POLITICAL NEWS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10519, 29 July 1910, Page 1

POLITICAL NEWS.

By Telegraph. (From Our Own Correspondent.) - Wellington, July 28. —Drinks end Voting.— Mr Buxton has sugar's ted an amend nient to the Electoral Act to providfor the closing of hotels throughout tin day of the General Election. The re suit of the present conditions, says M Buxton, is that a very large numbe. of electors are quite unfit to cxereisi their vote intelligently in the after noon, owing to a particularly generous spirit prevailing on that day. —"Nearly Killed Out."— "The Government lias practically killed out the private analysist," do clared Mr G. M. Thomson (Dmiedii: North), in the House to-night. In his own case, he said, he had been obliged practically to give up his analytical practice because the Government methods practically debarred him from earning a living. There was one public analyst in Christchurch and not another in the South Island. One private analyst was employed under a I company in Invorcargill, and there was no one in Dune-din with the exception of Professor Black, who was almost superannuated. There were two analysts in Christchurch, but they were attached to private companies. If any unfortunate individual found himself in conflict with the Government over some question in which an analysis was involved it was difficult to get an outside person to take up his (■?.;:•' and fight the Government analysts in the ourt. It was wrong that Government analysts should be allowed to do work for wealthy companies at- a price wjiich would not pay the private analyse He c-.nisiderod that the farmer was not under the. present system adequately prelected against adulterated manure because a mixture which par-red the test might be subsequently varied or might deteriorate by keeping. —The Vancouver Mai! Service. —

A copy of the'specification of. the Var.ci'.uvtT mail service between Canada, -Australia, and New Zealand, containing "lie alternative; proposal for calling at Auckland instead .of iJrishano, was !.-i:i on lite table of the House vesterdav by Sir Joseph Ward Tenders close on November 'lst. and alternative tenders for three and five years are invited. Preference will be given, other conditions being equal, to •. . j s? -is which have refrigerator and i:;s!i!atc:l ivpace. —For the Bookmaker. —

Three big petitions in favor or the licensed bookmaker were presented to Parliament yesterday. They came from Christchurch North. Jt was )lr T. E. Tavloi 's dutv to prccnt the biggest, from the Lyttoltim and Avon constituencies. It coutaiir-cd 33:?5 signatures. —The Oldest Parimmeniarmii

The Hon. U. Scotland who died suddenly ye.-terday. had the distinction ni' being I'll!* oldest Parliamentarian. That ]ion;)r is now shared bv the Hon. \Ym. D. 13:-.illig. aged SG. -inid Si.- Henrv Miller, aged 80. The latter is senior iii parliamentary experience. "Tin- good <:! d times" was a sentiment which always found warm and enthusiastic support from the Hon. H. Seotland. llis speeches in the FiCgislalative Council were rare, hut worth listening to when the occasion provoked him to candid utterance regarding tlie IViihlc:-: and fads (; f to-dav. A barrister by profession, he followed his line for many years in New Plymouth, where he arrived in 18-30 in the ship Eden. He settled in Taranaki and gave £2 ;>s an acre for his twenty-acre catch. "If i had been troubled with lard-hnngsr," be confided to an inter! iewer a few years ago, ''J might have been very rich. I might have bought some land at Tniaraimaika at£3o and £4O an acre/' True to his principles, he prophesied a slump as a reward for such ridiculous modern extravagance ; but the slump is. not yet, at any rate. He saw the first cab °ri London and the first railway there operated with chains instead of locomotives. His recollections went back to the days cf highwaymen in England, for his father, a special pleader in the city, and afterwards a Judge of the Supreme Court in British Guiana, always carried pistols for fear of molestation on the roiv between bis residence in Muswell Hill (long since absorbed in the metropolis) and his office. Verv little can be "said of the Hon. H. Scotland's New Zealand experience. Me never cared for publicity: always denird any suggestion that he was a politician, and declared that he never distinguished himself. Of later years be was concerned mostly in his books and in the pleasant past. He attended strictly to his parliamentary -duties, but hid himself from the busy world during The recess, living what he called a "Robinson Crusoe" kind of life in the Far North of Auckland, on the Palri River. Here he had a comfortable, oldfashioned residence with a good' library. —On the Labor Market

In Wellington at this.tine last winter :; Citizen's Relief Committee in Wellington was set up to provide work tor unemployed. Many of the laboring classes had to undergo privations because there was Tiotliing offering for them to do. The winter this year has not been so harsh, and there has been ::o crv on the part of the casual labors!- and artisan for assistance. There has been mors work o p all descriptions offering and fewer men seeking it. This latter statement is generally acknowledged by secretaries of industrial unions. Inquiries made /from the Labor Department shew that there is no comparison between the conditions that have been this winter and the corresponding period last year. The conditions are now infinitely better. There lias Jir.t- been such a bie: demand for unskilled laborers as in 130!). The Department has been trying to get four skilled qiiarryuien. but up to the present has only been able to get one. There lias also been a demand for miners at the Tanpiri coal mine, liuntly; but the men have been unobtainable. The approaching spring and summer, so far as employment goes, will probably be one of the best on record. Applications for farm hands have a-lready been received, and 'tli"re is likely to be ;m improvement all round.