unsatisfactory conditions. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. In "all probability a modification of the Nelson system of religions education will be adopted instead of Hon. J. Aden's proposal for- a, referendum for the Australian system, where half an hour is taken out of school hours and the* onus of religious instruction is tlnrown on tho denominations. By this course much of the present hostility to the referendum will be removed. Several members of the Government Tarty favor this procedure and it is stated that a number of members of tho Opposition would support it. THE NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION*. The lto-conlidetice motion which Sir Joseph Ward said last night lie proposed to move was expected by tho Government and the voting on the motion is easily forecasted. There are 40 straight-out supporters of the Government and 3o of tho Opposition. This 1 allows Hon. ,). A. Miller 'Dnnedin West) and Mr Clark (Chalmers) to act independently, but it is expected, that they will vote with tho Government, thus giving, it a majority of seven. Mr Edward Newman CManawatu) and Hon. 1). Buddo (Kaiapoi) are out of the Dominion and they can therefore he regarded as a pair. The Speaker, of course, does not vote, ami the Government i- il'erefore perfectly ■ ■ife. even although Mossr* Millar and Clark voted with the Opposition, which ' is most improbable. FIGHTING SPEECHES. Th"> speeches by Sir Joseph Ward ('Leader of the Opposition' and Hon. .1. Allen rXlinister for Financel on the Address-in-Reply were excellent fighting ones. They both made the most of their opportunities. Sir Joseph attacked every vulnerable spot but was repulsed with vigor by Mr Allen, who scored brilliantly over naval matters. THE PUBLIC SERVICE: The officers' guarantee in the Public Seyvi'-e und n r which offi-ors are required to subscribe to make up moneys lest by the State by the defalcations'of any individual officer is to be abolished under Hie Public Service Officers' Guarantee Repeal Bill which has b i introduced by Hon. A. L. Hcrdman ter for Justice). Levies made upon •Mirers to make good dcfiViencin s in far-away towns always anpearcd to members of the Service to be unjust and inequitable and complaints about the system have been mote or less frequent