PARLIAMENTARY.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2248, 16 June 1881, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY.

[PEESS ASSOCIATION TELEOEAM. J LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Wednesday, June 15 The Council met at 2.30 .

A message from the Governor notified that leave was given to Mr Gray and Colonel Whitmore for the session.

A return of all money paid by the colony to Sir J. Vogel from 1860 to May, 1880, was laid on the table.

The Hon. G. M. Watebhousb gave notice to ask for a report of the Land Transfer Department, The Hon. Mr Ohambbblain had given notice of a question re storage of explosives and the unsafe powder ground at Auckland, but changed it to a motion to move on Tuesday that the Government ought to provide a safe powder ground and storage. The Land Court Extension of Jurisdiction Bill and the Improvidence and Fraud Prevention Bill (Native Lands) were brought in by the Hon. F. Whitakbe, and read a first time.

A return was ordered, on the motion of the Hon. Mr Chamberlain, of all bonuses offered by the Government, giving detailed information.

A joint committee on Bills was appointed on the motion of the Hon. Captain Baillik. The Hon. Mr Lahman moved the adoption of the address in reply. The Hon. Mr Ngatata seconded, and after a short debate, in which the Hons. Scotland, Colonel Brett, Chamberlain and Wilson were the only speakers, the motion was carried, At 3 40 the Council adjourned till Tuesday, at 2 30 p.m. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Wednesday, June 15. The House met at 2 30 p.m. PETITION. Sir G. Gbby presented a petition signed by 493 inhabitants of Auckland, praying for certain alterations in the constitution of the Auckland College and Grammar School, so as to afford them greater powers in the election of the Board, and controlling the administration of trusts applicable to its funds. QUESTIONS. Eeplying to Mr Maoandrew, The Hon. Mr Johnston said that Government would instruct the Agent-General to procure all information relative to the terms on which direct steam navigation with the Home country could be established, in order that Parliament might have an opportunity of dealing with the subject next session. Government was fully alive to its importance. Replying to Mr Murray, The Hon. Major Atkinson said that Government intended to submit proposals for increasing the number of lighthouses on the New Zealand coast, but had not yet decided on the places. The New Zealand coast was already one of the best lighted coasts in the world. Eeplying to Mr Murray, The Hon. J. Haul said that Government recognised the importance of drainage facilities being afforded, but they could not promise to reintroduce this session the drainage clauses struck out of the Public Works BUI in the Council last session. They would give the hon. member every facility to introduce such a Bill himself. notice of motion. Mr Mubbay gave notice of a Drainage BUI. THE CENSUS. The following motion by Mr Gisbobne was put and carried : —(1) A return (distinguishing sexes) of the number of population in the colony at the dates of the censns in 1878, and of the census of 1881; also, showing the excess of births over deaths during the interval between those dates, and farther showing the number of immigrants brought into the colony during the same time partly and wholly at the public cost, (2.) A return of the population, distinguishing sexes, residing at the dates aforesaid within and outside the corporate boroughs. PUBLIC lIBBABIES. Mr Gisbobne moved—“ That the House will on Jane 22nd resolve itself into committee to consider an address to the Governor praying that he will recommend for appropriation this year the sum of £6OOO for public libraries; that in the expenditure of the money, if granted, the following should be the system:—(l.) That the Government should ascertain what amount of money had been levied and paid under the Public Libraries Act, 1869, during the current year, and as soon as possible after the 31st December, 1881, deduct from the proposed vote an equivalent to the amount so raised, and distribute the same among free public libraries established under that Act in proportion to the library rates received respectively by eoch; (2.) That the balance be apportioned among the several provincial districts according _to population, and handed over for distribution to their respective Education Boards in terms of section 2 of the Public Libraries Subsidies Act, 1877 ; (3.) That in order to tend to the encouragement of new libraries in country districts, it bo an instruction from the Colonial Treasurer to the several Education Boards not to disburse their respective shares of the proposed vote until the district has had at least three months’ notice of the day which the Boards have fixed , upon for calculating the amount to be allotted to each library in the district.”

The Hon. J. Ham, suggested that the motion should be postponed until the financial statement had been made. He had great sympathy with libraries, but the districts were to blame for trusting too much to the Government in a matter of this kind. This he thought was a subject which might very well be taken in band by the districts themselves. Mr Speight accused the Government of having been guilty of a breach of faith in connection with the maintenance of these institutions. Many districts had gone to the trouble and expense of establishing libraries, and the sudden withdrawal of the Government grant had interfered to a great extent with their operation. Mr J. B. Shephaed spoke in favor of the motion being postponed, in the hope that when the financial statement was brought down provision would be made for this purpose. Captain EU3BBM considered the motion illtimed, seeing that the necessity had arisen for restricting even the educational vote. The libraries were generally sufficiently well supplied with books to serve their purpose for sosne years, and at the expiry of that time if a desire for literature existed in the district, it would be no hardship to raise a few pounds for increasing means for such literary pursuits.

