PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14052, 24 July 1916, Page 10

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

NEWS AND NOTES FKOM TH X J GALLERY. | . (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Influenza has d jne more, to,- obstruct Parliamentary, business than a dozen efficient "stonewallel's" eqllili'. to Mr ■ Massey at lr's best m opposition. No sooner had the Prime ' Minister and the ' Hon. James Allen returned to business after tbair severe colds, than Sir Joseph Ward suffered a relapse, and had to take i to his room. The *week-end fumigating of the? Legislative Chamber appeared to have little effect. During most of the week only a few Ministers out of the National Cabinet dozen could bo seen on tho benches, and the Prime Minister confined his attendance to the afternoons. „But for these illnesses, theses- ■ sion might liave ended this month, but it is highly doubtful about accomplishing the (feat now. Parliamentary affairs ■ seem upside-down as a result of influenza. Tlvjs was illustrated by the remarkable way m which the Hon. Wm. Fraser, i Minister of Public Works, placed before House .the. "public Works Statement, ■ a document second only m importance to- tho Budget. He has been accustomed i to give at least a week's notice of its appearance, and this is a busy interval ■ for . Parliamentary pressmen, zealously striving to extract a little information m 1 advance. Mr Fraser is a- veritable sphinx, but as he is not the only man < who knows the .secrets of the Statement, . enterprise among' the pressmen usually ; ,has a good reward. But this session ; not a single, paragraph of public works / wisdom m advance has appeared. The Statement was only got ready last weekend, and the decision to present it was >' hurriedly arrived at a- few hours before ■ .it. reached the. House. No <;hance Ifor ' speculative pressmen ; not even an oppor- ', tunity. .to post the Statement to the news- > papers. Tlie gap was filled by a telei graphed . summary, officially prepared. ; Instead of being an event, the presenta- > tion of the Statement was a very small ! incident. It shows how things fall into their true perspective when bigger events : are happening m Europe. > PETROL ,OR SUBSTITUTE. > Another increase m the price of motor t spirit, coming on top of nearly half a i dozen since the war began, has prompted I a member to ask the. Government wlie? i ther. they., will frame regulations to citable commercial alcohol or motor-spirits - to be manufactured m New Zealand, so i. as" to reduce the cost of motive power ■ for commercial purposes? -We will get . the Ministerial answer during the week, but a very good one is avaalab'xs m the i report -df Mr Eivan Parry, .Chief Electri- . cal Engineer, who states that m the sohiitipn of .the problem, of street transport , Lake Coleridge electric power is also ; taking a place. Three ' electric-battery , vehicles, are m servjee. with, very . satisi factory results, one passenger car, oiie > light delivery van', and one heavy wag- . gon, the latter being engaged m the i .collection .of the city refuse. At the r*, rates which the City Council have fixed , for. cliarging, ;these; battery vehicles, the . cost of energy is less than one-half that f of petrol, and, owing to the gradual starting effort , and the steady driving , force, the cost of maintenance and renewals of 4.Yi*es ...and, chassis is. also less , than one-half that of petrol-driven vehicles. This district, with its enormous motor traffic and level roads, is particularly, suited .to the development of elec-tric-battery traction, and its influence on local traffic problems will undoubtedly be vital and far-reaching. There are now more than 1600 motor vehicles m the Christchurch district, consuming o\;er 600,000 gallons of petrol, worth oyer £60,000 per. annum, indicating generally, the value of the business which is ava-il- , able, provided that charging stations are established at required intervals. Such stations will become possible when ihe distribution of -electricity becomes general throughout the province of Canterbury. TheGoileridge scheme.will provide twelve million electric units during the coming year. ' What this means m the way -olf saving another high-priced fuel, coal, is estimated by Mr Parry. To supply this with coal or other fuel would require 27,000 tons, costing about £34,000 dcliv- • ered m the' bunkers, or over £40,000 m • the fire. The result df one year's operation is., therefore, even at this early stage, to conserve the coal supplies to the extent • pf 27,000 tons per annum, and to econo- > mise labor to the extent of about a hundred men, after allowing for labor '■' required for operating the plant. ►■ ELECTRICITY SUPPLY IN THE ■i ' NORTH ISLAND. 1 Considerable progress has been mado ! towards determining the best methods of providing for a general supply of - electricity throughout the North Island. One system involves the concentration 1 of the whole generating plant m one - Jarge station at ' Waikaremoana or one 1 'of the larger , w Waikato schemes. The other proposal" is tb supply the whole '■' island from three smaller conveniently. \ situated sources for the time being, and < ultimately when the capacity of these stations, is exceeded to link up their / various distributing systems with one of the large central generating schemes '«. outlined above. «■ These three stations > would then become stand-by plants, and y -their possession would overcome the risk of interruption on the long trans--1 mission lines, which is the chief objee- > tion to tlie adoption of the single generating station from the outset. ' With this object m view a survey of '* the Aratiatia rapids and Huka Falls on the Waikato river has been made, a '.survey., .of tho Mankahao river lia6 just i been complejied, and surveys are being organised for work on the Waikato river above Cambridge, and at Lake. Waikaremoana. In all these cases the surveys are being conducted, on /lines \ calculated to give the, exact information :• required to fully outline a scheme m -. the most expeditious - manner and with the least' possible expense. These surt -.. veys and investigations have indicated » that some of the schemes previously „-' outlined require, modification, and that. - others _ which had not been previously . fully investigated are among the best > m the islarid. Further investigation of '. these sources,. and a good deal' of suri vey work on transmission routes, is required before a ..definite pronouncement ; can be made as to ; , tjie,. best,. scheme or - schemes'' to be developed for the most i economical method of supplying electric l power to the North Island. THE LICENSING TROUBLE. Except for the anti-shouting clause, 1 thei-e is nothing about hotels m the War ' Regulations Bill, and if the Attorney General's attitude accurately reveals the mihd of the National Cabinet, nothing else will go into the measure. More • lobbying has been done this season over 'the question than upon anything else, the private negotiations of the past fortnight having kept the lobby m a constant state of interest over the latest- threat and the most plausible rumor. However, all the underground working ended m futility. Both sections await open battle m the division lobby. The speeches on tho second reading of the Bill scarcely touched the subject occupying most space iii its clauses, that on preventing enemy trade within New Zealand. References to the liquor question lacked fire and fervor,, probably because no speeches could shift "* a

single vote. The tussle will come, this week m committee: .Temperance supporters m the.liouse.a^re credited , with the. desire . to^ .test. r itjie'j. position frankly with an, amendnijent. adding/ 6 o,'clpck closing of hotels to^tlie a^ti-^houtjng clause. ,'They .are surerto.be beaten on this, but, : will I'try out" the issue m the . hope of succeeding uppn ,an eight to eight amendment, . or . ;if . that / fails, , 9 o ; clock closing. The nonco.inprpnujse attitude of. ,the Minister. '\.\. charge of the Bill . , leads one , to. the .'belief ; that --be early -closing . advocates , t)e .driven to rely, upon a,'refereqduni proposal. It seems . tliat. there is , a <}oubt| about the J right to insert .such a clause, as it means expending, money, a pi-erogative of the* .Goyernnient, njt.a private nic nber. If such, an a.mendme.nt is ruled out, the onus of taking 'action will rest on the Government, "which will incline tc the policy of ,. avoiding contentious proposals. Thus there -Ifs not much- to put the ' early-closing *, advocates m a hopeful frame of 'mind.