POLITICAL NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2630, 12 October 1909, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

EXTRAVAGANCE IN GOVERN-

MENU PRINTING

(Special to “Times.”) WELLINGTOISi. October 11

Tlio Government Printing Office lias been retrenched in certain directions, and it was understood that, in the retrenchment scheme, the volume of Parliamentary papers would be diminished very considerably, but this does not appear to be the case. On the first business day a huge mass of Parliamentary papers was dumped on the table, and .a large proportion of the reports were profusely illustrated. Many of these publications are of small general importance, and it may be doubted if even for record purposes they are worth the large expenditure involved, especially at a period when the clamor for economy appears to be the war cry of the Government. Amended is a list of a dozen papers and reports laid on the table of the House on Friday, which, for printing and reproduction of illustrations, alone, aggregate in cost £1536 11s. Cost of preparation is not included in any instance, as it is not given on the papers: — Land report-—£3l3 Is. Marine Department—£B7 Is 6d. Botanical Survey Stewart Island—£ll9 9s.

Botanical exploration of higher Waimarina district—£3B 7s 6d. Sand dunes —£53 6s. State nurseries—£7o 10s 6d. Survey operations—£ll9. These include maps or illustrations. Then there are unillustrated: — Cook and other Islands report—£36 65..

Patents and designs—£39 19s. Evidence Addington ..orkshops Commission—£s2 9s 6d.

Inspection of Machinery Department report—£Bo Is. Timber Commission report— £s2s. There were other State papers which run into sums from bus to £lB, and which bring the printing bill for papers alone up to about £I6OO. The number of copies printed of the several papers ranges from 1250 to 1950. The illustrations in all cases are technically of a high character, and in many instances the reports are sought after on this account, as they make capital pictures for framing. CURIOSITIES OF THE POST OFFICE.

It is mentioned in the annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department, as illustrating how the Department is often blamed wrongfully for the loss of articles passing through the post office, that a postal packet containing six watches was wrongfully delivered at a boarding-house owing to the address being so badly written that it was believed to be intended for a person who resided there. Whilst the packet was awaiting disposal at the hoarding-house, a friend of the supposed addressee noticed it and readdressed it to him. and the mistake was only discovered when the article was passing through the post office after a delay of about five months. A letter, unregistered, from Christchurch, to Wellington, containing £425 in ban'k notes, was discovered open in the post. A case occurred at Palmerston on the 25th June, 1908. of abstraction of a letter from the posting box by a starling. The occurrence was witnessed by a passer-by. Another similar case was reported from Palmerston North, -where, to prevent future depredations, a hinged flap was fixed to the aperture of the box. AN OPPOSITION CAUCUS.

fPeii PttF.ss Association.l WELLINGTON, Oct. 11. A caucus of the Opposition was held to-night at which all the party except five absentees were present.. Mr Massey naturally declines, to give any information on the subject beyond that the meeting was of a very interesting character. It is understood, however, that the land question was fully discussed. The meeting lasted a couple of hours. There are rumors that a censure motion on the address-in-reply will be moved, but it is impossible to get anything authentic.