PARLIAMENT AT WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12908, 3 July 1905, Page 6

PARLIAMENT AT WORK.

GALLERY NOTES AND LOBBY ! GOSSIP. I [BY TELEGRAPH.— SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Saturday. JOTTINGS. The Attorney-General lias given notice of a Bill in regard to the constitution of the Board of Trustees of the Jubliee Institute for the Blind, at Auckland. The Bill provides for a board of nine members, of whom five shall be appointed by the Governor and the remaining four elected by the voluntary contributors as at present. A Bill, introduced by the Premier, provides that for pension purposes the total length of the service of Mr. Gerhard Mueller (late Commissioner for Crown Lands for Auckland) shall be taken into account including the period during which his salary was paid by the Westland Provincial Council. The Hon. W. Beehan is urging the Government to prospect for coal in the Auckland district, with the view of establishing a State coal mine there. " I don't mind criticism one bit, but I can't stand this constant nagging." The Minister for Public Works on Mr. Mander. " It is an extraordinary thing for a Minister of the Crown to take up the position that he can do as he likes with public money," said Mr. Lang on Friday night. Mr. Hall-Jones: " You speak as if the whole duty of an Administration is to spend money." Mr. Lang: "Well, that is one phase of it."

POLITICAL INFLUENCE AND GO-

VERNMENT GRANTS.

The attack made by the member for Mount Ida (Mr. Herdman) upon the Government in bis speech at Christchurch last Monday night, in regard to the unfair allocation of grants for public works, has attracted considerable attention. Two of the principal points referred to were the Rawnsley and Black bridge incidents, which wore .before the House on Friday night. Interviewed last night in regard to the matter, Mr. Herdman said that his remarks were simply in reply to a challenge thrown out to the Opposition by the Premier in his Masterton speech. To prove the allegations of bribery and corruption, Mr. Herdman referred to the statement made by Mr. Seddon at Whangarei, and quoted by Mr. Mander on Friday night. " Now," observed the Mount Ida member, "I might talk for ages and not be believed if I said the present Government was a Government of bribery and corruption, but who would doubt the Premier's own words?" he asked, with a satirical smile. "I simply put the Premier's own statement before the country as evidence. Do you want anything more than his own confession?"