General Assembly.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 424, 13 August 1880, Page 3

General Assembly.

ivr j ! pIrLIIMENTARY ITEMS. - ■ 1 » „ ... .... , -. In the House of Representatives on Monday, &''Ml_ l mov'iji that unless otherwiaeordered this Iloiiso do sit on Fridays find Mondays at 11 a.m. during the? remainder of theT "session ; that on thoSQ;daysi leave to.' sit 't^*'House.'' In .acedrflarideAvitli & '' , Jpr'tirM&'' lie, nWe.last week she ehotild*ridv\r state to, the ilousp the bafcines's propped to te gone on. with and tliat? Which they + proposed should .be ~|fGppeSr,'|(aoyerninent had very carefully fonsidSred the question, and had separated y||e Bills of paper iuto,four classes. 'The fourth clasa included Town-; District jßill, Fisheries'-'Bity ffilucatum, Renorves Aiuesdiaent Bill, Public Entertainment Prohibition Bill, Cemeteries Bill, New .Zealand University lieserves .Bill, Canterbury Act'Ainendnient' Bill,' Auctioneers Bill, Jfire 'find ; Mlfarine Cotnpaniea Bill, Gaming Hawkers and Pedlflrs Bill, Peace Presurvnfion Bill. These twelve Bills'would hare to be victftrie. . Several other measures to which no serious opposition was anticipated would bo taken at the morning sitting. Then was another class ot measures which the Government called desirable Bills. Among these the Hon gentleman .placed the Licensing Bill and the Rap •esentation Bill. Upon the passing o£,ths latter meastWQ.,.vfould" depend th,e fate: of the Regulation of and .Pmoticea ©tile. With regard to the Native 'Bills,'the Government could , scarcely hope that the' whole wqiuld (.bccbine Isgsrfbn- {TheEnext class compjised Bills which were absolutely essential tp financial ineaeiur/ae |o4 footing., Thee J Itijiist : )jie dealt 'with''this session. V They J were the Act Atuendjnaenit Bill, Bee'r'Diiiy Biii } Deceased Pe,r'edrie'Estates , Dutiee Bill, Local Public ityorkfl-'Bill, and ,the. Bating Act,; 1876, Ameadinent Bill. thought, would admit that Government had made a considerablei-eac'rifice,' 'and 'they hoped tha,t they would be met by a sacrifice on the part of he' would, ,tpere- ' fore propose" the\ niotioa' standing in his name- .',' *_~( .. J ,;i 1 .. The inption" was ihen put and carried, itthe eyening sitting on the-motion for going l ijitp off Supply , . 8! Mr' ;'MoßijJßjh(sp6 rejgardingfl6ekl G^ern-'

discussion J» Jhe. cpursaof wljuch, the Hon. E. Richardson., ialluded t& the Sdport of-tire Civil l Service, , 'Sduth Isliifid' 'railway' {.;va:v.'Z) • ,Mr SOjUriders said he-was most" anxious all'along ''tQ feave'Hlie-report"discussed. They, thought it their duty to use their own eyes, and ears In-'obtaining-, their 'inij formation, and -that was ,more. serviceable to t'fcem • than the evidence Recorded by j shorthand writer's.,; In- dealing with the matter the 'Commission.; did not study individuals. 'All they,had : to do was to 'dischargdthelduty devolving .trpon them. The report of ;Mr,Blair showed .that, these 'wrotched'Svaggpns,hadrbeen' built in ;the ;*yprkshops, under the ( supervision of

highly-paid ofirhJers, and that of itself made things worse than report imputed to them. He did expect that the Commissioners'report'would have had more consideration! " The only way to effect proper retrenchment would be to dJßmisa a large number of the highly-paid; servants, and reduce the salaries of those remaining. He caw a way for working the lines more efficiently than" at present and yet saving' £170,500. He saw, his way to nave £5000 on useless officers, £1500 in the extragancies in the work-, shops, £25,000 in ithe mode of obtaining stores, £105,000 salaries, paid for forty engineers who did more harm than, good, and £52,000 .reductions at the rate of 12 per cent, oh salaries. Oa Tuesday the debate on locahGovern-! ment was resumed. . The Hon T. Dick said that had the Government entered into. jthe~debate they would simply have been enoouraging an endless debate out of which nothing could goßßib|ycQnte.'.; : !v U:-v'- 'C%CS C.Mr was one of the

