POLITCAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7766, 25 July 1903, Page 5

POLITCAL NOTES.

-•-:. ,-■,-. -^>- .v---[FfidJk Oi&B CdttRBSFONDENT^ WELLINGTON; July 25. THE PUBLIC REVENUE. The iniquities of the Public Revenues Act are still made the subject 6f protest by Mr Taylor and other' nreniberSj but the PremieF sticks to his .guns. Mr Vile yesterday asked hint if he 1 intended this session to. amend the Act by repealing Section 4, giving the Governor power to tfans&r appropriation from on© district 16 Another, and Section 9, giving the Colonial Treasurer power, to determine disputes' beFwe'eh the Audit Office and the Treasury. To this challenge the Pfemi&r briefly replied that any amendment in the direction indicated would! not he conducive to the better working of the finances of the colony Both . sections were hecesisfcry for carrying out the proper administration'- of the Treasury. He went oh the same' lines in his reply to Mr Taylor* who urged that the Act $hdtild bra amended by restoring to the Audit Department control over the colony's accounts. He was hob at all prepared* quite the reverse> to do anything of the Sort; Complete coiitrol was vested in the' House itself. If the House was Sot to be trusted, wanted to divest itse"lf of its power and . place it in the hands* 6f an official, ib went a long way" towaifta showing t&at members were afraid to trust themselves; LOCAL GOVERNMeIsIT; Mr Buchanan blamed the Premier last night for hot keeping his promise to britig down a comprehensive scheme of local government. "Here, s;r," said- the PreThfeS? in reply; "is the Municipal law on the Statute Book; Here, stfj" burning to ahother voluihe, "is my county scheme of 368 clauses. It is hot on the Statute Book. It was submitted to a coromittee. We sat day after day-, and in the end the; Bill was so mangled • that it had to ]#>, set aside. What killed this Bill were the blessed Roajl Boards 'in, the Auckland district, some of them: with the enormous revenue of £100 a year- Rathei 4 than part with these bastard bodies they%uined this splendid Bcheme." - QUESTIONS. With 316 questions on the Order Paper, the Speaker enforced a most useful rule yestemyjto the effect that questioner's fiittst confine their remarks to the subjeGb matter of th© notice; Sir William Steward intist run "Wee Macgreegoi?" dose as & qUeS* tioner. He hod fiffceh, queries On the paper, Mar Ell being b good secohdj with thirteen; DRAMATIC COPYRIGHT. . Mr Field's Dramatic Copyright Bill has th© unusual luiUry of an author's hote attached. The object of the Bill is to «n---deatoui? to put a- stop to the "pirating" of plays. % As the law at present stands, says Mr Field, the only nemedy ah author has" against a jiorson or persons pirating his Works is % a civil action claiming damages", or by asking for an injunction' to restrain the parties "from performing the piece. The remedy is very cumbersome and expensive, and often lias little effect in securing the desired end. When' an injunction is applied for, the party against whom it is granted withdraws- his name from the piece, but some other member of the pirating company may frun. it in his own name, and th© whole proceedings must be commenced <ie ,novo against this person. The Bill embodies a law already in force in America, which is said to have had good effect in. preventing the pirating 6f plays it, that country. It provides, in lieu of payment of a fine, imprisonment with or without hard labour, at the discretion of the magistrate. . ..' ■ \ ..' THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT. I . It is now exceedingly . problematical I whethef the Financial Statement will be brought down hexfc week.