POLITICAL NOTES AND NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12399, 12 October 1903, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES AND NEWS.

[BY TELEGRAPH.-- SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. Wellington, Sunday.

SHIPPING AND SEAMEN BELL.

The Shipping mi Seamen Bill is down for I consideration in. committee in the Legislative Council this week. The Labour Bills Committee of the Council have gone over the Bill and made some alterations in it, including the erasure of this amendment made in the House of Representatives, on I the motion of Mr. Houston, to exempt vessels with auxiliary steam power from being compelled to carry a certificated engineer. As the Bill goes before the Council this class of vessel will have to carry a certificated engineer, but if it passes the Council in this form j

there will probably be some difficulty in getting the House to agree to the amendment. The Hon. D. Pinkerton has given notice of a largo number of amendments, which he will move when the Sill is before the Council. Among them is a proposal to delete the words " that shipowners are not to'be liable for neglect, or default, or error in judgment of the master mariner, engineers, or others in the sendee of the owner," and to insert instead the words, which the House rejected, on the motion of Mr. Baume, viz., "that shipowners are not to be held responsible for faults 'or errors in navigation or in the

management of the ship." Should this amendment be adopted in the Council it will in all probability meet with the approval of the House, which obviously repented its rejection, of Mr. Baume's motion by subsequently approving the words which now stand in the Bill. 'FRISCO MAIL SERVICE. The debate on the San Francisco mail service proposals is not expected till next week, and for the time being the excitement over the question which pervaded the lobbies has died down. Those opposed to the service still claim a majority, but the supporters of the service are quite as confident that the majority will be the other way. There is little doubt that the division when it comes will be a. pretty close one, but the chances are all in favour of the proposals being carried, and the service continued on the present footing. The Auckland members are quietly doing their best to remove the prejudices which exist against the service, and they can count on. tne enthusiastic support of the Post-master-General, whose Departmental experience has made him as strong an enthusiast for the San Francisco route as could be found in any part of the colony.

ELECTIVE LAND BOARDS. There was an interesting discussion on Friday night on a proposal that the land boards of the colony should be elective. Members urged that representation on the land boards should be given to Crow?! tenants, some being of opinion that the remainder of the members might, as at present, be nominated by the Government., while others were of opinion that the local bodies should elect a number of members. * The Minister for Lands expressed a fear that the Crown tenants would run away with the country if they could do a*! they liked on the land boards. The Premier, while admitting that there was something to be said for the elective system, maintained that it was not a subject that should be discussed on the Estimates, but should be.dealt with when the amending Land Bill came before the House. The proposal was rejected by 35 votes to '25 votes. FIRE PREVENTION BILL. The Premier has given notice to move that the Fire Prevention Bill be referred to a, special committee, consisting of the following members:—-Messrs. Aitken, E. G. Allen, Arnold, Barber, Ell, Hanan, Hemes, Kidd, Massey, Sidey, Witbeford, and the Premier. ■ THE JSLANDS TRIP.

A cumber of members and their friends met in Parliament House on Saturday evening to hear a lecture by Mr. James Allen, Mjf.R., on the islands visited during the recent Parliamentary excursion in the Mapourika. Mr. Allen illustrated his remarks ; with a large number of pictures representative of the scenery a:od the Islanders; These views were enlarged by means of the optical lantern, and many 0 them were of an extremely interesting character. Mr. Allen's description of the Islands was equally interesting, and the entertainment proved both instructive and amiwing. A number of kinematograjjh pictures were also shown. One of the tire-walking by the Fiji natives at Bega. one of a Maori obstacle canoe race on the Waikato, and onsj of Waimarigu geyser in action, were wonderfully realistic. Afterwards those present were entertained at tea in Bellamys by Mr. and Mrs. James Allen.

A MISSING FINE.' What has become of the £500 fine imposed some years ago on Mr. Watson, the then manager of the Ba:nk of New Zealand queried the Hon. Jet. H. J. Reeves on Friday during a discussion as to the finances of the General Assembly library. Had the £500, he added, addressing :he Hon. J. Rigg, chairman of the Library Committee, ever been paid to the .'library', fund as it should have been, and if not, why not? The Hon. C. C. Bowen remarked that he-was glad the matter had not been lost sight of. The Hon. J. Rizz replied that the committee had never received the £500, though repeated applications had been made for the money. The Hon. F. H. Fraser observed that the interest would amount to something by now, but Mr. Rigg proHWtlv ma.de answer that " we should like to get the principal." The AttorneyGeneral spoke a little later, but threw no light on the subject, and discreetly paid no heed when Mr. Reeves once more asked, "what about the £500?" '