NEWS FROM THE CAPITAL

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1929, Page 13

NEWS FROM THE CAPITAL

PROPOSED GAMING BILL THREATENED OPPOSITION. “PRELIMINARY” IN THE HOUSE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Aug. 29. Judging from the reception accorded Sir George Hunter’s Gaming Amendment' Bill when it was returned to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, with a recommendation from the Petitions Committee that it should be allowed to proceed, the measure is not going to have a very smooth passage through the House. The important clauses of the Bill provide for the legalising of the publication of the amount of cliyidftids and for the telegraphing ,of investments to the totalisator during the progress of race meetings, Mr. H. T. Armstrong, the Labour member’for Christchurch North, led off the chorus of opposition to the Bill, declaring that if the Bill came before the House “it would get the roughest passage any Bill ever had received.” Sir George Hunter, personally the most popular member of the" House, produced a number of petitions in favour of the Bill, but still the House refused to be impressed by the measure, and. finally it wag “talked out” to await another opportunity to reach the haven-- of a second reading. A NATIONAL MENACE. At the moment the promoters of the Bill are not very sanguine of getting the measure through the House in its present form. The publication of dividends is a comparatively small matter, •affecting only the newspaper offices, which are debarred from supplying information which the man in the street or anyone else may distribute as he pleases. The telegraphing of investments to the racecourse, however, is quite another matter. The Petitions Committee, it' is understood, sought no opinions from the officers of the .-Post and Telegraph Department on this proposal. Had it done so it would have been told of a score of objections to officers of the department being employed on race days —some 280 a year —in the service of the racing clubs and the totalisator. The opportunities for the perpetration of frauds would, be enormously increased by the adoption of the scheme and scores of young people would be driven into perils they never had encountered before. This is "the considered opinion of an official high up in the public service. TAXATION INCIDENCE. Replying to a question put to him by the member for Timaru a little while ago the Prime Minister stated in the House .on Thursday that for financial reasons alone the Government considered the time inopportune to give effect to the recommendations' of the Taxation Commission set up by the Reform Government five years ago. The announcement has occasioned some disappointment in commercial circles, many business men having hoped that the new Government would apply itself to the solution of a problem that has been confronting the country foi’ many years. Mr. Massey and his final successor at the Treasury, Mr. W. Downie Stewart, both admitted the soundness of the conclusions reached by the Commission, but hesitated to put them into operation on account of the time and labour their application would > involve. Sir Joseph Ward at the moment has more excuse for delay than his predecessors had, but a review of the whole position is at least as much needed today as it was in 1925 and should not be indefinitely postponed. THE DAIRY BOARD. The annual report the Dairy Board, which was made available on Thursday, is a record of satisfactory progress and continued activity, incidentally demonstrating that “absolute control” is not necessary to assure to the dairy farmer the best results from his labours. “In quality,” the report states, “New Zealand butter had neverattained a higher standard than it attained in the pagt' season, the average grade for the season of all butter exported being 92.74 per cent, compared with 91.3 per cent, for the preceding year. The total quantity graded was 3,214,303 boxes compared with 2,992,029 boxes for the preceding year. The percentages of quality were: Finest, 70.24 per cent; first 27.47 per cent; under first, 2.28 per- cent. . Cheese did not appear up to the same advantage, but the figures showed it to be holding its own and giving remunerative returns! Obviously the commercial side of the business had been as carefully watched as the manufacturing side has been, and the results are shown as entirely satisfactory.