THE COUNCIL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1589, 5 November 1912, Page 8

THE COUNCIL.

; THE JOSHUA JONES CLAIMS. 1 The Legislative Council met at 11 o'clock- * .'- p-estcrday morning. 1 j ; 1 .The-Hon. J.. RIGG moved:— I That the !report of the Joint' Committee on the [Joshua Jones Claims,-laid on the table of ir . the Council on November 1, 1912, be referred; to the Government for favourable • consideration. - , . . The. Hon. H. D. BELL, said-he'did'not >. ■wish to express any on the matt; •. v- /ter riowy because neither. ho nor his col- i „ Ueagues'had had an opportunity of consid- / (; 'ering'it.- It certainly'was very !nnfor- ... ... -t unate, however; that the Council,. . had not,had an opportunity of consider-' ,j " ing the '.report, should , be. asked ,to . take •: fapou itself. the' function • of'.- referring'the'" 'report to the Government for favourable ; ; . . , consideration. 'Ho suggested to the mover that beshouldlouvo out tho word/ i s "favourable." Otherwise, hb was asking" the Council to.-adopt. the report, and mcommend'it for'favourable-consideration--.when they' knew nothing about it. ... Tho Hon; J1 Rigg said ho had no objecj. . Jtion to the suggested alteration.. t. The amendment was agreed to, and the |Smotion passed on tho voiccs. ') •. , ; A LAND PETITION. . ' A report was .tabled by the Native Affairs Committee on tho petition of Wm. •. [Humphries, of New Plymouth,. who aljleged that, be , Jiad; suffered, - hardship jthrough. 'certain enactments --aScoting' I ' . plaori'-lands. The'committee, expressed (the opinion that,the report should be reierred;;to';the.Government for considera- ■ tion. This was'agreed,to. PUBLIC WORKS AND LAND.SETTLE. ] ; y MENT. '- -: ■ ■ Tho' AicV to Public 'Works and Land Settlement Bill was received from the' House 1 T .of Representatives, and-read a first time. - Later the Bill was put through its final i- r stages and passed.- . -v;-;- '. - , LAND. LAWS'AMENDMENT. - THE BILL PASSED. Tie Hon. H. D. BELL moved the third . . reading of the-Land Laws ',Amendment ■ (Bill.- . Referring to .certain, comment, . fwhich appeared-m a local nowspaper, to ' effect that tlie'Council was having a p ... fair weather passage with the Laudlßill, i air. Bell ■ remarked that - the writer :had . omitted to refer, Bill r -, . ; .lad been fully considered clause by clause '. '■. jby the ' Land Committee.;. The Council, f '' .through its tiommittee, .' had most fully ■ ■ und- exhaustively.'examined and inquired into every del ail of each section of the Bill. : ..." ' '.y-' The Hon.. J. EIGG said he was prepared ' . ft o vote, against- the' Bill' because lie op- . mosed it on;-principle.'--It'Was a-freehold jBiU, and he stood for'.land nationalisation. It was-only on these grounds" he would !' . : rvote against , it. ! Mr. Eigg expressed the 'opinion that the time was ripe,' for. 'a V .- Ifre6h start in.land matters.. It was riot worth fighting for the -.-remaining; on'e'j -, tenth of the'leasehold. The .- late . Mr. t ■ Seddon had "put his back, to tho door" : on the land question,.but itwas.a'folding i: ;'d6or.'- (Laughter.) The - Liberal party . elso had nailed their "colours' to "tho Blast"- 1 - . . I The Hon. H. D. Bell: "Half-mast." ! ... ■! The Hon. J. Rigg: I believe the colours i'.' 'are still, nailed to the mHst, but 'the "ship . has gone down. ' The Hon; 0. Samuel: "They, lowered i • V. the'.colours, to save the ship:'' :. • ■ Continuing; Mr. Bigg argued that it was "only by a system of land nationalisation s'.'. V.s' that, we; could hdpe-to get the KiftMhted' '-J; - 1 ' Sncfemeht for the,?people. : : ' .v.. :h"he Minister Congratulated;: The Hon. 0. SAMUEL referred to the - . great attention Which' .it...hdd'.teeh, fquiid posabls to give iinportaiit'Bills' ih tlte last' ruih .'of; the He - had nbt t.-thought'such wis ji6i!Jiblo after the riiSh » of 'pasVs6'3sltfiis.'''Eath':'keMuJ& hSd bes'n 'submitted to its Select Coirimittee,', -aM ! ' they hail. had the 'Minister . bi-sseiit at' itheSe. meetings to, eiplairi the' Bills.';. They Iliad'not reached ;an ideal state, but he •': liiust congratulate the Leader of the Coun- ■ cil on the good work'which ho had been largely the means of enabling tho Council"to do. Mr..Samuel said lie' did, n6t think the Bill would have a very great ;• bencficial effect, but ,wh'at'effect'it would - Ivavo would, he; believed;'be lieneficial. He thought they would be justified in' trying ■ pciine of the experiments • which it- was broposed to "try ' under tHe Billl Mr. ! Bamuel proceeded to ' with the Bill in detail, and ; t.he qnestion of land settlement'generally at great'length, and advo- ( cited the ft anting of the freehold tenure, , srhich, h© contended, would'be to the best

