POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12450, 5 September 1902, Page 5

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

IMPERIAL GUARANTEED DEBENTURES. (From .Oms Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, September 4. Mr James Allen returned to the charge to-day regarding the whereabouts of the £400,000 Imperial guaranteed debentures between the 31s* "March and 30th June last.. Sir Joseph Ward said th« debentures were in the hands of the Treasury on fche/latee mentioned, and that they appeared-in the balances of the Consolidated Fund' and the land for settlements account. Mr Allen, interviewed on the point afterwards, said i this was the answer he. -was endeavouring j to got. Ifc was evident, he said, ihat,between the dates mentioned £350,000 worth of these debentures wore hypothecated to the land for settlements account. These debentures were redeemed some years ago by the L-euo of £476,000 of Treasury'bill*, and wero hold in the balance of the Consolidated Fmid account in case of emergency to us© temporarily for payment of internet, etc. It was ivever intended. they sbmud bo t'» used for any length' of time, and they have never been pledged so long j before., It was to bs remembered that ' £476,000 of Treasury bilk were- issued' (arid'.] are still outstanding) to redeem t'licse Im- [ penal guaranteed debentures, most of which have boon pledged again to tho land, for settlements account for £35O;000. '-,-.• - AMBULANCE WAGGONS. ' Mr Arnold asked t!w> Acting-Minister of Defence (1) if lie is aware thai the Defence Department has recently imported a number of ambulance waggons for the;UE>s of Volunteer carps; (2) that the said waggons aro not suitable for the rough country of New Zealand; ■ aud (3) that more suitable waggons could have been manufactured In the* colony aud at loss coot. Mr Arnold said hie .understood the waggons were made in' America, but was not clear on the point. They weighed from IFcwt.to a tori each, required two strong horses to draw- them over level country, while it would lie hdrd work for four horse? to take them over hilly country. Hβ was given to understand they were 'totally unfit for our hilly country, "end that their cost wae from £'200''to, £300 each. His chief complaint, hotfever, was that they had been made out of th© colony* The Hon. Mr Hall-Jones said he woe inclizi'ed. to think tho waggons were of the Im-' pcriat standard. Of course, there were many places in New Z-oaland wliere' waggons could" not go at all. These w&ggoua were constructed on the latest prinoiple, and it was a. very doubtful questiostt whether more suitable and cheaper waggons could be made in tho colony. Thin was a , special work, and l experience and skill were required in designing such vehicles. CALLS ON MINING SHARES. A v«ry important matter affecting mining companies was touched upon by,Mr Bollard to-day when ho asked ■ tho Government to bring in .it, bill fro amend section 17 of "The Companies Act, 1901," in order to make it workable. Mr Bollard .explained that tho effect of the section in question tyas such that if any of the directors of a oomfiany have not paid the calls on. tfaep' shares on or before the due clB/fce the company caniwt recover such calls froni any of tho R.iareholdcrs, He pointed out /tlfat this operated very harshly in the case of-many companies. The Minister of Mines, when replying, admitted that the question was a very important one, and said glad 11> be able to inform the lion, gentleman' that an amendment was to be made, aitd was, in fact- under consideration. Mr M'Gowan remarked that he haid not yet decided whether it would be wise to amend the section in question or bring the whole-of the gold mining companies affected 'under the Mining Oompanica Act. He was aware the' section' pressed very, heavily' on northern gold mining owing to the fact that there were so many no liability ■ coin-' panics, and the matter was w> serious; that some improvement must be made. ■'■ WHO IS THIS DOCTOR? Mr J. Allen to-day asked the ActingMinister of Defence if he would name the medical man in Dunedin to whom ho referred when answering the question of Mx Millar on the 2nd inst. as baing fjio person who was causing all the trouble in respect of ■ returned troopers, and thus remove what n*ay ba considered a general aupCimon, till the charge is located and proved or disproved. He said the Minister .had made tlio remark'that all the trouble had come from one man. The Hon. Mr Hall-Jonas:." I said it appeared to be from oii-e." , Mr Allen: I do not think he sai'l "appeared to ho," but, even if that is so'. I think that general charges without naming tlv&: parti - nular man and so amoving from others the stigma cast upon them should not bo made. Mr Hall-J«n«s sakl he could only repeat that ho muE't decline to give the name. No dr.ubt Ike m-embere of the House and.the pvvople outside knew who the'.-medical man ENGINEERS ON DREDGES, ' When the second reading of the Inspection of Machinery Bill was taken in the House this evening a determined attack was made on the departmeiiut by Mr Millar. He made a direct charge of , maladministration in regard to the withholding of sorvice certificates from nien who were entitled to rccpivo them. There liadjbeen, he said,' a deliberate breach of tho actual working, of the law Eβ it already existed in order to keep this elast' of work as a close oor]K>ration for » favourod few within the colony. The Minister, led by the he>id of his department, was deliberately violating the law. Ho quoted from the acts of 1900 and 1901 to show that from the measures it was mandatory to issue second-class eervioo certificates to men who had been a specified time in charge of a<n engine or a boilcii", yet such men had been absolutely refused certificates of service. He (Mr* Millar) had written to tho Minister and referred him to the clauses jn the act 'dealing with the question, and the department had replied that they had been advised by the Grown Law Officer that the clatiso referred only to "engines." There was uot a in the colony, however, who would bear this out.- "Sir," added Mr Millar, with emphasis, '" what are Ministers hare for? To administer the law or make the law to suit themselves as they think proper? They now propose in this bill to smuggle a clause through to get theni out of the difficulty. I would like to know whether. the Houpo is uropared to allow this." Tho Hon. Mr Hall-Jones, in reply, said Mr Millar had attempted to place a meet absurd construction on some of the clauses. According to Mr Millar,, any man who had been in charge of a toy boiler was entitled to , one of those certificates. He would have a man who had been in charge of a donkey ■engine up to 3 horse-poxver to teko charge of a, 20 horse-power engine; but that was ridiculous. It was the intention *o bring the act into operation on the Ist January next. A MILITARY PENSION, Reporting upon the pension to the widow of Lieutenant-colonel Francis, which was disputed by the Auditor-general as not Using in accordance with tho law, the Eublic Accounts Committee state that they;"

arc of ' opinion that the legal position aa certified to by tho legal advkere of the Crown is correct, and that therefore no. further action ie necessary. THE PEOPLES' FOOD. It trill be remembered that when Mr Rorneby'f! bill to prevent ringe and pombines came up the Government indicated that they were favourable to , bringing in a measure dealing only with foodstuffs. I liear that a bill on linca will oome down at an eaxly date. A PROSPECTIVE PICNIC. The Government wero asked by Mr Wither ford this afternoon whether they would; arrange for a ateamor to tako members of \ both Houses of the Legislature to the Cook Iplands beforo next session of Parliament. Sir Joseph Ward remarked that he thought it was desirable members should visit these island* in order to gain eome information about them, and he hoped to bo able to make satisfactory arrangement for them . to do bo.—Mr Herries: It is time some of us knew something about the islands. TEACHERS' SUPERANNUATION. Sir Joseph Ward informs me that the. teachers' superannuation scheme is stilt under the consideration of the Cabinet, but that nothing will be definitely settled until the railways superannuation scheme has been got through Parliament. On the question of whether or not the Governments would subsidise tho schemo, ho was not yefc in a position to give a reply. : JOTTINGS. " ManyV members of this House have long lost the'capacity for thinlciaig. Wβ have had a clear demonstration of this during the kst 15 minutes, and perhaps we shall have further demonstration ad the evening wears on."—Mr Ta'nnor on the Small Bird* • Nuisance Bill.