PARLIAMENT IN SESSION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1887, 23 October 1913, Page 4

PARLIAMENT IN SESSION.

A CHEVIOT SECTION.

OPPOSITION CHARGE DISPROVED.

DEFAMATION BILL.

STRAIGHT SPEAKING BY THE PREMIER.

0 boards who had knowledge of land and business. 4 : would you represent the public? n £ nste y suggested' that there should be art election by proportional b representation on a democratic franchise. t ,^ r ' ® 0 " -1 thought you were serious. ■I beg your pardon. ' Mr: 'Aii'stey 'complained that there W f possibility of a 'great deal of > pJural.votiiig for elections to the board in, that one individual who was a mem- . bei' of Several elective bodies could exercise several.votes.. . 3 Horf._J, R. SINCLAIR commend- . ea the Bill iii that tho constitution proFur for the collego took account of the fact that our educational system was, of ought to be. a complete whole, j He approved specially of: tho idea that - .. 0 , primary and secondary schools , should be represented on the board. t Raised Fees—and Hardships. . ,Tho Ho/1. J. DUTHIE said that only one flaw appeared to him in the Bill. 1 He rrcogmsed that fees might Kavo to ■ b« raised, but this .would in turn be j very awkward for many youths, who had won scholarships, and 1 entered upon ■ a-college career depending upon the amount of their scholarships for their • resources. Increased 1 fees might inflict upon such youths considerable hardship. , Mr. Bell: The Government payg all the fees of scholarship holders. Mr. Duthie: Then. I am misinform--1 et !' ■Mr. Bell said that this was the official information supplied to him. - Mr. .Duthie said he hoped that when fees were increased they would not be fixed at such a high level that parents might have, to withdraw their sons from - the college. Mr. Jeilkinson interjected that the Government paid tho fees of some scholarship holders only. • ■ Mr. D.ithie said he hoped the Minister would inquire into the matter', and would rectify the difficulty he had pointed out. The Hon. C. M, LUKE.said lie hoped the Government would, in'assessing a higher scale of fees, have regard to the cases of thoso. parents who could not affofH to pay .very _ much more than they were' now 1 paying! He admitted that'; more attention snopldr..b6;-,itui'iied to the primary education system of the country, and that our wholo scheme of education should bo very carefully reviewed. One result of the reform of our system would be, he hoped, better rewards for the teachers. | "Paid Servants." The Hon. J. E.- JENKINSON objected to the proposal that professors, paid servants of the council; should sit on t'ho council. Ho agreed that the country was-doing too much for higher education, and not enough for primary education. ' He did not approve of the "tomfool" suggestion " that the City Council' should be represented on the College Council. Mr. Bell: Would you like to alter it to Justices of tho Peace? Mr. Jenkinsoii did not claim that the Justices of tho I'eace might to bo represented, but he would have preferred to see tho Law Society represented rather than the City Cojncil—a body (Which could not possibly have anything to do with Victoria College.' j The Hon. J. B. CALLAN said he thought it would be a very unwise thine t& starve our universities. They should be made as perfect as possible, and if necessary the Government should not hesitate to spend the necessary money. Minister's Reply. The Hon. H. D. BELL said that the reason for the inclusion of a representative of tho City Council in tho College Council was that the college was nl the city of Wellington, and there were Ways in which tho city could with advantage take all interest not only in tho work of the institution but in the building and tho grounds. He was glad tho Bill had been generally Approved, becalise it represented an honest at-, tempt to give control of tho college to those people who wero most likely to know about educational affairs. He thought he might have misled Mr. Duthie slightly. The Government paid ail the fees of bursars, but he understood Mr. Diithio might have been ioferring to the holders of scholarships other than State bursaries. Tho proposal in , the Bill was not to allow the council to increase tho fees, which Wore fixed by the Government, but to charge a uniform tuition fee to all students for'the privilege of attending tho college. The second reading was agreed to on the voiceß. CANTERBURY COLLEGE. The next order of the day was tho Canterbury College Amendment Bill, which was exactly similar to the Victoria College Bill. The Hon. 11. D. 801 l moved that the Bill bo discharged from the Order Paper and set down for a later, date. Thero was somo opposition to tho Bill, he understood, and he did not apprehend that ho would go on with the measure. STALLIONS BILL. The Hon. H. D. BELL moved tho second reading ,'of tho Stallions Bill, which, ho said, had repeatedly been asked for by Farmers' Conferences. Tho principle of tho Bill was that all stallions tho services of which offftrdd for hire should bo examined andlicensed. It might yet be necessary to arnoiid the Bill to make it apply to racehorses, but there were special reasons why racehorses did not need to be registered, and it was not thought wise to interfere with the owners of those horsed in the Stud Book. The Hon. J. AN'STEY said Bill exempted all the stallioils in £»ew Zealand, and also all those likely to be hero for two years, and was therefore almost' useless. lie also thought tho .Bill should apply to thoroughbreds entered in the Stud Book, for there wero as many diseased and unsound, weedy stallions entered in the Stud Book as thero were outside of it. The Bill should bo general in its application. 'ITic Bill was read a second time and referred to the Stock Committee. COMPENSATION COURTS. Tho Hon. H. D. BELL moved tha second reading of tho Public .Works