Mr Bunny spoke in favor of the motion being passed, so as to give them an opportunity for considering the proposition more fully in committee. The motion was amended so as to fix the committee for Wednesday, the 13th July, and the motion as amended was put and carried.

THE DETACHED SQTTADBON. Sir Q. Obey moved for all correspondence es to the visit of the Detached Squadron and the Royal Princes. The Hon. J. Hall said that there was only one short letter, which he laid on the table. The Governor had, however, a private letter, stating that the Squadron would proceed from Melbourne to Auckland, and thence to Fiji. No other New Zealand port was to be visited. THE ADDBESS IN BEPLY. Mr Bhnny resumed the debate on the address in reply. He admitted that the Government had done their best to pull the country out of its difficulties, and to a very great extent they had succeeded in the endeavor, and it would take a good deal to make him vote against them. Still that was no reason why they should not be advised in the matter of administration. Now ho blamed them very much for having mode’no attempt to deal with the question of local self-govern-ment. Again, they had trusted administration far too much to the ‘hands of heads of departments. He instanced the increase in the railway tariff for the carriage of timber. The district ho represented had greatly suffered in consequence. Had they consulted the district representatives before making that change it would never have been made. He instanced other mistakes arising out of similar causes, the whole being the result of too much power being left in the hands of irresponsible persons. He was euro that all members, whichever side in the House they eat on, would at all times gladly give the Government the benefit of their advice on local matters. He next referred to the question of locil government. New Zealand had not fewer than 500 local governing bodies, and yot the whole thing was nothing but a mass of confusion. His idea was that they should do away with the Highway Boards, and unite several counties together.

Thus constituted, he would vote them money to open up lands in their districts, and by that means he believed settlement would bo promoted. He would also appoint the chairmen of the united counties to be members of the Waste Lands Board, By moans like that ho believed a great deal of good would be done in the direction of increased settlement of the waste lands. Referring to the railways he said that the managers ought to have more power placed in their hands. They ought to be made something more than mere machines. What he would suggest was that a committee should be appointed to go into the whole question of our railway management. In relation to Native affairs, he lauded the proposals made by Mr Bryce, and blamed the Government for not allowing him to pursue the course he proposed. Mr Beetham spoke in favor of the present system being retained. Ho admitted, however, that amendments wore needed, although the county system was by no means ho bad cs represented. He strongly deprecated any return to Provincialism.

Mr Huesthouse spoke in support of the motion, and argued that the signs of the times were propitious for the colony, and the general condition of affairs was satisfactory. Mr Collins, on being asked, said he did not wish to reply. The motion was then put and carried on the voices, committees. The formal motions towards setting up the committees of supply and ways and moans were then passed. LICENSING BILL. The Hon. T. Dick moved the second rending of the Licensing Bill. Ho said that the Bill had been already before the House, having been read a second time last session, and was sufficiently well known to enable him to dispense with an explanation of its contents. He referred to the fact that legislation on this subject in other countries had of late been making rapid changes in the direction of giving the people more control over the sale of spirituous liquors. He referred at length to what had been done in some of the American Legislatures in connection with the matter. He quoted statistics to show that the drinking habits of the people of New Zealand were more moderate than those of many other countries. From that fact he argued that the efforts of the total abstainers and other advocates of temperance were beginning to bear practical results. One feature of the Bill now before the House was a proviso that clubs should brought under the supervision of the Licensing Act, and made to pay license fees in the ordinary way. The bottle license was another feature of the Bill. Holders of such licenses it was proposed to render subject to all the provisions of the Licensing Liw. After explaining the other specialties of the Bill, he went on to say that the Government had brought it down at an early period in order that an opportunity might be hud for its mature consideration, and at the same time to leave no chance of its being’ thrown out or delayed beyond the close of the session for want of time. They would be prepared to accept any reasonable amendments the House might decide upon. Sir W. Fox would not object to the motion. At the same time, he considered that the Bill was founded on false principles, and would do no good. The debate was interrupted by the 5.30 adjournment.

EVENING SimNG. The House resumed at 7.30. LICENSING BILL.

