General Assembly.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 426, 20 August 1880, Page 3

General Assembly.

PARLIAMENTARY ITEMS; : -♦— ——T; '•■ -•■ On Monday<the House met at 11 a.m. ;and on the mot'on of the Hon J* Hall, seconded by Mr Macandrew ad.jpurned.-tiH •.7.30 to enable members to pay a last tribute to the meraory, ©f a deceased member •of the HouseV-Mr Ireland 'of> Waflcaia.'

At the .evening sitting the House did mot get into Committee of Supply till 1 a.m, the time from 6.30 till that hour ibeing taken up in further discussion of Mr Pyke'e motion- icondeHinatory '• v£ the' Bailway Commissioners , report. "In Committee of Supply. various Votes for railways were f aeend and *he House rose at 5.50 a.m. On Tuesday in the '.Council, the Hen G. M. Waterhouse moved that the New Plymouth Harbor Board ehould xefund its illegal expenditure''frUk'the lani, farid, And facing to refund tne'Membors 'should ibe proceeded against individually.. He ithought this •course was iiecessary to atop tthe growing habit of nearly all local ibodies of spending money contrary to law. The Hon F. Whitaker said that if All local bodies who acted illegaly-were to fee proceeded against, Government wouOd want half-a-dozen Attorney-Generals. The remedy at law kid with the ratepayers, mho suffered by the illegality. The Hon J. N. Wilson said Government would not prosecute the Board because it was in the favored district of New Plymouth. After a ehort debate the motion was carried. In the House of Representatives, replying to Mr Reeves as to whether or not it was true that come brewers in the Colony refused to pay the beer duty, and that Government could not compel them to do so, Major Atkinson said there was no power to recover at law simply on a resolution passed in Committee of Supply, and as this tax still reeted on such a resolution at present it could not bo enforced. So soon as the Bill passed, however, it became retrospective, covering the date from the time the resolution was passed in Committee of Supply. When the Bill was

I passed the tax would be enforced, and brewers refusing to pay just now would have the penalties enforced against them, so that by refusing they did so at their own peril. On the motion for reporting resolutions from Committee of Supply, Sir G. Grey ..they/be postponed until after the ReVeiiue'Bills have been disposed of." Hie reason was this : The depressed state of tho country had been, in his opinion, overrated, and the consequence of .that -was to 'create an unnecessary panic, suspending commercial enterprise, and. Otherwise j; operating seriously rfga.nst the jabb'r market. When the "revenue Bills had been discussed he believed it would be shown that this alarm , was ■ altogether unneoessafy, and that much moTe money than was eiip,posed wpuld,/be Available for Public Works purposes.

Mr Hall said~tliat the motion Had taken him by' surprise.-, ; They,, had ecertained porrecfly the amount available for. Public : Works they had the statement of the Treasurer, and ithe statement of the Public Works Minister, and if those 'henge'ntletnen did, not know the state of the Puttie W,orks fund it could never, be, ascertained The course proposed was unusual, unconstitutional, and ,"w0u1.4 Tae calculated to obstruct the pubjie blisiness! , lie thought there was not the smallest possibility of the ,ljon.o.rabler. -gentleman : being right, therefore he would not give way. The motion for reporting the resolutions of the Committee was put and carried. At the evening sitting, on the motion for going into Committee of Supply, \ Mr Speight drew attention to an item on me estimates—arrears of pensions, £1433. Hβ was ted to understand that this was a claim made by the, HpnjßrPollep.; \. The Hon T.uick. seconded the motion which. w*B put-and fcarrfed,* ;i i i ' i^

Mr Montgomery,.saidrtHafrthe'diher , ' day the Premier mentioned that it was intended ito add the Chatharii Islands to the electoral district. .There frag! not trieritiorJ of ii in the Redistribution of Seats Bill, so that it muat htive been an aftefthought. ,It would' be very Inconvenient for any constituency to have these islands added to it; arid he Would like* to knoW/why his constituency 'wae; to have' It thrown in. their way; as there'wae no communityj of interest between Akaroa aud these islands. Government should not wait until the Chatham Islanders were .represented' in the House., but should have conserved their interest before this.

