PARLIAMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 15

PARLIAMENT

LEISURELY DAY DEBATES /ON REPORTS mining bill again SECOND READING PASSED NEXT WEEK'S BUSINESS [by telegraph —sfecial reporter] WELLINGTON. Friday Parliament mover! at a leisurely cait to-day. and its legislative output was exceedinglv .scanty. The whole of the morning sitting was taken nn bv a discussion on reports bv Select Committees The question which provoked the principal debate was the tendency for eitifs and towns to embark 011 a policy of controlling their milk supplies. Three bills seeking to establish in Napier. Hastings and Tifnani systems of control similar to that operating in Auckland were adversely reported on by the Local Bills Committee. After the general view had been expressed that the Government should make a general investigation of the position, instead of allowing local interests to promote a series of special bills, the House accepted the recommendation from the committee that these three measures j should not be allowed to proceed this i session. _ j The Mining Bill was further discussed j in the afternoon. This question was be- j fore' the House on Wednesday, when j the Mines Committee reported back to the House, and it was thought that little now remained to be said. However, the Hon. C. E. Macmillan, j Minister of Mines, made a long speech j in support of the measure, and most j South Island members representing elec- j torates interested in goldmining took j the opportunity-'' to_ record their j opinions once again. The amendments j suggested by the Mines Committee, some of which involved appropriations, were incorporated in the bill to-day by Governor-General's Message. The bill was read a second time and will be dealt with in Committee next week. It is expected tlat the House will complete consideration of the Public Works Estimates on Tuesday, when the Supplementary Estimates are also likely to appear.

BUSH FIRE RECALLED RAETIHI FARMERS' REQUEST LOAN REPAYMENT POSITION [nV TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Friday Release from the payment of all moneys advanced to them from the Waimarino Bush Fire Relief Fund is sought in a petition presented to Parliament to-day on behalf of eight farmers in the Raetihi district. The petition refers to the fire which swdpt the district in March, 1918, destroying pastures, fences, buildings and stock. The public of New Zealand subscribed for the relief of those who suffered £16,635. The Government donated £SOO and gave a subsidy of £IO,OOO. From this fund, £7426 was expended in cash grants to workers, £5684 in cash grants to farmers, and £9BOO in loans.

The petitioners stated that further* moneys were made* available to settlers as loans. No great effort had been made to obtain repayment of the £9BOO, only a fraction of which had been repaid, and in many cases the amounts had been written off, but on the other hand 110 concessions could be obtained in respect of th« further loans. The petitioners consider it unjust that they should be penalised for staying on their farms, and in spite of overwhelming adversities, they improved their farms while others, who, on account of lack of farming ability or slothfulness, have ( uot only lost their properties, but have also been relieved from liability.

EX-MINISTER'S PETITION // BOOK WRITTEN FOR SCHOOLS COMPENSATION SOUGHT [BE TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER] "WELLINGTON, Friday One of the few survivors of the old brigade of Liberals in New Zealand has petitioned Parliament seeking consideration for monetary loss he has suffered in writing and printing a book, "Citizenship," in 1922 for use in the public schools of th<s Dominion. The petitioner is the Hon. George Warren Russell, journalist and politician, who was Minister of Internal Affairs in the Mackenzie Ministry and again in the National (wartime) Government. Mr. petition was presented to the Legislative Council to-day by his former Liberal colleague? in the two Ministries, the Hon. <J. A. Hanan. The petition is as follows: —(1) That in 1922, petitioner, at the request of the Minister of Education (then the Hon. C. J. Parr), he wroto and printed a book, "Citizenship," for use in the public schools of the Dominion; (2) that the book contained sound instruction in civics, economics and ethics in simple language, and was kdpt_ strictly within the secular system maintained in the Dominion; (3) that notwithstahding the fact that the Minister approved of the book and authorised its Vse in all public schools, the Education Department systematically has blocked it and it is not included in any list °f books that may be used either by teachers or scholars; (4) that in consequence petitioner has suffered severe •ioss of labour of, writing (estimated at •100 guineas), printing an edition for the Minister's approval (estimated at £25), and royalties for 12 years (estimated at £SO per annum); (5) that j Petitioner believes the instruction contained in the book is necessary to the children of the Dominion and would be °f benefit to them in every way; (6) wherefore petitioner humify prays that the Council should take the matter into consideration and make such recommendation as it considers justified LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL FOUR BILLS RECEIVED [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION*] WELLINGTON, Friday The Legislative Council met to-day. The Slaughtering and Inspection Amendment Bill, the Electrical Wiremen's Registration Amendment Bill, the Transport Licensing (Commercial Aircraft Services) Bill and the Secondhand Dealers' Amendment Bill were received from the House of Representatives. They were read a sec9nd time pro forma and referred to various committees.