PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12551, 14 July 1905, Page 8

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

(By Telegraph.)

(From Our Special Parliamentary Reporter.)

DIVORCE

WELLINGTON, July 12. "Another nail in the marriage coffin" is .the remarks one hears of Mr. Laurenson's Divorce Bill. One hears also great praise. The two" make the summary of the debate of last week and yesterday on the matter. Last week tho House.-seemed shocked at the proposal to add seven years in a lunatic asylum to the list of the causes of divorce. To-day, however, it had becomo reconciled to the idea, and any littlo squeamishness that may have lingered was doctored off by extending the desertion period to seven years. The Synod people profess to believe that soon there will not be left an undivorceJ couple in the islands. Their champions declare that marriage is on the way to become a lost art. It is their conviction that in 50 years curiosity hunters will be as much baffled to find a trace of a married couple as tnoyare now to find the track of the moa. THK LAND COMMISSION. The missing report was tenderly inquired for to-day by Mr. Massey," but it was not discovered. The mucti-desir-ed document remained concealed behind a large curtain inscribed with the cabalistic words "Only one copy." This was the signal for a buzzing noise in the House, at the conclusion of which the Premier announced that the Governor had ordered that the document bo laid on the table, an event which would oceiu 4 on Friday. Tho Farmers' Union go away on Saturday—a mere coincidence, of course, but the Conference is evidently at a disadvantage for want of the report. By tho way, gossip deals much with the demand of this body for the freehold option for all the Crown tenants at tho original prairie value on payment of tho difference between the 4 pc/ cent, rent of the L.I.P. and the 5 per cant, of the O.R.P. The "Times" supports its party, drawing the line at th* prairie value, and insisting on the unearned increment, and the "Post" brands the resolution as "an audacious demand." In this the "Post" is clearly the organ qua land question of tin Progressives. Whether the "New Zealand Times," which is usually the Government organ, can be regarded as tho Govecnment organ qua land question is a thing about which many would give a good deal to have definite infor-

mation. As to the report, Mr. Massey said that "everybody knows that a choico assortment of newspapers . has got hold of the contents, and the Premier said no information has been given by tho Government. "Close as an oyster," says the Premier. "The world is my oyster," says the Press. Accoi'ding to Mr. Massey, a member of Parliament has been in public prints—has declared that the report of the Commission is about equally divided on the question of leasehold and freehold. At present that is all that is knowable about tho missing report. Questions had the usual field day. On the production of the written answers, inter alia, it came out that the Teachers' Superannuation Bill will probably bo produced next week, and that a booklet is in course of preparation dealing with the planting of potatoes.