NOTES ON PARLIAMENT,

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1597, 28 July 1874, Page 302

NOTES ON PARLIAMENT,

BY A CHIEL IN THE GALLERY.

Wellington, 18th July. BORROWING'. The Superintendents'are all on the qui vive for the Finiancial Statement of the Colonial Treasurer, which is promised for Tuesday next, when the yiews of the Government will be enunciated on the suhject of Provincial borrowing. It is said that the Treasurer, who, as all. the world knows, is virtually and de facto the Government, is moderately favorably to Provincial borrowing. Nelson lias gone in for a loan of a quarter of a million, but she will have to abate her demands considerable if she hopes to obtain a loan at all. It is stated also that the Lords will not offer any opposition to provincial loans not exceeding a hundred thousand pounds. THE PROLONGED ABSENCE OF THE NATIVE MINISTER. The Native and Defence Minister is not coming in the Claude Hamilton, as was expected, but Col. St. John, his " nearest follower and henchman" is expected. "What is the important business that is detaining: the Native Minister so long on his Australian tour? Does it not strike you as a strange thing that the country ' has gone on in his absence at all? Why, we were taught to believe that the Native Department must come to sudden grief, if his wonderful skill and mysterious manipulation were withdrawn for an instant, and that some dire calamity must befal the country, some sudden earthquake, which would shake society to its foundations, in fact, that the whole social fabric would get out of repair, and collapse. Yet the great man has been absent some months, and things have gone on in their usual course. The earth has continued to revolve on its axis, and the sun has not stood still. The great Maori doctor might as well have been at Timbuctoo, for all society knew or cared, and, if he were to stay away till doomsday, and send for all his army of commissioners and hangers on, to "fresh woods and pastures new," the country would not go into sackcloth and ashes, nor pine away with grief. Mr McLean can be spared—in fact, rather spared than otherwise. ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES OF THE HOUSE. Hon. members complain that they cannot hear each other sppak in the House. One says there is always a h"tn of conversation when an hon. gentleman is on his legs, and that his eloquence is wasted on empty air, another that lion, members ''mumble" out their sentences. Some hon. members are afflicted with colds. Sir Cracroft Wilson suffers from "chronic inflammation," and several have the "mumps" The old Nabob thinks there is something sadly wrong with the " fireworks in the rear," and the Speaker says that when he invoked the advice and aid of the Colonial Architect in that dire extremity, the architect went to rectify matters and filled his (the Speaker's) own sanctum sanctorum with steam, in which his Speakership was almost parboiled, and his starch fr'lls lost their elaborate rigidity." Opposition members, afflicted with morbid suspicions, imagine that the Government has prepared some sinister design for either killing them off outright, or silencing their sweet voices with cold atmosphere. What lends a color of probability to this, is the fact that, while hon. members on the opposition benches shiver ruefully in great coats and hats, the Ministerialists sit cosily and smile blandly on their opponents. The Wellington Times has devoted a leading article to this important subject, and for once, the lethargy which it appears to have inherited from its parent the "Independent" has been partially thrown off. The Times is wonderfully learned on architecture, aconsties, hot water pipes, and the disposal of crimson curtains. On the last mentioned subject ir.deed the Times dwells with super-feminine minuteness and affection. A report is going the rounds that Mr Vogel is about to send home for a consignment of speaking trumpets, and that, meantime, the Towncrier is to be engaged to stand in the House during the debates and repeat the utterances of members. MR LUCKIE'S MARE'S NEST. Mr D. M. Luckie has discovered another of these valuable natural curiosities. In the course of the debate on the resolutions moved by Mr Reynolds, with regard to the duties on spirits distilled in the Colony, Mr Luckie, who is always ready to act as a Ministerial helot, turned up a speech delivered in the House some years ago, which lie fully supposed to have been Mr Reader Wood's, and which expressed opinions diametrically opposed to others which Mr Wood had just given utterance to. Of course the House laughed at the apparent " bowl out," and Mr Luckie (who, as punster said, " imagined he had made a lucky hit") sat down benignantly triumphant. But his triumph was only momentary, for Mr Reader Wood informed the House that he was not a member of the House when the speech just quoted was delivered, and that it belonged to a namesake. Hon. members gave way to nproarious mirth, and Mr Luckie looked considerably chop-fallen. Mr Gillies has called attention to a curious matter in the Southern Cross, which recently published a Wellington telegram stating that " very severe despatches had been sent by the Government to the Agent-General, and would be laid on the table next day." Of course this telegram was forwarded by some journalistic hanger-on to the Government skirts, who contrived to steal a glance at the correspondence lying on a Minister's table, and wired his discovery. Mr Vogel, however, says that he is not aware that any such despatches were sent as described. FINGERS IN THE PIE. Mr T. B. Gillies said a smart thing in the House the other day, when having referred briefly to the interference of the Government with life assurance, &c, he said they were now about to become " timber merchants," Mr Vogel being of course the "top-sawyer." WARD-CHAPMAN CORRESPONDENCE . I have already informed you that the House has ordered (he production of this correspondence, and it is worthy of notice that it was published in the New Zealand Times before it was laid on the table, and in the Dunedin Guardian, another Ministerial organ, before it could hare been telegraphed from Wellington ; and the natural infereriee, therefore, is, that the correspondence was either communicated to the Guardian by some person in Dunedin, or was supplied in advance by the Govern ment. INSPECTION OF MACHINERY BJLL. This bill has passed through committee in the Upper House with some slight amendments. REAL ESTATE DESCENT BILL. This bill has been read a second time by the Lords, and referred to a select committee. It provides for the distribu

