PARLIAMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17956, 5 December 1921, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

EARLY MORNING SITTING. DEALING WITH TARIFF. y DUTY FROM MOTOR-TYRES.' MONEY FOR MAIN ROADS. [BT TEiSOBAPP.—6PSOIAI. REPOBTER.] WELLINGTON. Saturday. Tho House of Representatives adjourned in the early hours of this morning without having made quite so much progress as had been hoped. After a debate Her the item in class V. of the tariff schedule, covering fur felt hat hoods, rapid progress was made until almost the end of the next class. When the House reached that section j dealing with motor tyres, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr.T. M. Wilford, asked the Prime Minister whether he was prepared to earmark the money for use on the upkeep of main highways. This, ho considered, was essential. The Prime Minister replied that he' was quite prepared to do this. He would promise to establish a separate account, and ii necessary ho would put a clause, in the Finance Bill to make tho position absolutely safe. The statement was received with satisfaction, but some South Island members thought that unless two accounts were opened the South Island would not see much of the money. The Prime Minister met the request of Mr. E. J. Howard (Christchurch South) that bicycle tyres should be admitted free with a statement that tin's should be done. An amendment was duly passed. Mr. Wilford suggested that as so many of the tyres used came from America the duty of 25 per cent, on American tyres was too high. He moved to make it 15 per cent. The amendment was not pressed, and after a long debate the item was retained as proposed by the Government. Progress was then reported, and the House rose at 2.45 a.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Monday. UNEMPLOYED PROBLEM. MEMBER'S GLOOMY VIEW. THE MINISTER OPTDIISTIC. - [BY TEUOBAPH.—SPECIAL KETORTES.] WELLINGTON, Saturday. , " A man' came to see me to-day and told me that his child had gone to school in the morning without food because there was nothing in the house," said Mr G. Mitchell (Wellington South) in the House yesterday afternoon. Mr. Mitchell wished to know whether the Prime Minister and the Minister for Labour would confer regarding the unemployment problem and make to statement to the House next week. Thore were very many unemployed in the country, and 6ome suffering severely. There was no work to be had through the Labour Bureau. He did. not suppose that the bureau in Wellington ' had found employment for half a dozen j men in the last fortnight. Women with children in arms came to tym and told him vei-y distressing stories, of hardship. Many of the unemployed could not perform very arduous labour, and he realised that tho problem was going to be a difficult one. The Minister for Labour* Hon. G. J. Anderson, invited Mr. Mitchell to give him the names of the persons mentioned., He would investigate their cases. He was sure that if those persons were sent along to the Public Works Minister they. would be given employment if it was at all possible on relief works. Mr. Mitchell: There are several hundreda of them. Mr. Anderson replied that his returns showed a remarkable fall- ' ing off during the past week. He was not arguing the question, but merely speaking from the official figures. 'During the next \ few months there would be plenty of work if the people would go into the country for it. YE&LOW ,x LEAF BLIGHT. FLAX INDUSTRY MENACED. INVESTIGATION CONTINUES. [BI TELEOBaPH.—SPECIAL BEPORTEB.J WELLINGTON. Saturday. Anxiety regarding the spread of yellow leaf among the flax in the Manawatu district prompted a question which Mr. E. Newman (Manawatu) put to the Minister for Agriculture, Hon. W. Nosworthy, in the House yesterday. He asked what steps the department was taking to deal with the blight, which was spreading in the flax areas. The millers-were willing to contribute toward tho cost of investigation, and wished to know what the Minister proposed to do' in the matter. Already considerable areas had been" destroyed. The Minister said he bad already had a communication from the Elaxmill Owners' Association, 'asking whether, if they ;. found a sura of money, the Government j would provide a £ for £ subsidy. That matter was under consideration. The * Government had spent a good deal of 8 time going into this matter. Dr. Cock- > ayne, of the department, and the pro. fessor from the Cawthron 1 Institute had been investigating the' disease. There was no doubt that it waß serious, and avery effort was being made to find the cause. The department proposed to continue the investigation's. ' TEACHING OF SWIMMING; a THE CAPITATION GRANT. 1 [BY TELEQRAFH.—SPECIAL REPORTEB.] i , WELLINGTON, S»turday. { A fear that the capitation received for instructing school children in swimming and life-saving might be cancelled, as exi pressed by the South Auckland Centre of » the Amateur Swimming Association, was 1 mentioned to the Minister for Education, t Hon. C. J. Parr, in the House yesterday, by Mr. H. A. Young (Waikato). He said he had received a communication with rec gardito the vote made available through J the Education, Boards for this work last year. Mr. Parr said the communication which he had seen rather suggested that there was arl annual vote in aid of the teaching of swimming in the schools. He hardly thought that this was so. As fa"r as his memory served him there Was no special vote. There was provision in the manual and technical regulations for capitation. These regulations were at present in force, • and he knew of no reason to suppose they were likely to be affected for the present. RHINOCEROS BEETLE. APPEARANCE IN TONGA. [BY TBLEGRAPH.--SPECIAL REPORTER.! 'WELLINGTON. Saturday. Unofficial advice has been received by the External Affairs Department that the rhinoceros beetle, the beetle that attacks and destroys cocoanut trees, and which has done considerable damage in Samoa, has made its appearance in Tonga. The Hon. E. P. Lee stated to-day that , according to the information received the | beetle had been discovered in an outlying . part-only of the Tongan Group, practic--1 ally midway between vavau and Samoa. ' Very drastic measures, the Minister said, • had been adopted by the Samoan Administration to exterminate the rhinoceros beetle in Samoa, and the work of the officials had been very successful. * The beetle was now found only in one v 1 part of Samoa, where at present a camipaign was in progress against it.