PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1725, 2 December 1887, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

° [raos. oon own correspondent. J d _ c Wellington, Deoember 2. d NAVAL DEEFNOE BILL. A draft of the Naval Defenoe Bill, whioh ia c to be introduced m aooordanoe with the reso* a lutions arrived at by the Imperial Conference, 8 was received this afternoon from his Excel* Q lenoy the Governor. This Bill is similar m ,_ oharaoter to those measures whioh hava recently caused bo muoh trouble m the various Australian ooloniea, notably that of y Queensland. The seoond reading of tbe Bill f has been set down for Tuesday, when there > will bo, m all probability, a very lively disoua* d sion on the various proposals contained o therein. Before the Bill was read a first d time to-day Mr Turnbull asked what was the b total amount expended up to the present on , the defenoe of the oolony sinoe the new y defences were introduced. — The Premier ; ' About £369,000 up to the Ist September last. . —Mr Turnbull: That is the result of having • a military Governor.— ln answer to another 0 question as to the amount per annum " to bs paid to the Imperial Government t aß the New Zealand contribution to the Aus* ralasian naval defenoe scheme, the Premier 0 replied tbat the amount payable by eaob oolony is oaloulated upon a population basis, and tbat approximately speaking the share c payable by this oolony would bs aboat 1 £20,000 per annum. The subjeot of defenoe ' ia one on whioh a large number of members * will bo desiroua of speaking, and a lengthy '" debate may be expeoted next week. J UONOI-UUC!- QUESTION. 1 The Bill whioh was the subjeot of suoh 3 criticism and debate last night, will probably i cause another lengthy di.ou.sion when m » Committee. The feeling tbat the reduction t should only refer to the duration of this Par* i liament is gaining adherents, and an amend* I ment, of whioh Mr Bruoe gave notice to-day, embodying tbe above proviso, will reoeive , strong support from all sides of the House. S9EAK OF. . The peculiarly inaudible voice of Mr E. Biobardson is said to be a standing grievance 1 with the reporters, when the Btout-Vogel 1 Ministry were m power, and the Bpeotaolo of ' half-a-dozen of these gentlemen imperilling ; their neoks by leaning over tbe gallery was ; quite a regular ooourrence, and muoh more i provocative of amusement amongst members than conduoive to tbe personal oomfort 0! the scribes who sit aloft. By a strange conoi* dence and to the no small disgust of those gentlemen, the present Minister for Publid Works is almost equally difficult to hear ~~ his predeooasor. When introducing the Bail* way Bill this afternoon this was very notioa--1 able, and as be was 1 followed by $, Biohard* son, who seemed worse thah ever, the reseku* blance between the present and ex-Minister m this respect was muoh commented upon. BAILWAX BILL. '" " Mr Mitoholson this afternoon moved tha secopd reading of the Railway Bill ip a speech, of some length m whioh he pointed oat the necessity for a change m the system of management of tho railways, and drew comparison between the state of the railways fa this colony and m Victoria. Other speakers followed, and to all appearances ' the debate will last three sittings. Generally speaking the tone so far is favorable to the Bill, though several amendments will be proposed m Committee. AUCKLAND CANING" CASE. With reference to the aotion of Sir J. Yogel m starting a subscription list to enable the parents of the punished girl to proseoute the headmaster, Mr Goldie, member for Auokland West, received the following telegram to-day from Mr W. Crowther, of the Auckland City Council, formerly member of the Auokland City Sohools Committee : •* Tell Yogel we shall meet him and will subscribe to the defenoe of the headmaster." _j _-m_-v_4 PUBLIC WOBKB STATEMENT. I I understand from the Minister of Public Worka that it is at present intended that tha Ifubho Worka Statement shall be muoh shorter than usual. OTACIO CENTBAIi LINE. Mr Fyke informs me. that he. has reoeived promises of support from 01 members for his* Otago Central, Itailway BMI, whjoh will ho plaoed at the head of the Ordor Paper at aa early date. , , mmmmmmmmmmmmmmammmmmmmt No health with inaotive-livßrand urinarj. organs. Take only Hop fitters made bj nwrioanCo, See < s