POLITICAL NEWS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3138, 19 July 1881, Page 3

POLITICAL NEWS.

[by telegraph.]

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Wellington, July 19,

The Woman's Franchise Bill, introduced by Dr. Wallis, provides that any woman of the age of twenty-one years or upwards, having to her separate use and right a freehold estate in possession situated in any electoral district of the value of £25, whether subject to incumbrances or not, and fco which she has become entitled afc least six calendar months before the registration of her vote, shall be qualified as an elector, and vote at the election of members. No other qualification shall entitle her to vote, or be registered as an elector. The Roads Construction Bill is the title of tiie second of the Ministerial measures to deal with the question of local government. The main provisions of the bill were shadowed forth by the Colonial Treasurer in his speech on local government. A board is to bo formed, to consist of four persons, one to be the Minister for Public Works, and three to be elected by the House under the direction of the Speaker by ballot. The three members of the board then elected shall hold office from session to session. In the event of any member of the board dying or resigning during the recess the Speaker is to appoint another, who shall hold office until the next election takes place. Any member of the House may be a member of tho board, and the Disqualification Act of 1878 is repealed as regards a member of the House receiving payment is concerned. The board is made a corporate body, with power to elect a chairman and make bye-laws, but such laws are required to be sanctioned by the Colonial Treasurer. Clause 11 states that £150,000 of the 1879 loan will be credited to the board for main roads account, and a similar sum will be paid to the same account out of the land fund, provided any surplus remains after defraying the expense of surveys and the administration of Crown lands. The County Councils are to have the same power over main roads as though they wero county roads. If any County Council wants aid, ifc must make application to the board, and if the board has funds it will be devisable equally among tho County Councils applying, and if not the board is to grant aid in each case pro rata in such manner as the board considers equitable, one-fourth of the sum to be obtained from the board to be repaid within ten years, the sum to be raised by a special rate levied. Clause 34 gives the board power to refuse any application upon the following grounds : that no money is then available ; that the applicants have not complied with the terms of the Act ; but refusal on one occasion not to prevent an application at a future date. Clauses 39 to 50 inclusivo deal with the matters of special rates, their levy, of a poll of the rate-payers on the question, and tho collection of special rates by debenture holders. The following mortgages havo been effected under the Land Transfer Acts during the past year ; —Otago, £1,987,310 ;

Southland, £1,778,851 ; Canterbury, £1,006,770; Auckland, £565,438 - Wellington, £453,010 • Hawke's Bay, £158,886 ; Taranaki, £52,909 ; Marlborough, £52,154 ; Nelson, £49,7-17; Westland, £22,819. The aggregate number of acres (country, town, and suburban) covered by these mortgages is 1,071,125, averaging £5 per acre. The Parihaka meeting was very largely attended, but the weather interfered with the proceedings. The meeting square was not occupied until late yesterday, and tbe speeches of Te Whiti and Tohu were short. The contention is to be carried on with the government by boys who are living near the fence afc Parapara, and who were arrested and liberated last year on account of their youth, and who have been lately fencing a cultivation to seaward of the road. Tohu says tbat they will continue for seven months, when all will be settled. The natives have fourteen thousand pigeons, kakas, and tuis, which are to be distributed when the weather is sufficiently line. There is no sign of submission, but the released prisoners and those who were not arrested are to take rest, while a party of boys carry on the agitation, which will probably be confined to the vicinity of Parihaka. A mounted patrol ia maintained between Pungarehu and the fence by the Armed Constabulary.