PARLIAMENT.

Evening Star, Issue 4191, 2 August 1876, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

[Bt TelmbaTh.l , : : * (From our. Spedal ,C<mKap6H^ti)

_ Wellington, August k j The prmcipalbusinevs of • terday afternoon whs the consideration of : ,©r Pollen’s motion to recommit the Beghlation of Elections Bill with a~view'of Erasing the proxy clause feofcftbjF Col. Whitmore. In moving it, Dr Pollen said Auckland and Hawkes Bay were, tiie; only places EiC the Colony that recognised proky voting' 1 • reminded the Council ; that : there, was an impression abroad that the Council had a most tender regard for property, and this was an opportunity of showing the ooimtry thati it was abounded. As.the,clause it seemed as i! it were in the 'interests of m tiw proxy vfaa notbyit extended to: miners and the thousand mid one otberpersonsi the various Bills now to vote, jf speech, which he in Meaed indioate that he was about seek the sum-ages ®f the miners. The pbo^man 8 pr6poßed “ theinterests of the m*«o! H °- n -x Waterhouse opposed the Clause, as introducing, a new system, which W( tf d t? P n D d °or.to frightful abuses. Mr Hall, who saidlthe ratepayers throughout; the Colony didhota»ifo* itJaijui ‘Opposed the clause;' - n. : .■. a “gjMed.. that the ejause itabpCration. • Ths^Hcm^Mf^HbbtSlb^^ as a imall eockatoo,' supported the ,9 n adjourned till to-mom^. In the House ofEepresentatiyea, , Io o ?SJ nit i fce * °H the Corpor&tious Bill on clause 170. givxng power to munioioaUtti to lease for twenty-one years, amendment provided that lands faSsSolet by of feSe pu ')? Meß toa y be tor any Iff® 1 exceeding sixty-six yeirs. ' This waa agreed .to oo the >ofo& 4 Would, have s—Saturday' mpnung bnt for Mr 9®°V«bnacy:, ;ii .V Th saicUWeatl»nd Would like to %e in the same boat and moved, as aiurther proviso, and UJtowise

yr v t agreed to |qmd some laughter. The merriment was renewed when Mr Stevens pro*' <gC>Bed “and likewise Canterbury,” which, was carried; but the House uas fairly con- : rolled when Mr Carrington proposed the extension ,of the clause to Taranaki. This was too much for Mr Bastings, who said the; litre,most be drawn somewhere,aud he in-: tended to draw it at Taranaki. Mr Johnston next proposed thut the clause should include Wellington, and at Mr Reid’s sug-; gostion Otago, and at Mr Seymour’s sugges-j tioh Marlborough, were added. = The Government then intimated that the; clause b? reconsidered and recom-j with a view of application general. •; % ’ ;i; Mr Eeid ashed the Goveirmnent to eon-i siderthead visibility of'allowing thelocal bodiekte-fik .the their leises, provided there wis a.deceniual valuation. '

