PARLIAMENTARY NEWS AND GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11734, 16 August 1901, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS AND GOSSIP.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Thursday. • VACCINATION. The opinions expressed in the House this afternoon, when Sir J. Ward's Public Health. Act Amendment Bill was tinder discussion, | would indicate a pretty general feeling of I distrust towards vaccination as at present ' carried out. Half-a-dozen members in succession condemned it roundly. The member j for Napier explained his views by telling the ! House that none of his children were vac- ! cinated, and none of them would be. Mr. i T. Mackenzie (Waih&mo) was one of the few ! who took up the other side of the question. ! Pie hoped the House would not extend the ; facility for exemption desired by some mem- | bers, and pointed out that it had been proved i that vaccination was of great benefit to : humanity. It seemed* to him that most' of ; the arguments had been directed against imI pure lymph, and he was of opinion that with ! the care he felt sure the new head of the ; Health Department (Dr. Mason) would give i the matter, it would be to the advantage, I and not disadvantage of the public to restrict ! opportunities for the evasion of a very usei ful Act. Mr. Monk thought he was voicing ! the consensus of medical opinion when he said I the Government should not allow any child | to be vaccinated except with lymph direct i from the heifer. Mr. Graham (Nelson) ! boasted of having seven children, who. in | spite of notices, black, red, and blue, and I a- personal interview with the registrar, had J remained unvaccinated, and were as healthy I as their father, who, by the way, is a parti- ! cuJa-rly hale specimen of an elderly man. Mr. I Mackenzie trotted out a family all'vaccinated, I and he ventured to say they were as healthy las those of his lion, friend. The clause which i gave rise to the discussion was an amendj ment inserted by the Legislative Council, the I effect of which was to provide that, exemp- ! tions should be granted by magistrates only. The House objected to this, and set up a, committee to give reasons for their dissent. SKKGEANT-AT-ARMS. The medical men in attendance upon the Sergeant-at-Arms (Colonel Eraser), who has been ill for some weeks, decided that the best i thing to be done was to send him to his | home at the Thames. The colonel was ac- ; cordingly taken up in the steamer Takapuna, j which left for Onehunga this afternoon. Mr. j Robert Vance accompanied the invalid. INFORMATION WANTED. In view of the probability of the Financial | Statement coming down to-morrow evening. , the Premier was asked by Captain Russell i if the House would be supplied with certain ! information, including the return of unauI thorised expenditure and the last quarterly j accounts, in order that the House might disj cuss the Statement intelligently. The Prei mier assured Captain Russell that he inj tended to make the Statement as clear as I possible, and if any further information were | required it would be his duty to meet the j wisnes of members. lis promised that the i House would have the unauthorised expendii turn return before the Statement was dej bated. A. STOP GAP. It was naturally anticipated that the Ad- | varices to Settlers" Act Extension Bill, which I the Government are" anxious to push i through., would be committed this evening, j but Mr. Seddon, who has it in charge, was : deep in the mysteries of the Budget, so the ! Rill was placed pretty low down on the | Order Paper. The greater part of the evenI ing was taken up with the second reading of j the Young Persons' Protection Bill, which | Mr. Geo. Fisher, with one of his character!is tic gestures, termed "flapdoodle." Dnr- ! ing the debate the name of Auckland was | brought, in. Mr. Witheford said it seemed j .to him, after listening to members, that j Auckland did not need such a Bill so much | as Wellington or Christchurch. A MEMBER'S CORRESPONDENCE. | Very few electors have the slightest idea : of the amount oj work a. conscientious mem- | ber performs in addition to representing his interests m the House. Take his correspondence, for instance. It is surprising the number of points upon which " our member" is consulted. One country member from the North Island has during the present session received an average of no fewer than 40 letters a week. It is not the mere an- ] swering of the communications which monopolises time, but correspondents entrust him with business- which almost invariably requires looking up. This is a phase' of a members duties which is not always appreciated by those who sent him to'Weflineton. ° AMENDMENTS TO THE COMPANIES BILL. Several important amendments have been made m the Companies Bill by the Statues Revision Committee (who finished consideration of the Bill to-day) with, the intention of still further safeguarding the public. It is provided that, directors must pay up to the allotment call before any shares are albotod jto the public. Directors may not forfeit ;™ v shares or .sue for any calls unless they I themselves have paid their calls, and in any I proceedings against shareholders for ravmerit of calls it must bo a condition precedent to judgment being given that the directors have duly complied with the provision mentioned. With regard to auditing power is gjveu to the Audit Office to audit the accounts of any company. The comj mittee have amended the clauses referring to the winding up of companies by the Court by providing that the winding up shall be done by the official assignee instead of a liquidator appointed by the Court or by the company. i * JOTTINGS. The highest weekly wage in factories within the meaning of the Factories Act is £11 10s. which is paid in Christchurch under the heading "Brewing, bottling, and malting." Further proposed pensions in the post and telegraph service, are, :—Wvmond G. A. Boars, £72 6s Gd, from October 24, 1901; James E. Coney, £285 6s Bd, from January 10, 1902. The New Zealand railway workshops employ 1517 men and 186 apprentices. Christchurch heads the list with 482 hands, Dunedin coming next with 425, Wellington 290, and Auckland 189. Mrs. Ward, of Wangauui, widow of the late Judge Ward, is petitioning Parliament for a compassionate allowance. She points out that her husband's dlSfii was hastened by over work, and that if he had retired on compensation the amount due to him would have been about £1500. Mr. Pirani intends to move a new clause to his School Attendance Bill, so as to provide that no child shall attend a public school in any district other than that in which his parents or guardians reside, unless the chairman of the committee or the head feather in his own district consents. Tailors put in more overtime during 1900 than any other factory hands in the colony. The total number of hours they worked was 72,021. Dressmakers came next with 48,446 hours. The Lands for Settlement Bill has passed through the Upper House, and the amendments inserted during its passage will be considered by the Lower House to-morrow. " I don't think there are any officers so hard worked as the stipendiary magistrates," remarked Mr. Monk, when it was proposed that they should be the persons to grant exemptions from vaccination. There were 32 accidents reported and investigated. The majority of them were of a very slight nature, but there were others more serious, such as the loss of fingers, and other injuries, caused by machinery. In nearly all instances the injuries were . accidental, or caused by the thoughtlessness of the injured ones unnecessarily placing themselves in danger.—Extract from the report of Mr. H. Ferguson, inspector of factories at Auckland. ; | The petition of Michael Quiiin, of Auck- : : land, who asks for 60 acres of land, or £30 ! ! in lieu, for military services rendered to • the colony, has, on the recommendation of : the Public Petitions Committee, been re- ) ferred to the Government for consideration. '■ This year 908 factories have been regis- > tered in the Auckland district, employing i 8714 hands, namely, 62-38 males and 2476 females, being an increase on last year of 39 factories, and 845 persons. The Public Petitions Committee has no ; recommendation to make in the petition of . H. N. Warner, of Auckland, surveyor, who asked for compensation for loss of office in ' the Government service. 1 Wages at the Newmarket railway workshops range from 10s 6d per day "paid to • coppersmiths, down to 7s paid to watchmen,.