POLITICAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 41, 3 October 1911, Page 5

POLITICAL.

PREMIER’S FIGURES QUES-

TIONED

(Per Press Association.)

Levin, October 3. Mr. Byron Brown, Independent Opposition candidate tor the Otaki electorate, addressed the electors at Levin last night. He criticised the Premier’s Budget figures and contended that the assets were inflated. Tie asserted that the actual position of New Zealand was:—Liabilities £93,000,000, assets £81,000,000, thus showing a discrepancy of twelve millions between tfie Premier’s figures and the facts. A motion was carried on the voices that the meeting expressed pleasure at seeing Mr. Brown a candidate again. NOTES BY THE WAY. One of the latest sittings of this session was recorded on Saturday morning. The Estimates were under consideration, and progress had been slow during the evening. In reply to frequent suggestions from the Opposition that the House should adjourn, Sir James Carroll, who, in the absence of the Prime Minister through illness was in charge, said it was very necessary good progress should be made even at the expense of a few extra hours. The Estimates for the Departments of Justice, Mining, and a portion of Internal Affairs were put through, and the House adjourned at 4 a.m. Some of the most important classes of the Estimates have yet to bo dealt with.

In future it will probably not bo so easy for members of the public who wish to listen to the debates in the House of Representatives to secure tickets of admission, as the regulations governing the issue of tickets arejol ie made much stricter, at least, until the new chamber is erected. The whole matter has been investigated, by the House Committee as a result ot complaints made by legislators respecting the overcrowded state of the chamber, especially in the evenings, and the committee has ! come to the conclusion that the arrangements governing' tiie admission of the public arc unsatisfactory. The committee recommended that all tickets issued to date be Cancelled ; that in future a fixed number of tickets for the floor for ladies and gentlemen respectively and for tho sti’angers’ gallery, corresponding with the number of seats available,- be, issued from day to day and to be in force for one day only; that tickets, of a different.coulonr be issued for each class of visitors; that seats for ladies on the floor be reserved for wives and daughters of members. It is expected that if these recommendations are carried out the trouble experienced with the ventilation will be minimised. The report has been referred back to the committee for recommendation, savs the “‘N.Z. Times.”