POLITICAL NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9607, 5 September 1911, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

NORTH AUCKLAND RAILWAY. [By Telegraph,] (By Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Sept. L The. report of the Royal Commission appointed by the Government to inquire into the best route for tho North Auckland railway will be presented to Parliament shortly. It is understood that it will contain some important recommendations, one of which is the' purchase by the Government of Maori lands contiguous to the railway. THE PARNELL SEAT.:

Mr Frank Lawry, who has represented Parnell for many years'in the House of Representatives, has informed a number of his friends that he has fought his last fight. This moans that tho Government will have to secure another candidate for Parnell. It was generally recognised that Mr Lawry's chances of winning the seat tho coming election were anything but bright. Mr Moss, a. former member of Parliament, is the Opposition candidate for the seat, LOST, AN OVERCOAT. One of Mr Isitt's first experiences of the New Zealand Parliament is not perhaps calculated to impress him with the high moral tone of his surroundings. He has had his overcoat stolen. The coat disappeared on Wednesday last, and so far all efforts to trace it have "been as futile as the attempts of the local police to ascertain the whereabouts of Powelka. One can imagine Mr Isitt soliloquising in the Scriptural vein and imagining that he was coming to "a house of prayer" instead of into "a den of thieves," though tho latter suggestion would most certainly be a: gross libel on Parliament, and no one imagines for .one moment that a member is surreptitiously wearing or has secretly pawned Mr Isitt's overcoat, No doubt some "stranger" has taken .the garment from the corridor by mistake or of malice prepense, but in any case Mr Isitt is the victim of his independence in politics. Were he a party man and 86 such entitled to hang his hat (or coat) in the whip's room of. either party ho would not now be lamenting hi 6 loss. Meantime some members sympathise deeply with him, while others think the incident is not- without its humorous side.