POLITICAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16831, 6 September 1922, Page 9

POLITICAL NOTES.

+ : (Special to the “ Star.”) M ELLINGTON. September 5. SOLDIER PATIENTS It has practically been decided that a Red Cross hospital shall he established at Lyall Bay, Wellington. About five acres will be set apart for the purpose. The hospital will be for the benefit of soldier patients who are at present inmates of Trcntham orthopaedic hospital. It is proposed to re-erect the buildings of that institution at Lyall Bay and remove the patients. The Red Cross Society will have complete control of the hospital, with the exception of technical and medical supervision to he provided by the Defence Department, which is also to provide the necessary furniture and equipment and pay the society a fixed rate per patient. The new hospital will provide a much more pleasant outlook for the men than they can obtain at Trcntham as they will have the broad expanse of Cook Strait in front of them. It is hoped to have the transfer from Trentham completed by Christmas time. HARDSHIP CLAUSE. Hie Public Expenditure Adjustment Bill contains a provision known as the hardship clause empowering a oomrnitte to remit anv portion of the Public Service cut. Mr Holland asked the Minister of Railways to-day whether this clause ’=> being taken into serious consideration o" is practically a negligible quantity, and as justification for his question mentioned *a number of cases whicn had apparently received scant consideration. He had complaints from railwayman in his electorate, earning 13s 4d a day. and with as many as six children. They had applied for exemption and received a stereotyped reply to the effect that their .applications had been fully considered but the committee regretted that it could not be approved. “ None of those men were called before anybody to give evidence,” said Mr Holland. Ho mentioned the further case of a worker with twelve children. Avlio had failed to get any attention m his plea for relief. “Only to-day 1 dealt- with three cases that had been considered by the committee,” replied the MinisterT who added that without inquiry into the specific cases cited by the member for Buller he could give no further information.

S U P ER A N N U A TT O N. The Prime Minister informed the Hon J. A. Hanan to-day that lie will introduce this session a Bill dealing with the State superannuation funds. I when he will explain, as his questioner j desired, what subsidy the State pars ■ to these funds and what are the superannuation payments made in excess of £6OO per annum. Air Hanan suggested that as the public was becoming disgruntled over the matter some information on these lines would be illuminative. SCHOOL AGE. . An explanation was given by the Minister of Education to-day why the provision authorising the extension of the compulsory school age from fourteen to fifteen years was not enforced. Mi; Parr said there was no absolute raising of age by the statute passed in 1920, but rather the statute gave the Government power to raise the age when it thought fit. Tliat Bill was passed in 1920, before the financial slump set in. Ho was hoping that 1921 the age could he raised, but the financial position had altered the whole outlook. Statistics indicated that the raising of the age would have meant catering for only another five or six thousand pupils in the elementary schools, in addition to the present number of 20.000. IL was not, however, all a question of accommodation and teachers. There was space in many of the schools, and sufficient teachers were available. Rather was it the economic situation which prevented the enforcement of the provision. The economicsituation of the country in 1921 and this year was such that the Government hesitated to make any move in this direction which might create con siderable hardship. Honourable mem bere would agree that the time was inopportune for increasing the compulsory attendance age. RAILWAY COAL IMPORTS. A hundred Kaitangata coal miners are out of work, stated Air Edie in the House to-day, when urging the Minis ter of Railways to give this mine some share of railway coal orders so as to keep the men in employment. The Hon D. H. Guthrie replied that every mine got its share of orders, and some had been recently distributed, but there was still some portion of imported contracts to arrive. The. Government was obliged to send orders overseas, as it had no guarantee of New Zealand supplies, and industries as well as the railways were being strangled. PHARMACY ACT AMENDED. An amendment to the Pharmacy Act was introduced to-night. According to the Aliister of Public Health it is largely to meet the request of practical .druggists to improve the ad ministration of the Act. One clause specifies requirements in regard to the practical experience or apprentices. Another clause removes restrictions as to the age limit of candidates for exam- \ ination, while another provides fees s for registration of mental hospitals. « At the end of last year there- were 4871 inmates in the mental hospitals of the Dominion, of whom 881 were admitted during the year. As com- \ pared with the previous year this was 24 more men and 16 fewer women. Discharges numbered 446, or 41 fewer than in the previous year. There was an increase from 86 to 190 of less pronounced and unconfirmed cases as voluntary boarders. Only five of these shoved mental infirmity in a degree sufficiently pronounced and sustained to render necessary their transfer t-o the patients’ register. The InspectorGeneral draws attention to the shortage of accommodation, amounting to 91. As a crowded hospital disturbs patients, and as it is considered that each year there will be an accretion to til*-total, jin fairness to patients and staff'an improvement is sought.