PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15747, 11 February 1922, Page 11

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

CO-OPERATIVE CONTRACT REDUC'WONS-.

Kr»«i O\U Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this dnv.

Arising out of a question relating to

a small strike of tunnel workers at Aiangahno hydro-electric works, the Minister for Works explained to the House that the retrenchment scheme, involving a reduction of a shilling it day to wage workers, would affect cooperative contracts to that, extent, n proportionate reduction being milch in the eoutmol rttte as from Februitiy I.

J.v would not nilike the chllttgO during

January, as this would hhvo beiii a breach of faith, but as these contriicls were adjusted monthly he could do so for the present month. The tunnel workers, he added, drew between -'2s and s>Bh a iluy (luring the period covered by their iftst pii.v. MILITARY HOSPITAL CONTROL.

The Trenthanl military hospital hits passed tinder the control of the Heiuth Department, and ah hssurhhee w?is given by the Minister of Health Hint for the present the remuneration and hours of the staff will not be changed.

Mr. McCombs raised the question of! the possibility, as indicated by ,sir Andrew Russell, of the Cashmere Hills sanitorium ceasing to be a military institution. He stated that tubercular patients viewed this change with alarm as they feared a loss vi' privileges. Sir H. Rh.CK.los replied that he could only repeat what he had said previously, that, these institutions would gradually pass into civil control, ami that, the privileges of soldier jiarii nts would be. preserved. NATION ALLS ATI OX OF AI'JKNrf, Cabinet will--shortly go thoroughly into the naturalisation of aliens, so that anomalies may be 'removed and the terms made as liberal as possible. This was the statement of the Minister for Internal Affairs In answer to a question by Mr. 'J'. W. Rhodes (Thames). The general policy, he said, was to allow friendly or neutral aliens who have resided,here for three years, and who have favorable reports, to be liatutralised. There were special nationalities to which the conditions applied. For instance, Poles and Syrians were required to give undoubted evidence of their loyalty. The third class gave rise to considerable difficulty. In this were the late alien enemies, such as Germans and Austrians. New Zealand had been guided on this point to some extent by the British precedent, namely, that naturalisation would not be granted for the next ten years, but in eases where there was evidence that sons or daughters or other near relatives of an enemy alien had served at the front, special consideration might be given.. The difficulty, however, was to decide what was meant by a near relative.! The English wife of a German, for instance, might have had brothers at (he war, but were they near relatives of the husband? The whole matter would la; investigated bv Cabinet shortß. ELECTRICAL HANGERS.

According to the member for AVaikato a now danger exists in country districts owing to thftiiigh voltage of electric lines, one child having been electrocuted through climbing a roof and getting in contact with the wires. He asked the Minister for Education to arrange for periodical instruction in schools regarding the danger from electric wires. Mr. Parr undertook to request the Director-General for Education to publish warnings in the School Journal. He thought local headmasters might also supplant this bv some instruction. STATE ADVANCES FUNDS. An important addition to the Finance Hill is a provision for the estab lishment of a reserve fund for the State Advances account. At present a sinking fund of 1 per cent, of the total loan money is set aside each year, and' invested with the Public; Trust Office, in addition to the contribution required front the office to the Public Debt Extinction Fund. It is now proposed that the sinking fund shall not be paid, but, that the whole of they profits, after contribution to the Public Debt Extinction Fund, shall be placed in the reserve fund, whicli'shall be used for the same purposes as the advance monevs. PRIVATE SAVINGS BANK.

When the Prime Minister was explaining a clause in the Finance Bill, which, raises the limit of interest bi siring deposits in private savings banks froni £IOO to £2OO. Mr. C. E. Slatham (Dunedin Central) asked: Could you not make it £300?

"No, there is a difficulty about that," replied tho Minister, and he went on to say, with a smile, "I am inclined to come along some day and take over the private savings banks." He added that he had consulted {lie Treasury, and considered the £2OO limit would be sufficient. He recognised that the savings banks had done good work, particularly in Auckland. and had been useful to local people and to the Government. While their

business would be very useful to the Government, he did not intend to interfere with them. THE FINANCE BILL: A MIXED MEASURE.

Tho Prime Minister's explanation of clauses of the Finance Bill on !lio second reading in tho House was mostly covered by a summary, of the Bill, previously published in reference 1o authority to-borrow an additional million by way of Treasury Bills, Mr, Massoy said that the financial position of tho country was difficult lit the present time. Treasury bills were used only to assist the revcijuc. They might not need the extra authority as they had not used more than half of the existing authority, but it might be jiecSftisafy to have authority to purchase debentures at, a loav price and to wipe out n portion of; the debt. lie had seen 3 per cent, debentures quoted nelow £6O, The provision for repay ii

tg that portion ol' the war debt owing tm Great Britain enabled tliem to pay it off by :i sinking fund of 1 per cent. in I'.fi years. Interest was 5-J per cent. Adviineon {n Btiiuoil were provided for liec.jni.se Samoa was having dillicnlty in arranging its fiuanco owing; to the fall in produce prices. It" \vas not inlended to make a grant of £IOO,000 to Samoa. The Orown estates in the, islands were worth many hundred thousands of pounds. ROYAL NAVATI ItESERVE;

Provision is liin'do by a clft'iiscs added to the Finance Bill for the extension of the scope of iho royal mivnl reserve, so that persons may bo enlisted specially for service and training therein. The clause! authorises 1 1 lie making of regulations to prescribe the terms of service and training, rates of pay, and enlistment and discharge; The Prime Minister explained thai t.liis would provide for ex-naval men settled in 'New Zealand, also for others

such as yachtsmen, of whom there were many in Auckland, who would be glad to have training on a warSh}p. MARRIAGE LAW SETTLEMENT. There were two conferences between the Legislative Council and the House of Representatives with referonce to amendments made by the House, in the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Amendment Bill, The first conference failed to make an agreement, lint the second conference arrived in the following agreement: To omit r.ub-elauso L\ of clause 2, which prevented the amelidiUcnt front becoming retrospective, and to substitute two new clauses. The first would provide Ihal nothing in the section should be deemed to apply to any decree absolute heretofore made by the Court: (he second would be to the effect thai ho doci-oo nisi heretofore made under section -I should be in ado absolute, exeepl. iipoii tiiU motion before the Court, hud If respondent Opposed the making of ft decree absolute and it, was proved to the satisfaction of the Court thai the separation was due to the wrongful act of the petitioner, the Court, in its discretion, might refuse to make a decree absolute. This agreement was subsequently approved of by both Houses.