THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Evening Star, Issue 3937, 7 October 1875, Page 2

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

[Br Telegraph. J Wel' inoton, October 7. Tatho Legislative Council yesterday afternoon, The second reading of the Abolition Bill wacarried by 23 votes against 4. In the House of Repres utatives, Some disom-skm ensued upon the question whether the Ootmuissioner of elegnphs should he faded upon to slate at, what hour trie Ohiueluuvi aduers’ nights Committee Report wa,handed in at the Telegraph Office, dr Reynolds did not think he would be justified in giving the information unless the Huire insi ted upon it. The Speaker said the report must have been obtained in some smreptitiom manner, and it to some extent implicated the honor of the servant if the House. Air l-ryoe (Chairman of Committe) explainer that, upon the strength,of what had fallen from the Speaker in a piiv.ite c nversaiiou upon die subject, bo made no secret f the evi deuce nor ..f the drat .eport,aml showed them to anybody desirous of looking at them. As each of them had pass, d out of his hands for some time, he would not have been surprised had they been telegraph d before they 1 a 1 been. He understood, bom the Speaker, that the practice of the Imperial Parliament, wo in ■he direction of fr e | übiety, and that, as it was not a secret committee, and to imperative iu e existed agai. st the proceedings of the comm it tee becoming knoivu, he wa carel-si in die matter. lie completely exonerated the officer ot the house from auy blame. Mr Luokie depreo.it. d taking auy notice of such an important questio i as iimkiug a quest on of privdege of the publication of something -nt-uded in any case to be nude public. Air Pyke objected to the premature publication of what w;ii virtually an incomplete judgment of the.commit tee " The matter was -iroppel without further comment The Nat ve Minister announced that the servioei of the peiaoa principally concerned in the Ohmemun miners’ lights transaction as Government agent and laud purchaser had been dis-

neDW>d with, and th* Hon«* would b« ir. forflMd Tan th- r aotio.i the GoT«ram« u v aulJai uke ;u the matter. In reply to Mr -heehan, lha Native inl-ttr said papers relating to tho Que-n of B» uty uliar.-holders were table C ° l) ed pM ' paiftt(U '-- t0 beiu K laid upon the Sii '.POigeGrey cave notice to move a reso* b.tmii jo the effect that the purchase o c 1- asing ■J Is itive lauds for o by private individuals, luou-h the instrumentality of Government "fficers on eir own account, is contrary to the public mte.est.aud that all land obtained under hose conditions should be deeme i to be part of the public estate, and that th > amounts expert x*d thereon should be refunded. Mr Von Der Hcyde moved for an address to the Governor, to pi -ce L 1,500 on tho Supplements iy Estimates, for furnishing Government House at ' uckland. .Mr Richardson hoped the motion would be withdrawn, as there was a considerable sura already on the Lstimates for repairs and furnishinc th-.t residence, and if anv further article *f urniture would be required the Government would have meat-s for obta ning them. The motion was withdrawn, Mr Sheehan moved that th* report of th* Native Affairs Committee in leferetue to unr u'filed promises to N.tries 0 f the Middle Isl.uul, be ref. rred to the Government for their 'uvonble consideration. The >alive Minister said if the Houie had tint before this dealt with these claims, it was -imply b’Cause of the extravayant nature of he claims put forward. He had no doubt the House wouid be pn pared to sanction anything dvr and reasonable, but it wa- imp *sible the Committee could sanc-ion su hj an extravagant claim as two millions, besides land. There wa* ■o doubt, there w< r unfulfilled promises re--rdim' schools i:o-.pitals, ~nd med'eal attendui e, and in. ooubt >he ? i<»u ■sv; woul l recognise 11 just clain-8, but it was injurious to and do' udmgthe Natives to encouragr any hop* (hat th ir prep sterous claims won d be likely to b* me; hy the country. t he debate was adjourned for a week. Mr Macnndrew moveil that- the House Agree ■ ith tlie report of the Public Petitions Uom* ran tee on the petition of Dr O’Donoghue, of Lort < halm era, He thought that gentleman ’■■ry baldly dealt with, and had the control of immigration remained in the baud* of the Pro- - iiicnd Government the amount (L4O0) would have been paid long ago. Major % tkinson opposed it, saying the Go--ci ament were wdling to pay what was due, or uiy amount tha' their officer ’ would certify to, '■ ’d they were the best judges of the services reed, red I he mot on was agreed to on the voices. Prom ouy own Oorreitpoudi'ni,} ' ’ll Mr Thomson’s motion that it is desirable Government should give effect to the recommendation of the orks Couimittc* on the subject of the railway deviation at Waitepeka, Mr Richardson said the deviation would involve un a Klil■ onal cost of Ll7,OiH). It aould mike the line abou l a mile longer, and otto resu.t of it would be a long gradient, very much steeper than any other gradient on either side of the line for some dis’ance. The Engl-necr-in-Ghief considered that it would be a great mistake to take the main line along the W ai epeka Valiev, as it would not only involve the additional cost he had name ', hut for all rime it would impose an a..ditional cost per ton for every ton of goods taken over the lino. The ad iilional cost of the deviation would be sufficient te make a branch line from B ilchuha to a spot more u-eful to th • settlers in that pait of Hie d-S’.rict. The Eiigin<>er-in-Gliit-f recognis j t m -st distinctly thac if thia expenditu.r* w.v- to he incurred for the benefit of 'bat particular .di tiict, it should be incurred so its to give the utmost pons.hle accommodation to the settlers there, Mr ar uthers considered—nod he (the Minister), so far as he could learn, considered lie was quite ri.ht -that it would be better to adopt the biancli line. Ho warned the House that, if the dev alien was to be ni ide, the a ditional amount mud come out of loan, or works already authorised or under contract must run shoi tby so much. The t urvi ys o' this deviation were not completed—th* re had been nothingbut a preliminary survey sufficient to enable the d< part-meut to make • comparative es imatc. Ih* thing had been nuip scly held up until this matter was settled. Mr Macandrew naked if the Government would accept the decis-ou ef the House on the subject. ••r dichardson said the Government were bound to accept iht House’s decision, but at the same time the decision would be of li tie av. il unless the House voted tho necessary money for the work. ■ir Maoan row ■-aid he was sorry the Government had not seen their way to give a favorable rep’y. Kven if the deviation cost 1 -17,000. it would be advishlale and economical for tho i olony to expend that amount, as the receipts fr..m the railway going by the way of NVaitepoka would more than recoup the extra sum, But it was impossible to conceive tbe •■xtra, mile of Hue should cost thiee time* the average '■oat per mile. Mr 1 1 ichardaon pointed out that the additional cost extended over the whole length of the line. Ur Macandrew said that, knowing the district poifectly 'veil, he was perfectly satisfied That in the public inter sis, and on the ground of public policy, if tho cost were L 30.000 more tha him should go bv way of Writoprica. He was not sa isfied with the suivey said to have been made, but had every confidence that if tho Minister for J üblic Woiks visited the round himself, he would see the thing exactly ns hi* (Mr Macandrew) and the public saw it. With tbc-it view he pro nosed as an amendment that, before formally deciding upon the proposed deviation, it is desirable (hat the Minister for Public Works should visit the locality to enabh.> him to judge of the merits of the case U’-in personal observation.