tion of the real property of those who die intestate. Dr Pollen has suggested soma amendments in the measure, especially for the protection of lands formerly devised by will, and to prevent a husband being deprived of life interest in the property of his wife. ' - BILLS PASSED. The Offences against the Person Amendment Bill, and Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill, have been read a third time and passed. ; NATIVE LANDS ACT. In the Lower House, Mr Sheehan asked, —" Whether the Government have received from the Native Land Court Judges any report upon the provisions and effect of working the Native Land Act, 1873, and if so, whether they will lay their report upon the table." The Premier said that many reports and criticisms had been received from Judges and others, but he would not lay them on the- table. This is of a piece with Mr. Vogel's attitude to the House lately. On a motion moved by Mr Gillies, for copies of the nature of all land transactions, names of purchasers, and price, between the Europeans and Natives, Mr Vogel said the Government would only give such information as it pleased, and Mr Gillies very properly deprecated the insolent attitude of the Premier, which marks an entirely new era in Parliamentary history. It is to be hoped, however, that a little more light will be thrown on these native land transactions, and that the mystery which has so long hung over the Native "Star Chamber" will be cleared up, and the public mind satisfied. There is a general impression abroad here, and in other parts of the Colony, that there is something very " rotten in the state of Denmark." I hope Mr Sheehan will put a direct motion on the paper for the production of the reports by the Judges, and thus throw upon the Government the responsibility of withholding the information, and subjecting itself to the natural inferences which are open to the public. POVERTY BAY AND OPOTIKI ROAD. In reply to Mr Kelly, the Minister of Public Works said that the road between Poverty Bay and Opotiki had not been completed in consequence of a difficulty which had arisen with the contractors, but it was hoped that an arrangement would be come to. DISTRICT COURTS AMENDMENT BILL. You will remember that this Bill was thrown out by the Upper House last session, as it was believed at the time that the Supreme Court Judges were , inimical to it; and the Chief Justice has since written to the Government that it would be inadvisable to re-introduce the bill this session, as an alteration in the Supreme Court practice is pending. Mr Fox, who is understood to be an advocate for cheap law, has expressed his belief that the Lords would now receive the bill with more favor, and the Premier has promised to confer with him on the subject. RE-ADJUSTMENT OF REPRESENTATION. Mr Sheehan has given notice of a motion that a re-adjustment of the representation should be made at the next elections; and that meantime the Government should mature a measure, to be submittod at the next meeting of the Assembly. EAST COAST LAND PURCHASES. Mr W. Kelly has given notice of a motion for the production of all correspondence between the Native Department and the Land Purchase Commissioners relative to the purchase or lease of native lands on the East Coast; also, the correspondence between the Government and the District Native Land Purchase Commissioner. It is known in well informed circles that some remarkable disclosures are contained in the correspondence, but judging from the extraordinary sensitiveness of the Government in regard to land transactions, it is highly probable that an attempt will be made to withhold the correspondence. REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS. Mr Cuthbertson has introduced a bill to amend the Registration of Births Act. The new bill proposes to extend the period during which births may be registered from six months to fourteen years, and to increase the fee from 10s to £l. The bill was read a second time, but the Government will probably propose amendments in committee. ANOTHER RESERVE. I have already informed you of the proposals made in the new Civil Service Bill, which is so strenuously opposed by Mr Swanson, who thinks that the proper course is for the officials to take advantage of the Government Life Assurance and Anuuities scheme. Mr Vogel proposed the other day to increase the pension to Sir William Martin from £330 to £SOO. Sir William was the first Judge appointed iu the Colony, and had the reputation of being an accomplished scholar, and an estimable private gentleman. Mr Vogel, in proposing the increased pension, eulogized the virtues and public services of Sir William Martin, and Mr Wood followed suit. Major Atkinson doubted his " great services," and expressed his belief that Sir William has cost the country hundreds of thousands of pounds, and Mr Buckland said the gentleman was " one of a very small clique in the North which had done more to injure the Colony than anything else. He had been the life and soul of the dissensions between the natives and Europeans." Speaking from my own personal knowledge of Sir William Martin some years ago, I can say that these charges against him have very Blight, if any, foundation. He was an eminently conscientious man, who stood up fearlessly against wrong, and dared to denounce his own countrymen for acts of injustice against the natives, just as he blamed the natives, on the other hand, when they did wrong to Europeans. He was one of those who believed that the Creator had given such rights to the Maori as Ho gives to the whites, and that the former were not made to be the victims of the latter. He worked earnestly for both races, and he endeavored to give strength, influence, and permanence to these institutions which he hoped and believed were designed to promote and cement friendly relations between the two races. Mr Vogel probably knew little of this, and he yielded easily to the opposition of a few hon. members, and withdrew his proposal. INCREASE OF EXCISE DOTY. Mr Reynolds has introduced his resolu- ' tionß for the increase of the excise duty | on spirits distilled in the cplony to the e*-. tent of one shilling on and after July Ist, 1875 ; another shilling in 1877, and a third in 1879, by which Hate the duty would be nine shillings per gallon, Of course there is an outcry from the craft and their friends in the House, and it is understood that deputations to the Commissioner of i Customs, and a whole army of interested persons are on their way up to Wellington. Telegrams are all day flashing along the wires on the same subject, and Rumdom is in a great flutter of excitement