The House adiourned at 5.30 p.m. ; >

{Per Prett Agency.) On the House resuming at 7.30 p.na., Mr Whitaker moved his resolutions; speaking for two hours. He trayefledover the most salient points of ofiiib Colony.qsr waste lends of the that ip this Colony, as way the case in aU cthep colonies and countries, the waate lands werp property of the State. The hod. member argued that the term ‘'compact I’ was a misnomer, and had been coined since - '-18$6 ; that.the arrangement then made trap : . merely, temporary and subject ’to the ratifi- - ,catioh.of the. Imperial Parliament, 'and ihfe . Imperial Parliament washed its hands of the matter by declining to allow Provincial Governments to dead, with waste lands; that the arrangement had'never been made it bad .been it would not have been - altered and modifietl so often as itf’ whs. during' years ; that .the^ - credit of the Gtolony' wqs becoming very (bird at Home, and our had been so- entangled and intricate that.no ordinary mind could get a fair, idea; of them*; that the only way to get out of our difficulties, simplify bug; .system of finance, and raise the o edit of the Colony, was to make the land fund |&iohqd revenue. ; The hon, member contended , teat there, was ,no legal or moral obligation, no compact between two parties, to. prevent this being done, and that because the South lsland bad for twenty years.;enjbyed the prescriptive light,to the lands of. that island it.was time the Colony resumed its own, and the North Island' had,lts, turn. Sooner'of liter tse necessities of the Colony must make it come to this. . ’ ' ; The Premier, in a speeph of an hour arid' a-halfs traversed, the mampoiqts of Mr Whitaker’s speech,, and arghed thkt his proposals were inexpedient, unpolitib, and unjuste-that, cajl, it -what, they would, .compact .or arrangement—there had.. beeu| a solemn nnders'tahding.arrived V in 185b, aid all the legislation .since .then that affected the waste lands of the Crown was based upon the financial resolutions of that year So firm was, the feeling upon that point that no man dared, with any reasonable' prospect of snccess. propose- to-upset that underatahding. When it was made the general feeling . Wto that the North Island bad the best bf . ..thb bargain; so much, so, that a re-adjnst- *’ ment had been provided for. While the . North gave, way to the pressure of eiroum- ■' stances, and, sacrificed its land fund, the : South put up with all sorts of inconvenience sooner thte part with their land at .Iqw Mr Richmond,' then. .Mr Whitaker’s colleague, in snpporii b£ his statements,' and said it wit mere 'quibbling' to upset- jthe arrangements then made, Reattributed the financial difficulties of" the year partly to .the lirge sums. already borrowed, and partly to the action of people at Borne, who ought not to ran down the credit of the Colony. He spoke hopefully of tiding over the threatened dangers, Tbe Premier said he looked upon these resolutions as only a stage towards separation, as hurtful to the pubuc credit, and as cilculated to retard gll ioe proposed legislation for the benefit of the outlying districts. He Showed how the pdblic works had increased the population of the Colony, and placed her in a better positibji.thaii eyer she, was to beef extra taxation, fhoiigh they -' Chd not'thihk this would be necessary. Sir George Grey, in a few remarks, intimated, that he w’ould move for Insular Sbpa- ‘ ■ Tatung ’frith the Beat of GoVernmeht for the North Island in Auckland and for the South in Canterbury; the seat of the Colonial Government to remain at Wellington. Mr Whitaker declining to reply, a division was taken, and the resolutions were lost by 54 to 21. ' u The' following is the division list:— Ayes': Andrew (teller), Douglas, Gibbs, Sir George Grey, Homl-n, Lusk, ilacfarlane, Send, G. Bees, Biobmond, Bowc, Sharp, Swansbu, Tawiti, Sale, Tonks, Wakefield, Whitaker (teller), Williams, and Wood, E G. Noes : Atkinson, Baigent, Ballance, Barff, Bautings, Bowen, Brandon; Brown, J. C., Brown, J. £., Bryce, Burns, Button, Carrington, Cox, Delatonr, Fisher, Fitzroy, Henry, Hislop, -Hodgkinspn, Hunter, Johnston, Joyce, Kennedy, Kenny, liirnaoh, Lnmsden, Macandrew' (‘ eller), Headers, Sir D. M'Lean, M’Laan G.. Montgomeri', Moorhodae, Hurray, Hurray-Aynsley, Pearce, Pyue, Et-id D., Beynolds (teller), Bicbardson, Bolleston, Seatpn, -' Seymour, Starimski, Stafford, Stevens, Stout,' Tairoe, I'eschmsker, Thompson, Tribe, Sir Julius Vogel, Watson, and Woolcock. Sir ' George ‘ Grey’s resolutions will be moved <m Thursday next at 7.30 p.m., until which time the House stands adjourned. I

: ABOUT THE LOBBIES. r . i ~T. {From our Social ' Corr apondent. ■ :Wellington, August 2. The evidence adduced before the Eastern

Maori Election Committee was'of an extraordinary kind. It became necessary 'to appoint a deputy returning in one district,..but oijly three persons Were eligible —one who could neither read nor write, a second who did not understand M aori, and the third the returning officer’s son, who was appointed. The latter’s idea of his duties was most peculiar, hj e considered himself deputy .;to- Hepore Petal, the Government candidate, and filled up his books, which he appeared to think did the duty of ballot papers, with, the name of one candidate only, and up to the last acted on the belief that there were only two,- while in fact there were four candidates, gome of these books were circulated in the southern part of the district, and,? according to Mr Sheehan's evidence, on the polling day-gOO of these voters were brought down to Masterbon in favor of Karaitiana, but were rejected as informal The committee considered that 250 votes that might have been polled in part of the. district by Potai more than counterbalanced the rejected 300 of Karaitiana; ahd, therefore, concluded that no material .difference in the candidates positions could have resulted if things had peen regularly conducted, and they reported accordingly. Mr Fyke’s Gold Duty Bill proposes to reduce the export duty from January 1 next to Is, and from January 1, 1878, to 8d per ounce, Mr Whitaker’s speech last night is admitted to be the best during the.session, but it was that of a special pleader. Sir J. Vogel spoke for an hour and a half, hut he was very labored fthd it was too apparent that he ‘^v^’ill.*^ half-an-nonris adjourn* :■ ment Sir George Grey rose to give notic:. of Separation resolutions, which he did in * a, Very short speech. Mr Macandraw wa» equally brief. 1 Auckland mwbwwho vote^i

with the aoea waa Mr Coj* who has strong southern proclivities. There were six pair? including Messrs Sheehan, O’Rorke. and Naki.

Some of the Auckland members are very savage at Sir George Grey’s action in virtually discountenancing the resolution. They allege that Jhis. Separation resolutions and the manner in which they were moved lost t 'em several votes ; and it is not impossible; that the Opposition will find their ranks 1 thinned some#hat at the next division. ’ :

In consequence of f* ir J; Vogel announcing that the Government would not go on with business in the face of Sir G. t rey’s resolu-; tions, Messrs Stout and Reid commented oq the difference in theiri attitude -when' Mr Whitaker brought down his and other speakers Said it would have beta bettel if the Government had taken similar action then. •