The; Legislative Council met at 2.80 • p.m. ' Tho'Hon.-'.B. Harris was granted 14 Hays' ieave'of absence on account of illhealth.. Leave for, one month, also on account of illness, was granted to the Hon. T, Y. Duncan. FIRST READINCS; The -;Ghurch:qf England Trusis Bjll, 1913, wflsjfecelvcd. from the. House ,of Represdntsitives > and- ■ read a r first time." 'Pile' Land. Laws- Amendment/ Bill, 1913, Was also received from theHoiise j of Representatives and rea<l a ' first I time. The second reading was made an order of the day for to-day. . Tho Hon, H. D. BELL, in reply to & question as to whether, he-wotikLcoh-sider the advisability of. referring the Bill to tho Lands Committee, said that he would prefer to postpone his answer to this question until after the second loading. .If ; honourable metabers then thought that the Bill ought to go bev fore a committee,, ho. woultj agree to the proposal.... . . : • • Thirteen local Bills,. parsed by the House of, Representatives, were read a first time and referred- .to! comjnittees. : PUBLIC TRUST. The Ho.ii,. 11,..D. BELL moved tho •third reading of the Public Trust Of- . fice Amendment Bill. ;: The Hoiii-.G, JONES spoke of the ex- , fellent work of the Public Trust Ofßc6, arguing that the freely-circulated statements that the management of the office Was net what it should be woto .quite groundless. He hoped the Bill would so work. of -the De-partment'"as,-itolvmrtke-'it *,even more beneficial to tho pilblic. - The Bill was read a tliihl time 1 and ; passed. V\VICTORIA COLUECE. v j;' CONSTITUTION.. OF NEW COUNCIL. The floii! BEljL'moved the second reading of the Victoria' College Amendment Bill. He explained that with ithe of the clause altering tho' constitution of tho : College Council, the .Bill'-consisted mainly of machinery "clauses'." ''The only 'real chaiige in"the constitution of the Counthat, the professors of the Col-, lege, were permitted to appoint'two' of their, number, the Cpuncil. The constitution - now proposed for ■ Viotoria Collego-was .virtually the same, as that of the. Otago and- Auckland, Colleges. Theiobjection to the representatives of tho' professors sitting) on the Council had hithertojbeen that the.Council voted the professors' salaries, but after all this , was a very minor part of the ; Council's duty: The present Bill provided that professors on the Council could not vote on questions affecting tlio remuneration of professors.. Already the Professorial Board were represented oil the Council, but they were not al- - lowed-to. eledt. representatives from among their own number. His own opinion was that this arrangement had not been for tho good of VictoriaCollege. He thought also ' that tho proposal to allow the City Council of Wellington to elect a representative was .a good one, bolioving as he did that it would be'well to bring local ntithorities into, closer touch with our educational institutions. He commended also tho other new proposals in the Bill. lii tho process of change from | . the present system to tho new ono: the 1 tenure of office of. no sitting member of the Council would bo reduced. The Bill proposed also that tho Council should be empowered to charge to students a general'-tuition fee, above ordinary class fees. The dollego had never; been, and he saw no prospect of . its a self-supporting institution. A battle had been going on for j some time between those who wished to keep the fees low (much lower than they wero in any of the other colleges) aitd those who said that the fees ought to be hrofight Upto the levol that they now "Stood..at. in .the other colleges. The effect of the low fees had been that the number of students had increased heyond the capacity of the -teaching staff, and the collego was faced , with increased cost without an'income ; commensurate with it. His owin opinion was that the f«es would have to be increased. The Canterbury Sill. The Hon.' G.. J. SMITH said he hoped the arguments'advanced in favour of tile Bill would not bo used ,in favour of a proposal to make tho same constitution apply to Canterbury College. Tho latter institution; was very different from Victoria College, chiefly in that, it had an engineering school. He understood that tho Canterbury Collego Bill was not going to be proceeded with,';andlie assured tho Government-that if it were ever brought .up again it jvould be opposed by the council ;of the Canterbury College. Demands of Primary Education. The Hon.'O. SAMUEL congratulated / the. Government on their ingenuity in framing the-constituency for tho election of this board, as showing very great analytical skill. He wouldopposo tho clause in which it was proposed that two professors should sit 'On- tho Collego Council. He wont oil to discuss tho .education/ system; briefly, his opinion being that more money ought not,to be spent on higher education Until primary education was more adequately provided for. . _ The Hon. J. AJSSTEY said it was proposed ,to elect the board from a constituency of ' educationists. It seemed to him, however, that the public wild found tho money Ought to be : represented more adequately. . on tho board.' Also fome boards had to ad- ' minister huge reserves, and they did : it very badly sometimes. He suggested that tho tenants of theso lands, who were very often victimised by tho Dad .-management, should / bo represented. Other duties of some boards wero to invest money in. land and on mortgages. He" suggested either that these -duties, : which were Dpi eiucat-ibnal. should t be taken away from tho boards and S iv ® n to other anxiliary bodies, or that mem--fcera should b& appointed l to these

Amendment Bill. He explained that tho chject of tho Bill was to make it pos- # siblo for tlio Judge of a Compensation Court to bo changed. At present tho law was that once a court was constituted tho Judge could not be changed any moro than could tho assessors be changed. Tho Bill was read a second time on tho voices. Tho Council rose at '1.53 p.m.