CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 428, 25 August 1908, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

We do not hold ourselves responsible for opinions expressed by our correspondents.

[TO THE EDITOR.]

Sir, —I observe the following paragraph in your issue of August 20th :—“ Mr Hennessy returned from Wellington last night, where he had been on matters connected with the Foxton Harbour Board Bill. It will be some time before the Bill will come before the Local Bills Committee.” There must be some misapprehension outside of Parliament with respect to the position of the Foxton Harbour Board Bill on the Order paper, as I moved the second reading of the Bill on Tuesday, August 4th, and asked that it then be referred to the Local Bills Committee, which was done accordingly on the same day. Therefore, since that day the Bill has been in the office of the Local Bills Committee, but as there are a large number of Local Bills which were introduced in the early part of the session, still in the hands of the Committee and not yet reported to the House, these Bills must in the ordinary course be first considered and reported in their proper order of precedence, in accordance with the dates upon whcih they passed their first readings and were referred to the Local Bills Committee. Thus it will he seen that from the date upon which the Clerk of Parliament received the Bill from the Clerk of the Stipendiary Magistrate’s Court at Foxton, not one moment of time has been lost in advancing the Bill by every step which is permissible by the standing orders.—l am, etc., John Stevens. Parliamentary Buildings, Wellington.

August 22nd, 1908. We are sure that’aU interested in the above Bill recognise that Mr Stevens is doing his utmost within Parliamentary procedure, and by individual effort among his fellow members, to put the Bill through this session.—Kd, H.]