PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1891, 12 July 1888, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

(From our own Oorbkspondent.)

WELLINGTON, July 10. A meeting of members Interested An \ Native Affairs was held this morning, 1 when there were 21 members present, in* oludlng four Native members. Mr Kelly wis In the ohiir and a resolution restricting the number of Natives to Id '» grant, to twenty m any case With equal interest and area qaleas otherwise ordered, was af tpr a long discussion, carried, 4 further resolution was proposed limiting the area that any one person Off oompioy could parohase to 500 aores of freehold, or 15,000 aores of leasehold was strongly opposeu t? Mann Tanner, Jaoksan, Whyte, Ormond, Beetham, and others, bnt on being pat to the meeting it was loe£ an also was a resolution moved by Mr Smlth'io the effect that In th§ fptsrest of 'settlement all !l Native iertes • ahtfuTd oarry improvement "cladses the anhe at these granted under the Land Act to Grown tenants. A motion as to granting extra time for the completion of titles, to those persons who hold oerti£oatos auder the Native Land Admlnlatra.t'lon'Aqt wl^ withdrawn by leave Qffche meetjgg. % ' A free conference on the Chinese Bjl} between managers from the House and the Council mot thfs morning, but the result was nil, as neither side, would budge, aq Inoh, and they oould not come to any arrangement whatever. Jt appears that the members of the House were very inosnsßd at the tone of the reasons drawn ; np by the Oounoil, whloh they considered '"{ to be almost lnsnlting and intemperate* It is not probable any compromise will be effected, bat that the BUI will be dropped altogether and a new BUI will be Introduced on the lines suggested by the Sydney ponferenoe. - - ,j-- •- A good deal of light wbb this aftornooa thrown on the manner m which bualriess is oondaoted .at the meetings of select committees, whloh m so many instances are considered to be a sort of oonrt of appeal by persona who have any oanse of complaint against Government. The question was brought np by Mr Taylor who, (t Beema, wishes to give evldenoe before a oommittee'of- which heis a member upon an important matter, but in 1 his absence the affair was fixed np against the interests of the petitioner and m favor vt Government. Considerable disonsslon followed m whioh Messrs Downle Stewart and \^ard stated that the present system was a simple fraud, 'and that it was al* most impossible "for p'ersins' to'' obtain I iusiioe by petitioning Parliament, as fhe committees were realty only buffers between Government and tlje petitioner's." and almost invariably aoted on the ofHoial report whloh was generally against the 1 prayer of the petitioners, Mr Fish expressed the opinion that members of com* ™<ttees instead of acting as judges In any matter whloh dame before them almost Invariably took up the position of defendants, and %q mentioned ttyat on one committee, of vhloh he waif a member, a Minister was^alob a metaber. "; Tfie Minister had only attended twioa list session, and then to oppose petytlo'tyi wblob were brought forward,. Tbi com?

mittees were, of course, warmly defended m their conduct cf business, but the feeling produced In the House by the statement a was a very unpleasant nn<-. Mr Macwthur, who takes a prominent position m the house m regard to all matters of finance, has fossicked ou v . a Carious discrepancy m the asset tiohs made by the Premier m the Financial Statement. On page 7of tha official copy of the statement the Premier remark* that be hes saved no less than £53,730 of £74,050 which was proposed to be saved last seeslon, bat was not distributed amongst departments. It transpires, however, that though m some departments £53 780 was saved, m other departments there was no saving, but Government spent more than proposed to the ext3ot of £7683, bo that the real Baying is only £46,147, ab shown on table number 7, atttohed t) the statement. The Premier has been called upon to explain this discrepancy, and a warm financial dlaousiion Is expected as the result. Government will give the House this session an opportunity of discussing the question of the mall service In full. Thera are now exactly 83 Bills on the Order Paper. A sum of £500 will be placed on the j supplementary estimates for the current expenses of the New Zealand Institute. Mr J. 0. Brown Is still very 111 and confined to his room, bat the doctor? think he will be able to get out m the oourse of a week. It Is intended to take steps to secure the payment of arrears of interest due on the securities of looal bodies hel<* by Government Only 45 servants In the railway detriment receive over £200 yearly. Sir M. O'Rorke has such a severe cold that he oould not tske the chair again to-day, ud mi; be absent for another week. He is spitting blood . It Is not Intended to amend the Parliamentary Honors* l *n and Privileges Aot this session.