Political Notes and Comments

Southland Times, Issue 13284, 9 August 1895, Page 3

Political Notes and Comments

[By

Telegraph.]

(from our own correspondent.) Wellington, Aug. 7. In retort to a passage in the Treasurer's Statement in[the House on Tuesday night Sir Robert Stout declared that the Government had illegally, improperly, and without warrant, seized L 51.000 of the sinking funds, to which the Treasurer replied that Sir Robert's statement was made for the purpose of playing upon the minds of the unthinking. . . — The Minister of Lands said m the House the other day that the Government were surrounded by spies, and on Tuesday night the Treasurer disclosed a fact which might be cited in partial justification of his colleague’s statement. L 14,510 was paid in Customs duties the day before the delivery of the Budget and Mr Ward, in stating that most of that sum was for goods on which the Government proposed to levy higher duties, implied that the information must have reached the interested persons in some improper manner. Certainly the circumstance has a very buspicious look about it, but surely it should not be specially difficult to get at the root of the matter. Comparatively few persons can have known of the Government’s proposals with the Government’s consent and a httle judicious enquiry amongst these should enable Ministers to trace the leakage to its The average cost of collecting the Customs duties last year was Lil 6s 8d per cent. The percentage at Invercargill was L2 9s 2d. Mr G. J. Smith is to move for a return showing the amount of duty collected during 1894-95 on each of the various articles comprised in the second resolution dealing with the tariff proposals which articles are by the said resolution proposed to be made duty free. So fur as the financial debate has gone the notable speakers on the Government side have acted the part of candid friends, objecting altogether to some of the proposals in the Budget and accepting others with many qualifications. There is great deal of dissatisfaction amongst members of the Government party with many of the items on the Estimates. I have already mentioned the matter of the consulting electrician, small in itself but important in principle. Another vote that causes adverse comment is that for the law draftsman and assistant law officer which has been raised from L5OO to L 650. Then the Under-Secretary for Public Works has been made Under-Secretary for Working Railways on account of which LlOO is added to his original salary of L5OO a year. In this connection exception is taken chiefly to one officer being under-secretary for two different departments, and it is agreed also that the office is not needed in connection with working railways. Aug. 8.

The return made at the instance of Mr J. W. Kelly of fish and oysters exported frotn the colony from Ist April, 1892, to 31st March, 1893, shows that 8784 cwt. of fish was exported from the Bluff and Invercar-Rill-value. L 6772, and 408,353 dozens of oysters—value L 3424. For the same period Dunedin and Port Chalmers exported L 3428 worth of fish and Ll2 worth of oysters; Wellington L 1370 worth of fish and L2 worth of oysters; Auckland L 6908 of fish and L 3904 worth of oysters,

“ Welcome little stranger ” is always said or suggested by members when one of their number makes anything in the nature of a joke. The welcome too is invariably accompanied by a laugh showing that though all mortals are not men all men are mortals. Yesterday afternoon Mr O’Regan intimated his desire that the Postmaster-General should, in order to encourage fruit culture, carry small quantities of raspberries and strawberries at specially low rates by post, whereupon Mr McLachlan observed that if that were to be done cream should be conveyed on similarly encouraging terms. Ripples of laughter ran from benoh to bench and Mr McLachlan looked towards the Speaker as though he were saying deprecatingly, with Touchstone in “ As You Like It ” — “ A poor thing, but mine own, sir.” Mr .G. Hutchison characterised Mr Scddon’s speech in the financial debate as an exhibition of the graceful art of “tn quoque.” . , Mr Earnshaw is to ask the Minister of Jnstice whether his attention has been called to the fact that many newspapers are violating section 5, of the Offensive Publications Act, 1892, and have the police received any instructions to see that the provisions of the said Act are enforced.