POLITICAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16583, 16 November 1921, Page 4

POLITICAL NOTES.

[From Ott» Corrrspondkwt.] WELLINGTON, November 15. THE RABBIT MENACE. The Minister of Agriculture was ; urged to-day by Mr Forbes to call a i general conference of rabbit boards to j discuss the best methods of dealing i with the very' serious menace to the pastoral industry. ! The Hon W- Nosworthv undertook to consider tlie matter and. if thought advisable, to call such a conference. DISAPPEARING BRUOE. ! Mr Edie, member for Bruce, the dis- ( appearing South Island seat, made a i plea to the Government to-day on sen- ; timental lines to retain at least the i name, because Bruce and Wallace, old | Scotch names, were, he said, the desigj nations of the two first constituencies I in the southern part of the island. He ! trusted that the Prime Minister would ! make this concession to Scottish senti- • nient. j Mr Massey pointed out that the mat- , ter rested entirely with the Boundaries i Commission, whose recommendations : were never interfered with by the Government. Personallv he had a great deal of admiration for Scottish heroes, but if it rested with him to decide between Bruce and Chitha.. the latter being, he understood the Gaelic name for Clyde, he would find it difficult to decide which was the better. Mr Wilford : You did not show much : partiality for “ Scotch ” in the tariff. ! (Laughter.) ASSAULTING THE POLICE. With a query to the Minister of Jus- ; tice as to whether he though*- the peni alties inflicted by the Timaru Magisi trate upon two men convicted of asi saulting the police were adequate, Air Isitt called attention to recent pro- | ceedings in that town. ! The Hon E. P. Lee replied that it was impossible for the Government to interfere with magistrates, and it must be remembered that the Magistrate who inflicted the penalty had heard the case, while the Minister had no knowledge of the details. Now that public attention had been called to the matter. possibly the Magistrate might take notice of that. j VANCOUVER MAIL DELIVERY. ! The serious disadvantage suffered by i the South Island in the delivery of mails from the Vancouver steamer, which lands them at Auckland, was emphasised in an urgent question by Air Kellett to the Postrnaster-General. He pointed out that the last steamer’s mails were landed at Auckland on a Friday, but did not get to Dunedin until the following Tuesday, while the outward Vancouver mail closed there the previous day, making it impossible to reply by return mail, though Aucklanders had four days in which to prepare replies. He hoped something would be done to expedite the matter, even if aeroplanes were used. The Hon J. G. Coates replied that this was an old question the difficulty being hard to overcome, as the questioner’s constituency was so far from where the steamer landed its mails. The difficulty had been increased by the recent alteration in express services. He saw no practicable way of making improvement by using aeroplanes. Dr Thacker: Why not bring the Niagara to Wellington? The Minister replied that he did not control the steamer. Dr Thacker : You are scared of Auckland. The Alinister retorted that he was not scared any more by Auckland than by the member of Christchurch East. He said that there was already a San Francisco mail service calling at Wellington. THE FARMERS* PARTY. Some gentle raillery by the member for Hurunui in the House to-day was evidently based upon thoughts of the Farmers’ Political Party, which has launched a journal from Auckland. It happened that copies of this publication had been circulated that afternoon to all members. The Government, remarked Air Forbes, was said to be a Government of farmers, and that class had left its interests in their hands. Owing to the way the Government had muddled and neglected the interests of farmers they had wakened up to the fact that those who claimed to be their friends had been their worst enemies. No wonder some farmers had got tired. Air D. Jones supplied the Reform answer, indicating a number of actions by the Government in farmers’ interests. “ Then how do you account for the formation of the new Farmers’ Party?” asked a Labour member. | Air Jones: For the same reason that ! you have been forming a new party practically every Parliament. AIOTOR TAXES. In suggesting to the Alinister of Customs that when he sets up a select • committee to investigate the new motor taxation and motor laws he will invite and hear the evidence of those directly connected with the motor trade and motor transportation. Dr ; Thacker stated that the English all-over > tax is £lo 15s for a passenger car and | £2O for a commercial vehicle. In New | Zealand the average British car would I be taxed under the new tax at £3l 2s I 9d.