PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1926, 23 August 1888, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

(from our own correspondent.) Wellington, August 21. An unexpected discussion cropped ap In the Houbo this afternoon that at one time bade fair to develop loto a no confidence debate, or at any rate to prolong the time of sitting to an indefinite extent. Col. Haultaln having through some misunderstanding resigned his position as member of the Representation Commission, to whioh it was considered advisable he should be reinstated, the Colonial Secretary yesterday gave notice of motion to reappoint him m it was In accordance with the Representation Aot that any members appointed must first be nominated by the Home. The motion in itself was apparently a very harmless affair, and would have provoked little or no dlaoußslon, bo*, to the surprise of nearly everyone, Mr Maoarthur availed hluiself of the opportunity (which was taken from him on going into Supply), of bringing forward Indirectly the question of the quota of electorates. Thia he did in the shape of an amendment as follows :— " Th»t in the opinion of this House it la undesirable to fill up the vacancy in the Representation Commission until the question of adjustment of the. quota had been dealt with." The member for Manawatu very bri> fly showed that the Premier last year had definitely promised to deal with the question of the quota this session, and he pointed out that if the Representation Commission was appointed before the quota were fixed, country districts would be quite at the mercy of Government. A lively discussion followed, in which it was evident the feeling was all with the amendment, and it was quickly manifest that Government were iu a minority on the question. The Premier appreciating the fact that he was likely to be in the position of the gentleman who fell out of » balloon—" not in it "—-adroitly avoided defeat by accepting the amendment, and he stated that he was not wedded to the motion; Sir Harry being sure of his position, and, knowing that, members would not now be willing to stop to discuss the matter, ohalleDged Mr Maoarthur to move to the effect that the House desired to have the whole question of quotas dealt with this session. The invitation was politely declined. As the amendment was adopted by Government, all its nting was ({one, but the result shows that had Mr Macarthnr'a amendment on motion to go Into Supply come on the Ministry would have been defeated, and under the circumstances they could hardly have done anything but resign. It is expected that during the next session one of the big questions to come before the Honse will be the incidence of taxation, which, but for the lateness of the sesslon,'would probably have been threshed out daring the present session on the second reading of the Property Tax Bill, The Premier, whose views are known to be strongly In favor of the Property tax, has promised members to thoroughly consider the whole question daring the reoess, thongh he gave no hope of anything in the dlreotlon of renouncing the Property tax in favor of either an Inoome or Land tax or both. Particulars were to-day presented to the House «s to the cost of raising the loan of £1,325,000 ander the Act of 1886, and the last two million loan. In the case ol the" two million loan, the total charges were £100,281, made up as follows : — Discounts, £44,5C0 ; loss of Interest by dating tbe loan May 1, and taking payment of purchaee money by Instalments, £24,000 ; commission to Bank of England, £10,000 ; brokerage £5000 ; Btamp duty. £12,500 ; and advertising, office expenses, telegrams, and contingencies, £4281. Although Government have intimated their intention of spending only £1000 this year upon Immigration, the question is being continually brought before the House in different forms, Dr Hodgklnson is urging the Minister in charge of this Department, in the event of the money being voted, to give free passages (as was formerly the case) to young women who have near relations in the colony to whom they are desirous of coming out ; but the general fmprdslon is that no result will be effected, , A novel proposal is suggested to meet the unemployed difficulty In Ohrlstohurch by Mr M'Gregor, who is proposing to the Minister for Publio Works that he should teduce the freight on firewood from Little River and Oxford to Christohurob, which will, he oontends, enable a large number of the unemployed to prooure remunerative employment. Wellington, August 23. On all hands the Premier Is blamed for his want of taot in trying to force his H&rbor Bill down the throat of the House, after the expressions of opinion of the Freetraders, Opposition and young New Zaalandora, The upshot of this is that he has plaoed himself in » worse position than ever, both with the House and his constituents which the Bill affects almost entirely. It we a brought down for the purpose of relieving his constituents, and to satisfy them he tried to foioe it through the House whioh hat annoyed members, while his weakness will place him in an unenviable position with his constituents, with whom this is a burning question. Ministers now state their belief that the Session will not be over till about Tuesday or Wednesday next, and tbe prorogation will depend greatly on the Pobllo Works debate, whioh it (a antiol- > pited. will COmojenQQ to'cUy,