GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1404, 15 August 1878, Page 3

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

[PER PRESS AOBNOY.J HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Wednesday, August 14. Tire House met at 2 30. QUESTIONS. Air Fox gave notice to ask if the Government had received any communication from Lord Beaconsfield regarding the settlement of the Eastern Question. He also gave notice to ask for further information than that already afforded regarding the recent Native meeting. Mr Barton gave notice to ask for the production of the depositions in tho case Queen v. O’Connor. ONEHUNGA WHARF. Air O’Rorke asked whether the water at tho end of tho now wharf of Onehunga is less deep than at the old one; whet her the piles were driven the proper depth and whether the harbor muster was consulted as to the suitability of the site. Air Mac ANDREW said that as soon as possible the necessary information would bo laid before tho House. railway servants injured. In reply to Mr Stevens, Mr Alacandhew said it was not proposed to make any provision to meet tho case of persons employed on railways, who suffered injury in the execution of their duty. They would deal with every individual case upon its merits, allowing six months’ salary in case of death. circulation of gazette. In reply to Mr Seaton, Air Macandrkw said that Road Boards and municipalities will be supplied with the “New Zealand Gazette ” free of expense. LUNATIC ASYLUMS. In reply' to Mr Rolleston, Mr Ballance said a report upon the present condition of the lunatic asylums of tho colony was in course of preparation. TAIPO BRIDGE. In replying to Mr George, Air Macandeew said it was the intention of Government to construct a bridge over the river Taipo, between Christchurch and Hokitika. THE BROGDEN CLAIMS. In reply to a question by Air Richardson, Mr Macandrew said the Brogden claims had not been settled, and ho had just laid upon the table a paper containing the fullest particulars in relation to these claims. CONSTABULARY. In reply to Air Sharp, Mr Ballance said tho Government did not intend to introduce a Constabulary Bill this session. J. QOODFELLOW’S CLAIM. Air Murray was informed by Mr MacAndrew that tho amount recommended by the committee as compensation to Joshua Goodfellow would be placed on the supplementary estimates. INSURANCE ON GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS. Upon the request of Mr Fox, the Government agreed to produce a return giving all particulars as to tho way in which the Government Buildings were insured during tho last year. GOVERNMENT ADVERTISEMENTS. Air Fox moved for a return of all advertisement a published by tho Government during the ymar terminating Ist July, inviting tenders from the publishers of newspapers for insertion of Government advertisements ; and notices of all tenders sent in reply to such advertisements, and giving tho rates tendered, and showing any tenders and their rates not accepted j also for returns of all insertions of advertisements or notices in any newspaper,

by authority of any Government officer, without tenders having been publicly invited. The bon. gentleman disclaimed any desire personally to accuse the Press of being corrupted ; but lie was forced to give at tention to the matter from the fact that one section of tho Press accused the other of having been corrupted by receiving Government advertisements for rendering support to the Government. If that was tho case, it was a state of things which never existed before. Speaking from his own experience as a Minister, he know that tenders wore always called for irrespective of the politics of (ho papers, What made the present practice move objectionable was, that it was understood that those papers, in which members of the Government were interested, received the fullest share of Government advertisements, while other papers, equally capable of rendering tho service required, were excluded from participation jin these advertisements. There was a pe-per in that town, owned to a certain extent by at least five or six members of the Ministry. fThe hon, gentleman read tho names, with tho number of shares hold by each.] It had been alleged that the partiality with which the Government advertisements had been given out was solely on the ground of economy ; but that could not be the real reason, because he knew of a case where out of three papers in a town, two that were Government supporters received Government advertisements, but the other paper that did nob support Government, did not get any of the advertisements

Mr Stout said the Government would have no hesitation in furnishing tho report required, and ho thought it a pity the last speaker had not waited until he was better informed. He was entirely wrong in his facts. Taking Wellington for instance, all (he land transfer notices were given to the “ New Zealand Times,” and none of that class were given to the “ New Zealander.” Then at Dunedin, tho “Evening S ar,” a strong opposition paper, was one of the two that received Government advertisements. The reason the paper got the advertisements was because it had been the provincial Gazette. Mr Joyce said the Government ought to give (heir advertisements to every paper in the colony at a fixed rate, even if that was very low. This at least would remove one great inducement to corruption. Air Macandrkw said that dealing with advertisements was a most difficult matter, and he heartily wished that somebody would devise some means by which the many annoyances attending this question would be obviated. It would cost an enormous sum bo advertise in all tho papers of the colony. Air Gisborne boro testimony to tho way a Minister was made miserable through Government advertisements.

