Parliamentary Notes.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6143, 15 August 1891, Page 4

Parliamentary Notes.

♦— Messrs Carneross and T. Mackenzie thought there should be no secrecy regarding income, for secrecy would assist to concealment of income. The Premier said they must regard the strong feeling that income should not be disclosed. The Premier said Roman Catholic schools -were not carried on for profit or gain, and should be exempt from taxation. Mr Duthie urged that all private schools be exempt, as they relieved the expenditure on public schools. The Hon. Mr Reeves said that if the unemployed had been sent to Milford Sound to do the hard work the prisoners were now doing in the bad climate, there would within a ;week have been a mass meeting of unemployed at Milford Sound demanding their return. Mr Fergus said they should utilise their prison labor to tho best possible advantage to the State. He did not like to see the great structure erected in Wellington at a cost of Ll<io,ooo, for he did not bolieve in confining men so much within four walls— it made them worse criminals than when they went in. He believed in sending thorn out to do useful work in the pure air of Heaven, where they would not cultivate tho bad qualities they received in those massive piles of buildings. Mr Taylor asked why the Governor did not pay the income tax. Speaking to the proposal to exempt benefit societies, Mr Buckland said all the world is a benefit society — we are all here to benefit ourselves. The Post and Telegraph Act Amendment Bill is to enable classification to be properly carried out, and tho 242 protests which have been,receivod decided on. The Postmaster-General said officers of tho departments had not received fair salaries in the past. They had an excellent body of men in the offices. The Bill proposes to employ girls in the telephone exchanges. Mr Fisher .says they chatter too much and deafen the voices of those speaking through the telephone. ** I have great great pleasure in asking the 'ero of many banquets to grant distinction to the 'crocs of many battles," said Mr E. M. Smith amidst laughter when he asked Govermcnt to grant a small silver bar to be worn over the New Zealand war medal to the heroes of Waireka. — Mr Seddon said he would do so if the Imperial authorities gave consent. The Auditor-General wrote to the Premier requesting Parliament to grant an increase of staff na it was impossible for the staff to transact the duties imposed upon it. The letter was referred to the Public Accounts Committee. An old named Thomas Quill who was supported by his son, a surveyor on the West Coast of the South Island who was lost on the ranges in the execution of his duty, petitioned for a sympathetic grant to prevent destitution. The committee reported they had no recommendation to make, but the Hon. Mr Fergus said tho case was an exceptionally hard one, and the House referred tho report back to tho commitcee. Mr Buick urged that all men and women ought to be allowed votes at school committee elections. Mr Taylor considers that it is now time that tho gentler sex of the colony should get their show, and he believes that if they are given that "show" which he talks of they will soon show themselves in the Representative Chamber, and "even go further than that, sir ! They will gel into that other place up there whero we have already bo many elderly ladies." A wag on the Opposition sido of tho House proposes to move an amendment in the Payment of Members Bill, so as to fix the honorarium on a graduated scale on the same principles as the land and income tax. JCiew members arc to get L2O per month, and other members L2s> and L3i) per month, according to length of service in the political arena. •