The Government, of course, do not deal with the moral aspect of the question at all; they only say that the revenue lias suffered by granting bonuses under the Distillation Act of 1868, to the extent of £86,842. They propose to abolish distillation in the colony altogether (in which case the importers will benefit), and if possible to compensate the two Distillery Companies which have been established in Dunedin and Auckland, which have since their establishment up to the 31st March last, produced 294,460 gallons of spirits, includ/ng of course whisky, gin, rum, brandy, and other compound liquids, out of which 268,689 gallons were from grain, and have directly employed some twenty-eight persons. The question of compensation is most important. The Distillery Companies, however, aver that the business has hitherto been carried on at a loss, and the Government need not, therefore, grant compensation in excess of the actual value of the plant. A select committee is to be appointed to) inquire into claims for compensation, and meantime a committee of ways and means ha» adopted the Government resolutions. NEW LICENSING ACT. Mr Vogel has given notice of his intention to introduce a new Licensing Act. hawke's bay land laws. Mr Ormond has introduced a Bill to amend the land laws at present in force in the province of Hawke's Bay, and make other provisions in lieu thereof. The Bill has been read a first time, and the second reading is fixed for Wednesday next. GOVERNMENT INSURANCE AND ANNUITIES BILL. The new Bill introduced by Mr Vogel proposes to consolidate the Acts now in ■force relating to life.assurance and annuities, to make provision for an independent actuarial examination by an English actuary every five years, and for the periodical division of profits amongst the policy-holders. The Bill has been read a second time. CIVIL SERVICE PENSIONS. There has been considerable opposition to this Bill in committee, and more than one division upon the clauses. Mr Reader Wood carried by a majority of eleven that a clause giving the Governor power to grant aggregate pensions in excess of £9,000 be struck out. It is well that this has been done. Your readers will remember the disclosures made prior to the last general elections regarding the prospective proportions of the Civil Service Pension List, and how the repeal of the Civil Service Act was made a sine qua non with candidates; and had the system of pensions under the old Act continued for a few years, the country would have been saddled with an expenditure on the Civil Service that would have become a kind of national incubus. LAND TRANSFER ACT. Mr Campbo 11 has given notice of amotion in the Upper House " That having regard to the fact that the General Government - guarantee titles to land under the Land Transfer Act, it is expedient that a Sur-veyor-General be appointed to inspect the different surveys of the colony and report to the Government as to their accuracy." MrMoorhouse some years ago drew attention to the fact that enormous claims to compensation for inaccurate surveys are growing up throughout the colony, and the fact the General Government has no control over the Provincial Surveys, shows the expediency of immediate steps being taken in accordance with Mr Campbell's motion. CONSERVATION OF FORESTS. Mr Vogel's inventive soul is never satisfied. Like a skilful pyrotechnist, he constantly delights and amuses us with some new and brilliant display of his genius. His passion for invention soars from the insignificant depths of vast railway and immigration schemes, life assurance, newspaper companies, and telegraph agencies, to the sublime heights of colonizing Polynesia, the federation of the colonies, and the extinguishment of the national debt of Great Britain. Now, all the world is to be dazzled with an alluring •scheme for paying off the debts of the provinces in thirty years, by the State assuming the control and administration of three per cent, of the forests of the country. The wizard financier tells us that there is no deception about it, the thing is as practicable—as his schemes usually are. He comes before us armed with a formidable paraphernalia of extracts and statistics, which his zealous subordinates have been ransacking current literature for during several months, and which, when they come from the printer, will form an expensive volume, though much of the matter is merely a rechauffage of what has already appeared in the public journals of the colony. Scientific aid has also been invoked, and Dr Hector, with an amount of archaeological insight that does him great credit, is actually able to tell us what was the extent of forest land in New Zealand in 1830, ten years before the colony was settled. Of course after that feat, no one will attempt to impugn his chief's statistics. Mr Vogel introduced his great forest scheme with a grand double flourish of trumpets in the Wellington Times ; after •which preliminary he commenced work in downright earnest by delivering a speech of more than two hours duration. This oratorical display consisted almost entirely of extracts and statistics, and, coming from any other member but himself, would have speedily emptied the House. The catastrophes which are to befal us if Mr Vogel's new Bill does not pass are of the direst nature—indeed it would seem that all the elements have conspired to aid him. We are solemnly warned that if we cut down too many trees, or do not hand the requisite tithe of forest lands over to the paternal care of the General Government, that the elements will dissolve away, and the colony itself will collapse. The country is to be deluged, rivers are to be seized with an erratic tendency to run out of their courses, and the agricultural soil is to be washed away somewhere ; but only pass Mr Vogel's new Bill and it will "preserve the climate and soil of the colony." When the Government secure the three