The Hon J. Hall said that Government considered there was some community «£ interest between the pursuits.of the inhabitants of Bank's Peninsula and the Chatham Islands ; besides the Representatives would have ,to be a good Bailor to. visit ,hin -esn stituents,' and -(title was another fitness en (the part of tlie hen tneinber for Akaroa. He showed that the population basis was ■fiilso another matter which pointed to Akaroa being the most suitable electorate to amalgamate with a modified representation. . KEDUCTION OF SALARIES. Mr Pvke moved as an amendment on the original question—" That in the opinion of this House ttie reduction of 10 percent should not apply to salaries of £200 per annum and- under." On being put, this amendment w.ir negatived,on a division by 41 votes to ,32. The Ilorase ; then wewt into Committee of Supply.- ,■ ■: :•..:■■■ ' . Otago Central <Eailway, £88,000.

In reply ,to questions put, the hon R. Oliver said that the vote was simply asked to employ a number of inch who were otherwise unemployed., and until they could find othsr work for them of more pressing ifßportancei , To make the line to a point that would make it at all . usefnl for traffic purposes would cost not less than £353,000, a sum which at present they could not aferd ? to spend. As soon the session was over, he would go South and arrange to have the men removed to more profitable 'work , . ', ' ~ A long ensued on this vote, both as to! '.the. propriety <if spending more money on this work, and if so,: as to the, employment of the " unemployed," The Hon J. Hall said that if the mon came to theta and : said tli&t .they were starving, what could thqy ;do ? they had to provide fpr them in some way. The course they followed was to give them just enough to subsist upon without giving them inducements to continue, upon that class of labour. . ' Mr Pyke eaid the work done by the socalled unemployed had been as cheaply and as well done as it had been by any other kind of labour, 1 The fact was that the Government made the profit that contractors would otherwise make. A number'of amendments were proposed, and ultimately the vote was reduced by L 30.000. ....,,.. Some other vote having; been taken, Mr Pyke moved that progress be reported. He charged Government with keeping members there until they were exhausted, and then carrying their' votes. If they did not report progress and adjourn, he could tell them they might sit there until 10-morrow afternoon at 4 o'clock, and he would take care they did not carry another vote. The House continued. Mr Pyke moved the reduction of the item Otautan to Nightcaps L 12,000, by L4OOO. Motion lost on a division by 31 to 11." Mr DeLautour moved—"That the vote, Kiverton to Orepuki, be reduced L 1500."

Mr Pyke said there was a time vrhen he h»d a good opinion of some members of the Government, but now he had lost it on every one of them. Hβ would table before long a direct vote of want of confidence. They were false to the House, and to the constituents who returned them. With a large question they could not grapple, but with * small tj&o-penny half-penny matter like this they dragged their:) tired and abject followers into the lobby to vote with them. The motion was lost by 9 to 35. ; ;On Wednesday, at the afternoon Bitting of the House of Representatives, Mr Pyke gave notice that he weald ask if the Government were' aware that the line of railway recommended by the Railway Commission from Sheffield to Oxford, was a mere pretext to get the line continued to Temiaka, so that it might pass through the estates owned by the Premier and Mr Wright, a member of the Railway Commission. .. ~. , , The-BontL Hall-stated fee might just at once say there was no foundation in fact for the insinuation put forward by the question. . ( ----.-.-. y• •■ Mr Pyke said lie would read a telegram addressed to himself, on the subject by a resident in the House who was well known and highly respected by the House. (Cries of " Name.") Mr Pyke : I will not give the name ; it was only the other day a similar case took place, and you, Sir, ruled it was not necessary to give ihe name before the telegram could be read. I will lay the telegram on the table after I have read it. The Speaker still ruled that until the name was given the telegram could not.be read. ■ ■ • ' Mr Pyke: Then I will not.read it, as I see the Premier does not want it read. Mr Hall said the : hon member did not give the name because he was simply ashamed of himself and the part he had iaken in the matter. Mr. Pyke gave notice that in .going into Committee of Supply he would move— v That a respectful addrest be presented to His Excellency the Governor, informing him that Ministers do not conduct the business of this House in a satisfactory manner." Mr Murray gave notice he would move —"That no member of the House excepting the leaders of Opposition and Government be allowed to speak longer than 20 minutes after being called to order by any other member." Major Harris gave notice he would ask Government if they were prepared to invite tenders for gage for the use ;of members of the House. The Speaker said he was surprised at such a notice, and ruled it out of order. Mr Moss gave notice of a motion re local self-government, involving a return ..to Provincialism. On the motion for going into Committee of Supply a long debate ensued as to what was to be done with the Crown Lands of Otago now occupied by pastoral tenantsMr De Lautour moved a resolution on the subject, and was warmly supported by Sir George Grey and several others. The motion for going into Committee was carried by 40 to 35, Mr De Lautour's amendment being thus negatived. In Committee, the Public Works Estimates were considered, and the remaining votes passed as printed.