General Assembly.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 430, 3 September 1880, Page 3

General Assembly.

PARLIAMENTARY ITEMS.

In the House of Representatives on Monday, an amendment was made to the Financial Arrangements Act, by message fro;n the Governor, to tlie effect th.at the 20 per cent of land fund should be payable to local bodies to August Ist, 1380, instead of April Ist, 1880, as originally proposed. The Hon J. Hall said that this alteration was mado in accordance with what he understood was the general desire of the members of tho House. Tho amendment was agreed to. An amendment was proposed to the Public Works Bill, providing for the reclamation of certain lands at the head of Dunedin Harbor.

The proposal olicited considerable opposition, it being urged that it was unfair to bring it forward when several members interested had gone aw-.iy.

The amendment to the cbiu«e was agreed to on the voices, and the clause an amended was carried.

Sir G. Grey gave notice of a motion which he said he would move early next session. The motion was very lengthy, but the gist of it was to censure , the Government for their action in regard to the Pateteu Block.

Mr Beetham gave notice that early next session he would move " That the previous Government be censored for the payment/of the sum of L3OOO to Mr Rees, as reported by tho Public Accounts Committee."

Mr Sheehan said that the motion tabled by his colleague re the Patetere block was most unfair both to himself and another member of this House. He also objected to the resolution just tabled by tho member for the Wairarapa. After a debate in the course of which Messrs Turnbull and Montgomery deprecated tho bringing down of motions reflecting on members at the close of a session to be considered next session. Both motions wore withdrawn. The Hon. R. Oliver moved tho second reading of the Railways Contraction Bill, 1880, to authorize the line from Hamilton to Cambridge. Mr Murray reprobated the action of the Government in bringing down tho Bill at , this late period of the session, and concluded by moving tho amendment on the J Order Paper. The Hon. R. Oliver said that if members would consent to read tho Bill a second time and with a view of bringing kthe session at once to a close, Government would not press it further thi.3 session. I The motion for second reading was then pit and carried, ayes, 25. noes, 17, and the Bill was read a second time. The Hon. E. Oliver said that in accordance with the promise he had made he did not intend proceeding with the Bill further. Tho House went into committee on the Permanent Officers SalarieH Bill. The Bill provides that there .shall be deducted from salaries fixed and piyable under the Permanent Act of the 10 per cent, for each month, commencing with August, 1830, and ending wilh June, 1881. Tho Bill wna read a second time. The Hon. E. Richardson niovod that ho Chairman leave the chair, which wos sto j a .Jivhion of 9 to 29.

Mr Macandrew moved as an amendment that the clause be made to read without any exemption whatever. The motion was lost on a division of 18 to 19. The Hon. W. Gisbome moved as an amendment to make the reductions apply also to the Governor's salary. The amendment was lost by 19 to 11. The Bill was reported, read a third time and passed. Mr Johnson desired to place on reccrd a statement of the amount of money spent by the Roman Catholics of New Zealand on education, and the number of children attending their school. They represented one-seventh of the community, and they, naturally, felt very sore at the way they were treated under the existing law. Mr J. C. Brown complained that by the Representation Bill, two Taranaki districts which did not together contain as many electors as his district, were to be given double representation. Mr Macandrew protested against the late hours to which the House had been forced to sit, and against money being voted at such hours. Mr Montgomery gave a number of reasons for considering tb result of the session as exceeding unsatisfactory. Messrs Barron and Thomson criticised the work of the session at some length, the former stating that barren as the results had been, they would have been much more so but for the assistence given by the Opposition to pass the few measures that had gone through. The Hon J. Hall replied that there never was a session when discussion for the sake of discussian was indulged in as the presant. The secret of the time being spent needlessly was that a more disorganised and disorderly set than the Opposition had ever been known in that House. • At I. a.m. there being no quorum, the Speaker left the chair. On Tuesday, Mr Hutchison revie Jved at some length the work of the session. He complained bitterly that whiie blocks of land had been set apart for Mr Vessy Stewart and other speculators, not an acre could be had : by the colonists who had borne the heat and burden of the day. The motion that tho Appropriation Bill should pass was then put and carried. On Wednesday, the Council met at 2.30 p.m. There were fifteen Councillors present. The Attorney-General laid on tbe table a return to an order of the Council of the number of Jusiices of the Peace who had been insolvent up to August 1, 1880. The return was oideied to be printed. A lint of Bills which had received the royal assent having been read, the members of the House of Rep'-escntatives appeared to the number of 15, and the Commissioners, Sir William Fii/.herbert, Hons John Johnston, G. M. Waterhouse, F. Wliitakcr, and Colonel Whitinore, having re;d their commission, declared Parliament to be prorogued until Wcdn> sday, Dec. 1 next.