per cent, of the forests of the country, what next? Il does not appear from the context of the Bill itself whether they purpose setting up business as timber merchants, or merely occupying the position of landlords, by leasing portions of the forests to private individuals. The twentieth clause of the Bill, however, points to the latter conclusion. Provision is made for the appointment of a " Commissioner of State Forests" who is to be a Minister, of a Conservator, two Assistant Conservators, and " other officers." The time appears to be fast approaching when the ranks of the Ministry will be strong enough to turn the scale in their own favor on any question on which their continuance in office depends,, and when their patronage will be ample enough to provide for the host of political adventurers »D,d billet-hunters who flutter round every Government. Provision is also made for the annual expenditure of £IO,OOO for 30 years out of the current revenue for plan-1

ting, constructing roads and bridges, purchasing lands for State forests, the foundation of colleges and schools for education in forestry, for establishing' tree nurseries, defraying salaries and other expenditure incidental to the proposed new department, and for the establishment of forest settlements. At the end of thirty years the profits of the department are to be annually devoted *to the payment of interest on the money expended in the construction of railways, and the reduction'of the public debt of the colony. The scope of the blil is palpably too ambitious, and the proposed machinery too elaborate and cumbrous. A young country such as ours, can well dispense with a costly experimental department. If increased care in the conservation of our growing timber is necessary, all that need be done for several years to come is to prevent indiscriminate destruction of the forests by fire, and to check waste as far ai may be possible. With the abundance of timber yet untouched in this Colony, it is idle to draw analagous statistics and inferences from old countries, where the circumstances are entirely different. It is open to grave question, also, how far the Government is justified in entering into competition with legitimate private enterprise. The experience of the past proves that in all industries of this nature Government management is infinitely more expensive than the other, far less efficient, and productive of comparatively small beneficial results. Finally, there are grave grounds for suspicion that this forest scheme is another cunninglyconceived subterfuge for laying hands on the Provincial estate, for which Mr Vogel has for many years past manifested an increasing solicitude

