TO-DAY'S PARLIAMENT.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 99, 23 October 1895, Page 2

TO-DAY'S PARLIAMENT.

(PJSB PRESS ASSOCIATION I . Wellington, This Day. The House met at 11.30 a.m. - r Mr Ward annonnnced that three shipmasters had made independent examinations of the barque Geo. Thomson, and totally refuted the assertions of her crew regarding her sea-going qualities. After a thorough examination they found that " below and aloft " the vessel was in a very satisfactory condition. • [The crew alleged the ship was unseaworthy, and Mr Pirani brought the matter before the House. | . ' Replying to questions by Messrs G. J. Smith and Geo. Hutchison, Mr Seddon said he should consult the Colonial Bank directors, and if tb,ey had no oh- ' jection he should lay the' share list on the table. , He would also procure the totals of the schedules in the agreement and lay them on the table. He might say he had the opinion of the •President and Auditor of the Bank of New Zealand, that the agreement was a good one both for the colony and the Bank, but he would ask the President for a general report. Sir B. Stout expressed an opinion that the agreement was ultra vires, and that any shareholder conld upset it. He asked the Premier to take legal advice, whether or not this was so. Mr Seddon said he should take: legal advice on the point raised. If any doubt . existed on the . poim) they should remove it, although the Very thought of introducing another . Bank Bill gave them a cold shudder. He con*" sidered the agreement a straight-forward and business-like document, and one in the interests of the Bank of the colony. He did not wish to hurry members on a a matter of such great importance, and the debate on the agreement Would not be taken before to-morrow^ (Left Sitting.)