Air Wakefield argued that it was not becoming in a Government to compel one set of papers lo print their advertisements gratis. The last thing they should study was economy in advertisements. One lower tender for a large contract would save money enough to cover a great deal of advertising. Air M‘Lean said that tho previous Government hud not been in the habit of supporting their friends by advertisements. The late Government called for tenders and then referred them to the Government printer. Why had not the present Government done the same? No! Ho thought they could not, because when the “Times” and “Herald” tendered for Government advertisements the “Herald” tendered at Is an inch, while the “Times” tendered at 4i per inch. Yet tho Government accepted the tender of the “ Times,” The same thing was being exhibited throughout the colony. He thought Mr Joyce offered the beet solution of this annoying question. In the course of his remarks, the hon. member proceeded to narrate an anecdote as to how the Premier had withdrawn from entering into tho “New Zealander” Company, adding, “much in the same way as he withdrew from a certain cottage (?) and 250,000 acres lard.” Tho Premier here entered the Chamber, and called the attention of the Speaker to tho words used. He said he believed the words referred to him, and he wished to say that it was a foul slander, and that the hon. member knew it when he used the language. Air McLean intimated that ho did not care to got into an argument on the matter then. But at a future time he would probably explain exactly what he meant by the reference.

Tho Premier demanded again that the hon. member should be more precise, and state definitely when he intended to refer to the mutter again.

Tho Speaker said neither he nor the House had power to compel a member to do so. The Premier again repeated that it was a foul slander, and that the hon. member knew it to be so.

Air Barton hoped tho Government would not support the Opposition press. Ho wanted to see parties better defined, and those papers who supported Government should get Government advertisements. Tho Press ought to be made to feel who was in and who out. When the late Government came again into power, which was not very probable, let them support the papers which supported them. He entirely upheld the action of the Government in regard to advertisements. It was high time the Government drew a bold lino of demarcation between tbo two sections of the Press in tne colony.

Mr Turnbull suggested that as tho question was really a difficult one, the House should settle the basis on which the system of advertising was to bo conducted. Mr Thomson suggested that the Government “ Gazette,” containing their advertisements should be stuck up at all telegraph and post offices. Mr Bowen approved of the suggestion of the member for Wallace. It was a groat deal better than tho system of publishing gazettes. Air Rees said the member for Wanganui must have drawn upon his imagination for his fains, because ho ought to know that at that moment tho “Canteibury Press ” was performing a printing contract for the Government. As to the accusation that the Government gave its advertisements to the “ Times ’ ’ instead of tho “ Herald,”—whoso tender was lower—the fact of the matter was that when the tenders were advertised for and accepted and entered upon, the “Herald” was not even in existence. Ho strongly deprecated that under such a motion as that before them a malicious attack should be made upon individual members of the Government. It was not seemly for a member who had held the position of the hon. member to act so. Ho thought very few Governments were in a position to throw stones at each other in respect to the distribution of Government advertisements, for he knew of an instance in which the late Government showed its preference in the way of advertising. He strongly combatted the idea that the support of newspapers could be purchased by Government advertisements. The hon. member referred to the political state of things previous to the time when tho member for the Thames came forward as leader to restore to the people of the colony the real power, and take it out of the hands of those ruling families who had begun to think they had a prescriptive right to govern tho country, and who were strong enough to crush any man who raised himself up against them, anil dared to speak his mind, and who had in fact done so. If the Opposition had any policy, let them avow it, but not to cavil on such small matters as these.

Air Feldwick was opposed to the idea of advertising by means of gazettes, which were only fit to carry Government advertisements. If they gave them the circulation to make them efficient in advertisements, it would cost ten times tho present sum. Alany land jobs had in the past been made possible through advertising in gazettes only. Ho approved of tho way in which the Government decentralised printing by distributing it throughout the colony amongst a worthy class of men. Ho disapproved of Government printing them. The debate was was interrupted at 5.30. EVENING SITTING. Tire House resumed at 7.30. FIRST READINGS. The Deceased Wife’s Bister Marriage Bill, and Administration Bill (Mr Stout) wore read a first time. PAR (.VEIL RESERVES BILL. Mr Moss moved tho second reading of tire Burnell Reserves bill, but after sumo discussion the Speaker said its introduction was in-

formal, on account of its dealing with public land, and notice should be given of its introduction. mu wiittakee’s representation bill.