Mr Murray strongly supported the deviation, Mr Reynolds remarked that the Munster for Public Works might find it impossible to visit the district. - (Mr Macandrew : “ Well, we will chance that.”) —But he (Mr Reynolds) was not disp isod to allow the constru tion of the line to be de'aycd twelve months on such a chance. Ft had been stopped for a considerable time already,—(Mr Macandrew: "No.”) —He (Mr ■ -eynolds) knew better-the line would have i>e n commenced long since but for the district a-Hti'iny for Hie deviation. Another consideration was whe’her the House would be justified in levying an additional ra'e of from fourpcnce to sixpence per ton on all goods carried over the line, which would have been imposed if the deviation were made. (Mr Macandrew : “ No. ’) 'uch was the r. port given in by the 1 'apartment. He (Mr Reynolds) was perfotly s..:isfi«d that it would not. be for the benefit of (he main lino that the deviation should take place. Mr bicb-mlson said there could be no objection to the amendment, but it would neoesaanlv involve twelve months’ delay, as if the deviation was decided upon the matter would be hung up until a vote for purposes a as obtained next session. I he amendment was agreed to. The Uonse adjourned ai 5 30 p.m. ( Per Press Agency.) XT, on the House resuming at 7.30 *1 < ; >crge Grey moved die second reading of lus Bill for abolishing the duties on tea coffee, sugar and flour. 11 e contended that the Bill would relieve the Colony of taxation to the extent of about 1.220,000 per annum, which would be a gie-it boon to the working men of t e Colon t, and give an impetus to its pro-sp-nly He wanted to see the wealthy classes ot .he omny contribute a filler proportion r! T h T Ul - ey * v,e doing it present. If he ha i the fomuug of the Ksti mates he comd- educe them by about 1,150,000 without impairing the vflicieucy of the public service in any way. If the < ovemmeut would now meet him hj df-way on the Question ho bopea at least to see them equaliso the inoHenou ot taxation by imposing a duty of a half-psnny per pound up n exported wool * Major Atkinson opposed the Bill, ami said if thehon gentleman . rpected it to pan or not, it was brought down in such a form as com* pe led the Government to rojaot it •• o expicased his surprise at tho hon. gentleman introducing a Bill to reduce the revenue of tho Colony, when a fow days before hj had told the House that the financial statement was

Oidy drawn ”p ; o conceal an enormous deficit, and to hoodwink the creditor?* of the Colony, and staled that it was an impossibility for the Cc’ony to meet its liabilities. A short time before the same hou. gentleman attempted to sweep awav from the Golony at one stroke n revenue of L 176.000, and now he attempted to deprive it of L 230,000, by a scheme which he said wo Id bring glory to the Government that carried it ont. The Treasurer the* quoted a series of approximate fables showing the average of what the (bff -rent classes of the commun'ty contributed towards tua revenue, with the object of proving th>r the incidence of taxation did not press so heavily upon the working classes as was sought to bo made out; and also to show that the wealthier classes contributed towards the rev nuc more than they were usually cr-. divc.; with doing. Ho stigmatised the Bill a 3 being not worthy of serious consideration. The following members opposed the Bill, mainly upon the giound that it was inopportune at that poib'd of the session, after tho Estimates had been submitted, and beo use the question had not been approached in the proper way Messrs O’Bonor, Gibbs, Vndrcvv, Wakefield. Reynolds, White, Hunter, Joseph Shep herd, Sir D, M’Lean, M’Gladian, Tunny, and Harrison. The lat named moved the previous question in order to shelve the Bill. Af er Sir G. Grey had replied, the Bill was rejected by forty-one a ainst fifteen. Mr Harrison having withdrawn his motion, the remainder of the sitting was occupied with the Westland Waste Lands Act Amendment Bill, which went throu hj committee. The Home adjourned at 12.50 a.nr.