most important questions :;o£\ the -session",, and was more than Government had attempted to proppse. f y They'; ! Ba*W'the Premier come;down that day and withdraw a number of bills upon which ,tbey had wasted a lot of time. He could compare them to a 40 horse-power engine driving a mangle. Mr Pyke said Le did not know btft J 'tljdt a drifting to Provincialism would .bo i: better than to go on as they were going. ;He asked the Government to. lead;the.-, House, but it did cotf* Theysaw"the eight of Opposition, members going into the lobby' the other night to save the Government ifromtits Own, friends. ( ; ** i Tho Hon .J., Hall said Government; had endeavoured to lead the House in really practicable , measures.,:-. -The: lOpposition, however, had done its best to impede that•progress. J :..'n'-^> : - ; -'-- :i ' '"' : ' Mr Sheehan said that abolition had been., a failure. Half of the time of was taken up'discussing parish business. They had just Seen a number of important measures slaughtered, While":their time: was being ' occupied with questions of foades and bridges. The Hon. J. Hall said that they were told it was not a statesmanlike Public Works Statement. Btit ;hajd it > scattered money broadcast then it would have been a statesmanlike production. Ho would contend that it was a thorough statesmanlike document. It dealt with.the-question of theCuneirtpjoyed"; theri it (iealt with the question of how railways w ere to .be rjiade >to pay.' He cbhtended these were Subjects in all respects .-..statesmanlike;' It was their aim to bring back the Colony to its normal state. ; In doing so 1 they were exposed to unpopularity, and discomfort) and if they consulted their own popularity 1 theyi would abandon their seats :to those who were less scrupulous. They believed the time would come when their" services in that respect would be fully recognised.

In Committee of Supply, on the voto for railways coming on lor discussion, Mr' Oliver said ho regretted to state that within the last week the Auditorgeneral had discovered, a very serious deficiency in the store account, amounting to nearly £100,000, since the initiation of IhePublic Works policy. He might add that no charge of misappropriation was ' made ag^amk'any particular officer. The [ ihatfdrl was being enquired into. The items' were passed as proposed, and the House rose at 1.5 a.m., > r . "' Oh \[ MrPyke moved the 1 motion standing in his name regarding the report of the Railway Commissioners. He said he was not tdisp/Osed to allow it to go forth that this House even in "part approved' of that re--1 r/orrl He particularly deprecated the por? tion of the report condemning the StrathTaieri line. Mr Shrimski disputed the statement made by the previous speaker that the Livingstone line would not be an accept-. able one. fl ,-Mr.Levin objected to the finding of the Commission in referencettitheo i the Wellington line. ?, . '. Fi Mr.Fulton also protested) against theconclusions arrived at by the Commission ■fr9 regard !to the Otagp Centraljrailway. Mr SteWart said the members of the • Commission sterol men of intelligence and; high standing ; still he thought theyiHad riot considered all the circumstances- ifcarefully when thry condemned, the Central QtagoUineJ ; 1 • *''' "i DrWjlllis thought the report an admirableone,*siraightforward and honest. It was, utterly and r entirely,, free from, party \ and he'HHdughfc the least thing they , cdjulilpVwis to express their thanks to. the' .^onjmissioneis. R. Oliver, spoke of the-able ..and-efficient manner in which the Railway , Commissioners devoted themselves to the Mr Whitaker tbo ofinfon that the report was thpr|ug|ilyihonest* and im,partial. <a\ \ Sir W. Fox said that he did not concur in the motion further than to condemn the report in so far as it alluded to the line in which he was interested (the -WellingtonFoxtori).

The debate was adjourned till Friday, and the House rose at 12.30.