Mr Whitaker in moving the second rending of the,Parliamentary Representation Bill, said that at present there was no law or system for regulating electoral districts. This had been a grievance for many years, and they wore constantly seeing Bills introduced to remedy this or that defect in some particular district. According (o the Constitution Act the electoral districts should be regulat ed in accordance, not with the population, but with number of electors. There was no more irritating question ever before the House than that of altering the boundaries of electoral districts and re arranging representatives. The hon. gentleman referred to the self adjusting scheme which obtained in the United States and which relieved Congress of all annoyance from such a cause, and had been in fact the moans of preserving the Union. He asked therefore why they should not adopt some such scheme and thus rid the House of a most troublesome question. It had been urged against the Bill he introduced in 1858 that towns would have the advantage over the country. But he saw no antagonism between town and country in New Zealand. The towns depended upon the country and wore quite unlike the largo British towns. If any suffering were to be entailed, it would be with the towns. Ho claimed for the Bill a quality of finality that would rid the House of all bother in future from electoral and representative questions by relegating the matter to the Constitution, As to the qualification part of the Bill, it granted the fullest franchise that could be The only male ad nils excluded were felons, aliens, Maoris, and halfcastes, the latter two being specially dealt with in another part of the Bill. He commended to the House the simplicity of the machinery of the Bill as compared with the existing system, or that proposed. The fancy franchises in the Government Bill were unnecessary. If, as the Premier said, there would not be more than five hundred in the whole colony who would not be on the roll according to the Government Bill introduced, what was the use of all their fancy franchises in order to keep out only some 500, who were as well qualified to vote as any of them ? One bit of experience was worth more than any amount of t heory. He would refer them to the cnee of England after the .Reform Bill of 1867, and the 1868 extension of the franchise, and note the result. If there were any dangers to bo apprehended from the extension of the franciiise, why did nothing of the kind occur at Home when the number of electors was trebled in a few years? Yet in 187 !■ they returned more Conservative candidal os than Liberal. It would be found the same would take place here, and most probably the House would be improved instead of being deteriorated. Registration he considered difficult to deal with, but all ought to agree that what was desired was a simple, easily-managed, and inexpensive system, which the present was not. It was too much like the English system, and the Government Bill was no improvement in that respect. By his system a proper Registration Officer should be in every district, and his duty would be to see that every one who had the right to be on roll should be duly registered, and if any wore not put on roll, they could claim their votes, and appeals might be heard before any Resident Magistrate. With regard to Hare’s system, lie deemed that ho introduced the system without any object of counteracting the principles of democracy. Ho! The object intended was to obtain fair representation of constituencies. Pure democracy, that is the Government of the people by the people, was impossible under present circumstances. After a time it was found impossible in ancient Athens, and a form of representative Government had to be devised. The best approach to Democratic Government ho held to be to get the opinions of the sections of a community, and, having ail these, then for the majority to decide. Ho wanted the opinion of minorities (sometimes the best minds of the country) represented. Nothing but good cou’d come from fair discussion. He quoted an opinion from Burke, that Par liament represented the feelings of the nation, not the majority of the nation. As Mirabeau put it, a representative Assembly ought to bear the same relation to the people as a map, showing the configuration of the country. It appeared to him that we were now governed by a majority of a majority, which might be a minority of the whole. The proper representation of minorities would be of the greatest advantage to the House. Ho>v often did they see the most capable men outrooted by a majority at some time of public excitement? He cited the defeats of Burke and John Stuart Mill. It was, above all things, desirable that such men should be able to be returned to the House, and if this class of representatives were bold enough to stem the torrent of public opinion, their services should not be lost. But it was only under a system of representing minorities that such men would bo sure of election. The hon. member explained that, according to his Bill, the elector would only have to write out in the booth, on the voting paper, the names of those he desires to see elected, and in the order he wished. All the Returning Officers would have to do would be to collect all the votes, and send them all to the Registrar-General at Wellington, wiioso duty it would bo to sort them, and apportion the votes of each candidate, and with far less trouble and compli cation than was seen in a post office every day. The hon. member wont on to argue that the indifference so constantly seen in New Zealand constituencies, arose from the fact that lots of people would not vote when they know the majority was against them, but who would vote if they were allowed a vote for a candidate in some other part of the colony. As to Maori representation the double vote is done away with and special representation retained. There was to be registration for Maoris as well as Europeans, and generally they were to bo put upon the same fooling as ourselves. The hon. gentleman then dealt with the prevention of corrupt practices, bribery, election offences, personation, and presentation, and trial of election petitions. The usual ten o’clock adjournment followed.