PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15271, 22 June 1923, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

THE NEW MINISTER. CHAIRMANSHIP OF COMMITTEES. MR L. M. ISITT PROBABLE. J-.V By Telegraph.—Special to Times. WELLINGTON. Thursday. The Member for Raglan (Mr R. F. Bollard), who has been appointed to the Ministry, is personally popular in the House, and he deserves to bo. He is well informed and assiduous in the discharge of his duties; but hitherto no one .looking down from the galleries has suspected him of aspiring to the high office to which he has been appointed. He probably will make as good a Minister of the Crown as any of the others from whom Mr Massey might have chosen would have done. It is reported that Mr L. M. Isitt (Christchurch North) is to succeed Mr Malcolm as Chairman of Committees. If he real# is placed in the chair the political world will marvel for a day or two, and then the incident will be forgotten. Easily the best speaker in the House, Mr Isitt has contributed much to the tone and dignity of its proceedings during the years he has contributed to its debates, but whether or not he has the necessary qualities to control and direct a sometimes turbulent assembly is a question still to be decided. A Great Name. Mr J. C. Rolleston, the member for Waitomo, who moved the Address-in-Reply in the House of Representatives, has the advantage and the disadvantage of bearing a name which his father made great in the public life of this country many years ago. William Rolleston, first as superintendent of Canterbury in the old provincial days, and then as a progressive Minister of Lands in successive Governments, did more for promotion and development of settlement in New Zealand than any of his predecessors ever had attempted. More than this may be said for his vision, his courage and h'is achievement. It was largely due to his creation of a robust public opinion on this subject that John Ballance, John MacKenzie, and Richard Seddon found the constituents so well disposed towards the revolutionary land policy they introduced some years after his retirement from office. Nor was he a man of one idea or of one aspiration. Education, industrial enterprise, national progress and humanitarian effort interested him scarcely less than did the productive occupation of the soil, and to the promotion of them all he gave freely of his best. His record is a great heritage to those that follow him, and a hard one to repeat. The Embargo. The Evening Post, though loth to denounce the Government’s departures from sound economic principles is quick to detect them. It has been told that the potato growers are seeking similar advantages to those conferred upon the wheat-growers and the flour-millers, and it wants to know what Mr Massey is going to do about, the matter. "As only was to be expected,” it says, “the Government, having imposed ah embargo upon imports of wheat and flour in the in/V terests of one section of farmers, is now being called upon to impose it on potatoes in 'the interests of another. The Ashburton Farmers’ Union, according to a Press Association message,'resolved unanimously to ask the Government to prohibit imports of potatoes from Australia or elsewhere, until the local price is up to £lO per ton.” The Post recognises the saving grace of humour in this' request to the Government to raise the cost of living in the interests of the holders 1 of potatoes,' but it is obviously uneasy lest the Prime Minister in his concern for the welfare of the constituents of his colleague the Minister of Agriculture should accede to this cool demand. Mr Massey, however, must recognise the necessity of drawing the line somewhere, and in that case will not shape it to include potatoes. The Agricultural Bank.

The local newspapers are being flooded just now with appeals on behalf of the agricultural bank scheme, the intention of their authors, no doubt, being to obtain the sympathy of the members of Parliament who arc expected to have the fate of the scheme in .their keeping shortly. There was a rumour about town during the week .to the effect that Mr Massey had so far advanced towards Mr Poison’s way of thinking as to promise to a private deputation that he would introduce a bill on the subject during the present session. There has been no official contradiction fit the story, but it is believed in usually well informed circles that all the PrjThe Minister has undertaken to do is to collect information on the subject from the countries that are said to have agricultural banks of the kind indicated by Mr Poison in successful operation. This sounds a much more probable story, and is in no way inconsistent with what Mr Massey already has said-on the subject. Meanwhile the established banks profess no fear of being driven out of business. They declare, indeed, that if the agriculture bank found its own capital without leaning on the Government, and paid its fair share of taxation they would have no objection to its appearance in the field. Unoccupied Crown Lands.

At Tuesday’s sitting Mr F. Lye (Waikato) asked the Minister of Lands whether he will take steps to have the unoccupied Crown lands in the Ivawhia district revalued with a view to settlement? The question has the following note attached: There is no doubt that the values placed on these lands are too high, and if it is proposed to wait until they are taken up at present figures they will remain unoccupied for a very long time. Women Justices. Last season 'the Leader of the Opposition introduced a Justice of the Peace Amendment Bill, intended to give the Minister of Justice authority to appoint women to the roll of Justices of the Peace. The measure was passed by the House of Representatives, but it was thrown out by the Legislative Council. Mr W'ilford introduced the Bill, and

intimated that he would try once again to have it placed on the Statute - 1 Book. He stated that both England and Canada had since adopted legislalation on the lines he proposed. Plain Speakers. Country people are deep thinkers and plain speakers,, according to Mr J. C. Rolleston (Waitomo). In his speech on the Address-in-Rcply, Mr Roilcston averred that the people in the country districts thought a good deal. “But,” he added almost apologetically, “our vocabulary is a limited one, and sometimes our most expressive terms arc, by tile rules of the House, deemed unparliamentary. (Laughter.) Gentle Sarcasm. There w;js a hint of sarcasm in a question which Mr 11. Poland (Ohine-

muri) addressed to the PostmasterGeneral. Following is the question id full: —“When does he hope to overtake the demand for telephones in country districts —at. any rate, to the extent of supplying a telephone within, say, two years of an application being made?”

HON. R. F. BOLLARD SWORN IN. PROBABLE PORTFOLIOS. WELLINGTON, Thursday. The newly-appointed Cabinet Minister, the Hon. R. F. Bollard, was sworn in by the Governor-General, Lord Jeliiooe, at a special meeting of the Executive Council. The announcement of the allocation of his portfolios and the general details of Cabinet reconstruction are still indefinite, but there may be a statement after a meeting of Cabinet on Saturday. It is considered probable that Mr Bollard will receive the portfolios of Lands and Health.