POLITICAL NOTES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10591, 21 October 1910, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES.

By Telegraph.

' (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington. October 20. | —The Opposition Leader*. — Mr Massey (Leader of the Opposition), is .recovering from- a sharp attack ofinfluenza. He was able to' get about yesterday, though he did not take in Parliamentary proceedings. —Advances to Settlers. — l During the past two years 795 application,? wore made to the Advances to Settlers Department for loans- of over £soo'and' 129 were granted. The total amount of the applications was £832,712 and the a'dvances totalled "£95,165. —Drivers of Winches. — ""*' Only one small amendment was made by the Labor Bills Committee in'.thc Inspection of Machinery -Amendment Bill which'was returned to the .House yesterday. The Committee has excluded the "drivers of winches from the list .of men about mines who are to be holders of a winding engine-driver's certificate. —Miners' Half-holiday.— The very modest Bill of two clauses introduced by the Hon. A. B. Guinness to provide a Saturday half-holiday for all miners in gold or coal mines except wherw wages men are employed has been returned by the Goidfields and Mines Committee with the' recommendation that it should not bo allowed to proceed. —Cheap Flour. — ■Protection from the operations of a millers' trust was confidently promised by Mr H. G. Ell to-night in the remark that the best and only way to deal with the price of flour would be to allow the larger cities and; rich county councils to establish their own mills and supply flour at cost price to the public. This he said would put a stop to any possibility of monopoly. —State Guaranteed Advances. —

Figures showing the transfers made for one branch to another. and the State Guaranteed Advances Office were laid before Parliament yesterday. At the end of September £30,000 was transferred from the settlers' branch to the workers' branch and £50,000 was transferred from the local authorities'' branch to the settlers' branch. On September 13 £30,000 was transferred from the local authorities' branch to the native .land. settlement branch. —The State's Minimum Wage.— Some' comment- has been caused among members by to-day's cabled report that the Minister of Home Affairs in the Commonwealth has decided to fix a minimum wage of 8s a day for the adult employees of the Commonwealth. An enthusiastic Liberal member pointed out that the minimum wage to all laborers in the New Zealand Works Department is 8s and every married man in the railway or . Post and Telegraph Department receives a minimum wage of £l3O per au-num, while outside contractors under the Public Works Department are compelled to pay award rates. —The Savings Banks Functions.—

The conversion of the Post Office Savings Bank into a much larger concern with the extension, of its operation until it was in all essential respects doing similar business to the five banks now operating in the Dominion was forecast by Mr T. E. Taylor to-night with the remark that in time public opinion would approve of the conversion.

Mr H. G. Ell replied that it would not be wise to change the character of tho Post Office Savings Bank. If it were turned into an ordinary commercial bank with a gold basis its object would be defeated. If depositors were allowed to operate on their accounts by cheque they would carry their money with them wherever they went,' and perhaps to the racecourse. The right thing" to do was to convert the bank of New Zealand into a State bank with the sole right of note issue. —Tontine Policy Failures.—

The. tontine policy grievance, which occupied the attention of Parliament a few weeks ago, was again debated this afternoon, when the Public Accounts Committee reported that no further evidence had been proffered upon the petition referred back to it, and that .it had no recommendation to make. Mr Hogan moved to again refer the petition back to the Committee. He and. many other speakers dealt with the unsatisfactory results of the system and advocated some control of private insurance companies. Mr T. E. Taylor suggested that the moral of tho impeachment of the companies was that there should be an insurance board of control to examine all tables and throw out any proposal likely to deceive. Several other speakers supported the amendment, and Mr J. V. Brown offered to pay the expenses to Wellington of any persons who had been victimised and wished to give evidence. Mr Russell, Chairman of the Committee, said that on the petitions the Committee could have come to no other finding, but he thought that the lV'hole qiiestion of tontine and endowment policies should be enquired into. The Government might very well appoint a Royal Commission of two or three members to sit during the recess, presided over by a magistrate, to secure information that would be the basis of legislation.

The report was referred back fo; further consideration.