advantage of the oountry. The quicker ,wo get rid of the 999 years' lease the better. Ho congratulated the Government on dts proposals in regard to lands for settlement lands, but thought they might have gone further and given the .freehold of what was thero termed national endow-, mont lands. It would not bo, long, he-pro-, dieted, 'before- the Government would realise, that this-, was the desire of the country.- The present Government, said 'Mr- Samuel m passing, was/ the first for very many years that had a Minister for Lands who was a North Islander. The North Island, he added, must no longer •be ruled,by the politic;.of-the South; In respect to land the politics of this:cPuntry had in the past been, tlie politics of the ■ South arid-not the North Island, and the -interests' of the people of the North would now havo to bo considered in matters 'of land settlement. . „ Tho Hon. C. H. MILLS spoke briefly I in favour of the leasehold. ' The Council adjourned at 1 p.m. and resumed again at 2.80 p.m. " "A Feeler." ■ ■ , . The Hon. J. BASR .described the. Bill as a "feeler."- It had good points, but he would riot vote for it. There was nothing ;in the Bill that' 'would .promote close settlement; nothing that would' stop 'gambling in land; nothing to encourage'or iconipel ' settlement on tho land for , the purpose of cultivating, tho soil. The provisions' regardiflg T Native lands would encourage, land speculation, arid there was nothing in the Bill for. the' iuan with no considerable capital. .On these grounds, lie. argued, - tho Bill would be' ineffective, and himself'-justified :-in .voting .'against it. ■ Tho-■Bill.,vgrft|ited a ;"'quagrmiro" -for'! a -solid concrete foundation.,, ■ The Hon. R: A.' LOUGHNAN said he jwould votje. for. (the' Bill' because, he -regarded it-'as ' well; iritentioned.' The objects the'framers-of-the Bill "had.in. view, were well:'.wortlua '.test.'. If..the Bill .w.as successful-thore would" be. puaijitity of : cohditionV-w.hich 'fairly': stable, \although' .riot'' under as good conditions' 5 as- the 1 present -land.-'laws afforded. ' ■ - - .'S '' . .'■ - . Tho Hon. J. T. .PATJL said he .would vote aga:irist"-the Bill' fpr; the' reasons -he had giveh ,when, spieaking' on the - committal of the Bill. ■ Ho did not. think the measure would promote settlement. The Hon; H. D; Bell:; "I think it will." • .- Mr. Panl said ho hoped it would be so, but he.was not as sanguine as the Leader of the Counoil. If the provisions' of Clause 3 liad been made compulsory he would have waived his objections 1 because; the measure would' then shave- promoted : further' settlement. " The Hon. J. ANSTEY'tqok Mt. Samuel to task'for.:raiiihg - the .cry North .versus South. ' This . cr.yr'he said,' '.was never heard ol the southern side,of Cook Strait,either in the newspaper's or : 'anywhere else.. Unfortunately, "it was rampant' in the North. Mr. A'nstey proceeded to again emphasise some of tho points he made in. the second reading debate. In conclusion he said he had hoped that the present Government .would have, treated tho ..land question - lHjjr radical and satisfactory manner. " Dnforturiately.'they had not done so: He felt certain that the Bill would accomplish nothirig in regard to settleujent. What .'little settlement it did induce-would:be far more'than coun-ter-balanced by the aggregation, that would take place under it. He was entirely opposed to tho Bill and would vote against it.'. ' Tho Hon. W. BEEHAN said the Bill, might do some good and he could riot see that it could do any harm. He would vote for the-Bill. . . • ,;■■ The Hon. MAJOR HARRIS said he would vote foy the Bill, with the object of encouraging' the Prime Minister in his next year's Land Bill: The Minister's Reply, ~ The, Hpn. H. D.. BELL; in his reply,, dealt principally with the remarks of the Labour representatives in the ' Council, and the Hon. J. Aristey,'" especially; those of Mr. Barr in regard to ~the speculator. The Government, said Sir. Bell, had ob.viously barred the .'speculator. .The Bill r declared the; policy of the Government, and'as the Council had declared that it would give the Government a fair chance to'carry-into l effect its policy he trusted that': they would pass the Bill. - . On a division the' third reading was carried,. the. voting'being For the Bill (13)— Bell, Callan,Luke,-Bee-hari, Gilmer, Collins, Louglirian, Kelly, Harris, . Thompson, "Mills, Wigram, Samuei. ■ Against the" Bill (4)—Rigg, Paul, Barr, Anstey. . The.Bill then passed. l ' LOCAL BODIES LOANS. Tlle-'llocal Bodies" Loans Bill wafl 'reported from Committee with consequential amendments and was' subsequently put through its final stages, and passed. Tho Council rose'at; 5;i5 p.m. until 11 a.m. to-day.