Rees has retired from the contest at Waitemata in favor of Von der Hoyde. It is announced that the Jesuits have left their chief establishment in Rome, and only four or five priests now remain. The amount of land sold in the Province of Wellington during June was 2261 acres (28 parcels), for £lsOl lis 4d, cash, and £270 worth of scrip. A building in San Francisco having 500 rooms, is to be provided with a clock having 500 dials—one in each room—to be operated upon by condensed air. Dried oysters are among imports into San Francisco from China. They are simply taken out of the shells, dried in the sun, and packed in wooden boxes. The Chinese are the principal consumers. American enterprise is exemplified in t'ne State of Colorado, which had not a mile of railroad less than five years ago, and which has now ten lines, having a total length of 668 miles. The Wangaehu natives have called a meeting to discuss the question of railway compensation, and threaten to stop the works unless their demands are complied with. A widow, just 40, recently married, at Paris, a widower whose first wife was a widow, whose first husband was a widower, whose first wife was a widow. In this family, for the last 175 years, this accidental marriage of widow and widower has constantly taken place. A man in Hartford has stopped his newspaper because his name was printed in a list of advertized letters, and his wife, happening to see it first, went and got it for him, and found it was from a young lady, who complained that he didn't meet her at Worcester as he promised. The poems of the late Miss Charlotte Elliott, authoress of the well-known hymn, " Just as I am," have been published in a collected form, with an interesting biography of the writer. The hymn by which she is best known was not, when written, intended for publication, and the name of the author did not appear until long after it was first printed. Miss Elliott died in 1871, in her 83rd year. A " History of Victoria," from ' its earliest coloniqation down to the end of the year 1874, has been Undertaken by Mr G. D. Macartney, L.L.D. It will embrace the political and social, as well as the industrial rise of the colony. The work is nearly completed, and arrangements have been made for its publication. It is to bo illustrated wrth portraits of the more illustrious among the founders and prominent men of the colony. The present season, the Tribune believes, is the rainiest which Wellington has experienced for a number of years. For the last two days it has rained incessantly, and everybody has worn a dark and uncomfortable appearance. The streets of Wellington, especially in the' outskirts—never good at any time—have become something fearful and wonderful. After dark the people are close prisoners. Adventurous ybnths will not in every case be detained from the pleasures of an evening party, and of course they flounder through the mud to the total destruction of boots and nether garments. In the House of Representatives, on Friday night, after the Minister of Public Works had concluded his Statement, the Premier moved the second reading of the Licensing Amendment Bill. Mr Fox said he would not oppose the second reading, but he would move for the introduction into the Bill of a permissive clause for the prevention of refreshment rooms at railway stations. He considered the Bill was a paradise for publicans. The Premifr defended the Bill as a more equitable measure than the Act of last session. The Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed that day week.

During the whole of Thursday last the Supreme Court iu Auckland was occupied with the case of J. S. Macfarlane v. Harris. The evidence principally related to the manner in which the informations had been laid. Mr John M'Leod, J.P, formerly a member of the General Assembly, and before whom the informations were sworn, deposed, in reply to questions by the Judge, that he would mt put much faith in Macfarlane'a ut on oath j his knowledge 0f"......,-lane's commercial and political influences led him to believe Macfarlane to be a dangerous man.—The jury, being unable to agree, after having been locked up for a considerable time, were discharged without coming to any conclusion.

Mr C. Holloway, in the course of a recnntlecture, stated that the wealth of England if divided, would give £1,400 to each family. In the House of Representatives, in committee of supply, the Premier, in proposing the item of £1,914 15s, Crown Lands Department, pointed out that, owing to the enormous waste, the labor, cost of surveys, and the great confusion arising out of local surveys, he thought the appointment of a Surveyor-General would prove a great boon to the Colony. Mr J. E.Brown could speak from his own experience as to the surveyor, that such an appointment was necessary, and the soouer the Government organized a more perfect Bystem the better. Mr Fox hoped the Government would adhere to their intention of attempting to improve the surveys of the Colony. Mr Bunny regarded such a proposal as suspicious. It looked like a design on the part of the Government to get the control of the waste lands of the Colony. What would .become of Provincial Governments?— The Premier explained at length the peculiar position in which the surveys of the Colony were, and the many mistakes made all over the country. Ho assured the House that the proposal was not at all of an insidious character.—Mr Macandrew reminded the House that the report upon the conference of surveyors recommended such an appointment without fearing any terrible consequences.— Mr Carrington said it would cost millions of money to correct the surveys of the Colouy.—Sir Cracroft Wilson: Yes, six millions.