POLITICAL NEWS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10517, 27 July 1910, Page 1

POLITICAL NEWS.

■' By Telegraph. *'.'■ (From Our Own Correspondent.) . '"' Wellington, July 26. —Ministerial Denials.— - A'l want to give the. statement that tlie Ministry holds Cabinet meetings on Sundays an unqvialiiied contradiction.'' said the Prime, Minister to-day. ••.St .:■: absolutely contrary to fact. The Ministry has not done so since it was formed.' Wc have met as Ministers on Sundays to consider matters of great puFilicinterest, but the Ministry is opposed to Sunday work. —Newspaper Misrepresentation. — A question was asked in the H0,;,0 to-day as to whether the Prime Minr--ter had noticed a statement in the Dominion of that day to the effect that lie bad neglected to present a petition "handed to him liy 200 Maori veterans asking for pensions. I. read the para- - graph, replied tlie Prime Minister, ; ;:<! as is not uncommon with references . made bv that journal to the Government and its actions, it is absolutely . contrary to fact. They deliberately . misrepresent the Government, and have to - swallow their statements so i're- . qucntly on these matters that I am ■ surprised the hon. member should have ■ -referred to it." Sir Joseph Ward explained that the petition had been handed to him in November, too late to be reported la--.; session, and would come up this .session by authority of the House alroau". n given. —Bookmaker and Totalisator. — ] A variation of the petitions presoi'd- ! ed to the House during the last week ' we.s. bunded in by Mr Arnold m the - sous in Dunedm praying thai: boonmak- ; long as the toinliseler was legalised.: Up to now ho petition:, nave been pe- , seuted to Parliament, signed by ohM- i bookmaker mid gambling. ■ —Lytteltou Harbor Hoard.— _. ! The Ashhiirtou County ' Council has; octitionod Parliament, to throw onr i .' • | Lytteltou Har!)or Board's Bill. —A Lodg-Hs LuggageTwenty boardinghouse-keopors of Te Aroha and Kotorua have petitioned parliament to relieve them and their class throughout the Dominion iron: tie..- disadvantage of being unable to ihitain the properly of lodgers who may i fail to pay their biffs. j ■ —Sheep-Worrying.— With ibe object of preventing sheepworrying, Mr Nnsworthy asks for legislation to compel the tying up (if all dogs at night when not under the care ■of their owners, and to give tic right to desfrov anv do:: found worrving ; sheep. —The Oil Industry.— ] The "Government is being s:-..0 ■ | erect a. State refinery on. the Tnrauaki oilfields and distil tor all companies on the field, charging only the actual cost of refining, to assist, in placing tiie industry on a sound footing. —A Popular Institution. — The Pakatoa Inebriates Home, which ims been declared full on several occasions recently, is the subject of two questions in the House this week. One is whether the Government will have its accommodation extended immediately, and tiie other is that admission should not be only by the agency of a conviction for habitual urunkeniv ;. —Stevedores' Standing.--The president and secretary of eleven Unions of Waterside Workers have signed a petition asking the House to assist stevedores to obtain a better status as a body by setting up a i'uyai Commission to sit in Auckland. —Purchasing Kstaies. — "We have "never had an estate offered for closer settlement at anything like a correct value." said the Prime Minister this evening, '"and whenever wo have approached'ant one 1 think 1 am right in saying that we hare not had an instance of a property offered at a price that wo could accept." —Compulsory Continuation Classes. — Mr T. K. Sicle.y has introduced an Education Amendment nil] providing For compulsory attendance hi c'ontlnuatica classes o'f ho'vs and girl.-; befween the. ages of 1-i 'and.lß years. The Bill, which Air Sidoy says is tiie first word I in the direction of compulsory continuation classes, will provide throe classes, 1 one for those who, he says, will really go to swell the ranks of unskilled labor, one for trade training, . and one for agricultural training. —North Island Lighthouses.— The lighting of thf North fs.inni) coast was a question raised by a depula- i. . tioii of Auckland members to the Minis- : ter of Marine, which urged that the light e;i Mokol'.inau. nroposoci to be- removed to the Hen and Chickens Isiand, should remain, as it was regarded as .the proper guide to' the entrance.- to Hauraki Gulf. A petition to this effect, \ signed by 57 master marines, was pre- ■ ssuted to the Minister. '

In." reply, the Hon. J. A. Millar said :>. light on the Hen and Chickens -wouldbe three times more, serviceable than ilokoliliiau, -because the' trade for which the latter was established had practically disappeared. He" had asked the MerchantiStTViee'Guild at Wellington and the Auckland Shipmasters' Association to state where a' light was most needed on 'the "North Island, and the maioritv favored :■ light at Flat, Point,, between Pallisev ■ and i/ortlaud Island, on the East Const. . They'also urged tire removal- of the Mokohisiair light to tlie Hen and Chickens: However, he would* leave it For twelve months. The'next first-class light after Flat Point would probably bo placed on North Cape. UNDIiTIWEAR. '_,"":'-■ H. CHENKELL will sell tlie Balance of Jiis Winter Undor.cUith'iiig. d'e .Greatly Ile-dueed Prices. -The -. (binds, are all Colonial and of Standard iia.kesl TinDa.rgains caff .only be appreciated by inspeetion.