Tbe debate on tbe second reading of tbe Licensing Bill was continued by Sir W. Eos, who said that he objected to the principle of the Bill, inasmuch as it was a retrograde movement. The principle had been affirmed of giving the people direct control over the traffic, but the Bill rejected that principle in regard to existing licenses. Colonel Tbimble argued that it had been shown that drunkenness in this colony was on the decrease. Such being the case, it showed that natural agencies were at work in modifying the evil, and that consequently coercive measures such as that proposed by the previous speaker were wholly unnecessary. Mr Speight spoke at length in favor of the local option system. The Hon. T. Dick having replied, the Bill was read a second time. CHINESE IMMIGBATION BILL. The Hon. Major Atkinson moved the second reading of the Chinese Immigration Bill. Ho admitted that the case was not very urgent, as tbe Chinese population was some 200 or 300 less than it was in 1874. Still the number was on the increase lately, and was now 4600, and he thought that that would be accepted as a sufficient reason for taking the precaution aimed at by the Bill. He then briefly explained the provisions of the Bill. Sir W. Fox said that this attempt to exclude any race was not in accordance with British history. He admitted that there are some circumstances of a peculiar cha raoter in regard to the race in question; still he thought that a strong case ought to be established before they proceeded to the step proposed. They had long ago taken evidence by a committee of the House, and it went to show that there was no danger of disease such as was protended to be the case. The real cause was that wo were afraid of the labor competition which this race would create. They were just as moral, and in other respects their characters were just as elevated as those of other nations. He knew that the home authorities had been induced to assent to a measure of this kind passed by the other colonies. Still he questioned if this was not an infringement of tne treaty entered into with China.

Colonel Trimble spoke in similar terms, and asked how the question would stand if a Chinaman oame to New Zealand with letters of naturalisation. In that case would they attempt to enforce this £lO tar. Mr Turnbull also acquiesced in the views expressed by the previous speakers, adding that the number of Chinese in this colony did not warrant the belief that they were at all likely to invade New Zealand in large numbers. He thought this was simply an attempt to pander to a cry got up by a few persons who looked upon their own personal interests as being in danger of competition. Mr Mubhat adopted a similar view, and asked if they were not all intruders, having in that character intruded themselves upon the Maori possessors of the country. He pointed out that as the Bill was worded, persons born of parents of other nationalities who appeared to bo resident in China would be excluded under this Bill if passed. It had been said that New Zealand was specially well adapted for the cultivation of tea. Now, if that was the case a Bill of this kind was liable to burk such industries. This Bill seemed the sole outcome of the statesmanship of the Intercolonial Conference. Mr Pulton complained that the Government had not given them some information as to the true reasons for this Bill. Ho had all along voted with the Government, but in a matter like this he felt ho could net support them. He was sorry that in any free country it should ever have been proposed to introduce a measure of this kind, Mr Shephard argued in favor of the Bill, stating that it was an established fact that the Chinese did introduce vice and disease. Ho denied that this was simply a wages cry. Even although it was, ho contended that they wore bound to protect the community against unfair competition. The Chinese came hero without wives or families, and consequently they were able to live and work at a much lower rate than the man who had both wife and family to support. Information had been received that some 50,000 Chinese wore likely soon to emigrate to the Australian colonies. Many of those would not improbably find their way into this colony unless some such restriction as this was enforced. The competition created by the Chinese was a most unfair one.

Mr Swanson spoke in similar terms. Self preservation was the first law of nature, and if they did not check this threatened evil they would be neglecting that law. He had communicated on the subject with an ex-member of this House, Mr Creighton, regarding the state of the Chinese in San Francisco, and he was quite convinced that all that had been said about disease and vice was well founded. Apart from that, however, the competition side of the question wue one they had a right to give attention to. Sir G. Qbet very briefly supported the views expressed by the previous speaker. Mr Whitaker complained that more notice bad not been given, so that members might have had time to look into the question more fully. He argued that the question was this : whether British civilisation, which was progressive, should be brought into |closo relations with a civilisation Jiko that of China, which was acknowledged on all sides to be retrograding. He felt perfectly certain that the Imperial authorities would fully recognise their right to do as they proposed to do. The Hon. J. Haix thought tha there were many reasons why the Bill should pass. It

fwue the fact that they had not yet had the experience of some other conntrieß from the influx of Ohinesr, but they had been induced to take time by the forelock and provide thir restriction. Chinamen were not at all likely to create domestic ties, which wore requisite to make them permanent settlers. He waa afraid that the popular cry had had the effect of prejudicing the minds of members against the Bill. The fact that the Bill had been assented to in the case of Queensland was an assurance that it would bo assented to in their case.

Mr Andeews supported the motion for the second reading. He did not think the Chinese at all desirable people to permit to come in large numbers to this colony. Mr Hutchison also spoke in support of the Bill, characterising the opposition to it as that of the monied classes who wanted to grind down the laboring classes. The motion was carried on the voices. The House rose at 11.5 p.m.