POLITICAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5663, 7 September 1896, Page 3

POLITICAL NOTES.

TFrom Our Correspondent^ ' . WELLINGTON, Sept. 5. MISCELLANEOUS. ISLt W.. H. Atack, Manager of the Press Association, has been asked to give evidence on Tuesday before the Copyright ' Telegrams Committee. The Secretary of 1 £he Post and Telegraph Department; in 1 amswer "to a communication as to -what concessions the Association received in the way ,of telegraph rates, replied that jpracti--1 caily;no concessions were granted. Mr C. A. Loughnan, a solicitor at ; Hastings, will, in all probability, contest ' the Hawke's Bay seat in the Government ' interest at the general election. Tihe signs of the session : Notice of the ' Premier to suspend the Standing Orders so 1 as to <take third readings after midnight. 1 Signs of the times: Messrs Kirk" and ' Atkinson, a firm of solicitors here, ad- • vertise =820,000 for lending at 4£ per cent. L The ibet betokens the closing of the • session ; rfche second means a falling money 1 maaiket. • ' The Minister of Education and the Hons • J. D.. Osmond and E. C. J. Stevens have | been .appointed a sub-committee -of the Council Banking Committee to draft the ' report. I hardly think the report can toe ready iby Tuesday. As to the report of' ; the other Committee, the story (perhaps ' jocular:) .goes that Dr Nansen is to be | engaged .to look for it in the Fram some ' time towards the close of the century. ( OOanHUJNICATION "WITH LIGHTHOUSES. I The Marine Department is inaugurating ; a new departure. It has been long '. evident that communication with several ' s of our lighthouses is too infrequent for • the wants of a civilised people. Cases ; of wrecks, accidents to light-keepers, s machinery, lighthouses, stores, all ought ; , to be reported quickly and there is the ; need of noting passing ships. In war the , nepessity for prompt communication with i these outlying sentinels is strengthened ■ by obvious considerations ; but the cost . i of connecting them by telegraph or telephone would be very great. To get over the difficulty Captain Allman has bethought Mni of pigeons. Soames Island is the ; <Jentre for the Cook Strait lighthouses, and a dep6t of pigeons is being established. In a few days a basket of birds will be sent to the Brothers, each bird duly decorated with a ring with a. Government inscription to identify him by. If the experiment succeeds, birds will be sent to Cape Palliser and other places on the Strait system, and the Auckland and Bluff systems will be supplied, the centres being Dog Island for Foveaux Strait and Puysegur, and Auckland for Cuvier, Mokihinau, &c.