The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1886. District Railways Purchase.
A reference to our Parliamentary colunms this evening will show that Major Steward has been honorably acquitted of the very grave charges levelled against him by the report of the District Railways Purchase Committee. Acquainted as we were with the complete history of the transaction which formed the subject of the Committee’s enquiry we never anticipated any other result, but it will be satisfactory to the many personal and pa itica ! friends of the member for.Waimate to reflect that the acquittal was made by a full and unanimous House. Not even the framers of the report ventured to say one word in support of their extraordinary conclusions, and the Premier’s resolution affirming that Major Steward had been guilty of no corrupt motive was received with evident approval and satisfaction. The members of the Committee have made an egregious blunder, a blunder which it it difficult to explain and impossible to excuse, but we have no desire to add to the odium which has been cast upon their heads by the resolution of the House. Some, doubtless, erred in ignorance, some, setting aside any judicial capacity they may have, allowed political animosity jto over-rule their sense of justice, and others were even more culpable; the issues were a damaging report, entirely unsupported by evidence or facts, a seven days’ wonder, the complete humiliation of the accusers and the triumphant acquittal of the accused. So far as Major Steward and Sir Julius Vogel are concerned the resolution adoptedj by the House yesterday afternoon is an ample vindication of their political purity and personal integrity, but the concluding portion of the resolution, which affirms that the House “ desires to express its opinion that the members of the Legislature should not act as paid agents, or receive any remuneration for negotiating any transaction in which the Government is directly or indirectly a party, either as buyer or seller,” appearr strained and uncalled for. Many of the members of our Legislature are engaged in trades and professions and, while we fully approve of the provisions of Disqualification Act* we fail to see why their business operations suould be subject to additional restrictions. Par exonple, it would have been an extreme hardship if Major Steward, who, in the course of business, had been entrusted with the sale of certain railway debentures, had been compelled to forego the well and honestly-earned fruit of his labor simply because the Government deemed it expedient in the interests of the colony to become the purchaser of those debentures. The colony lost nothing by Major Steward’s intervention, indeed there is reason to believe that it gained a good deal, and had the Government or the sellers, during the progress of the negotiations, attempted to dispense with the services of the intervening agent they would have been guilty of gross commercial turpitude, which would not have relieved the sellers of their liability to pay commission.
In the Hoase of Representatives last evening on the motion f ,r goin.’Jint > Com' mlttee of Supply, Mr Pearson moved : r ‘ (1) That in the opinion of this House, the contributions from the different local authorities for Hospitals and Charitable Aid should bo raised by a tax on prop rty without any exemptions, and that the Government should collect and pay i uch tax to the several districts entitled to the same ; (2) that the Government be requested to give effect by Bill to the foregoing resolution.” The resolutions were opposed by the Government, but having been amended, at the instance of Mr Ivess by the insertion of a danse exem[ t : ng properties valued under £6OO, were carried.on the casting vote of the speaker, I
The i.maudmenta made by the Legiala tive Council in the East and West Oiast Railway Construction Act Amendment Bill were agreed to by the House o! Representatives yesterday afternoon, and the Midland Railway is now safely bejoijd thoattaoks of its Parliamentary opponents
The Workmen a Wages Extension TJill, which provides for the payment of w.iges In cole or bank notes, not cheque*, was read a second time in the House of Representatives last evening.
Mr McKerrow has presented his annual report upon the Crown Lands of the eolony. continued low prices for agricultural and pastoral produce, there had been a greater! area of | Crown lands disposed of during the I twelve months ended March 31, 1886, I than during the previous year. The jincrease has been mainly in land taken up on the settlement'ounditlon, and in this class the number of settlers is greater than last year or the’average number of former years. The revenue from cash land sales has been steadily decreasing for several years, and it Is a matter for surprise that
it h«s not diminished even to a greater degree than it has done, seeing that tacitly it has become to|dlspose of the best land on settlements conditions, selling for inferior land or odd patches to complete freehold properties.
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1289, 15 July 1886, Page 2
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836The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1886. District Railways Purchase. Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1289, 15 July 1886, Page 2
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