ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 337, 20 August 1875, Page 3

ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

"lama rogue if I do not think I -was designed for the liclra of State ; I ftm ao lull of nimble strategema, that I should hare ordered affairs, and carried it against the stream of a faction, with as much case as a skipper would layer against the wind. —" I'he Goblins." The debate is still progressing, and, after Jill, means very little, except to show how very little the members of the Government know of the measures that have been drawn up for them. The real battle ground will be in Committee, when we venture to prodict the Opposition will bo too powerful for the feeble debaters on the Government side. It must not be forgotten that, although there are several good , 'xncSn '. ainofag' the Goverhm'erit inaj ority, they cannot be looked upon as at all heart-whole in any support they will give. Nothing very good or nothing very bad ' .has .been said durmgthe debate so far, at to be sufficiently good or bad as to retain interest as it has reached the public in the heavy telegraphic messages obtained by our Dunedin contemporaries. ; It may bo said, indeed, that the Treasurer's sepulchral firstly, secondly,- and , thirdlyihad foreshadowed a gloomy debate. Perhaps, however, it'was his fiery logic. The Major's style is this he founds an assumption on his own personal statement, " I say, sir, it would;" and then deduces, , ad infinitum,. But, perhaps, the most killing part of the speech of all was tho repeated declaration that ."the time had come," and of course by assumption, " the man." Major Atkinson did not however say that.—The pollution of streams has]"taken a happier phase. The ' Star's' correspondent states that " The Solicitor-General has drafted a Bill which will take the place of Mr. Shepherd's, re Pollution of Streams by fold-mining, and will supersede Mr. 'jke's. Practically it includes the resolution Mr. do Lautour moved in the Provincial Council to legalise fouling, and to provide that in all future sales lands on the banks of rivers should be reserved from sale; or, if sold, that purchasers should have only limited privileges, and 'not the right to object to streams or rivers being 1 fouled. Under this Bill all cases of damage, by fouling, to streams proclaimed tinder the Act are to be. submitted to arbitration, the decision of tho arbitrators to be final, and not to be set aside by irregularities of any kind. By , • section ,8 future purchasers of land on Goldfields are deprived of all right and , title to any watercourse which would . prejudice the holders of miners' rights. The Bill is sure to pass." Besides this ■ there will be clauses providing that"com- ■. penSation should be accorded to existing rights that might be interfered with out ... • Qt consolidated or territorial revenue. This new mode of dealing with ihe bill was arranged in the Goldfields Committeej principally, we understand, by the action of Messrs. Macandrew and Pyke. —The Speaker has been drawn out on . the question of remitting present measures to tho constituencies:—"ln .committee on tho Otago Waste Lands Bill ho 1 explained that he was now h believer in •the deferred payment system, and paid a warm tribute to the Provincial Government for tho way it administered the sys-j tem. He also urged the House, to settle! this question, so that the constitutional; ■question might goto the people, for dis--cussion free from other questions. Mr. - Fitzhei'bert, after alliiding to the success of the deferred payment system in Wei-; k \lington»i thanked Sir F. D. Bell for join-j ing the Opposition in an appeal to refer; the decision On the constitutional questions to a general election. Sir P. D. Bell' explained that he would be sorry if a politi-! cal interpretation were put .on. anything he 1 said;-- ,! What ha 1 had urged was that this abolition question/having been raised, .•and assuming thatrit would bo determined i /tjija.year, it. could not .for-. i that a system which Jbas beien i s itf'exHsfceiice twenty-five, years wpuld.b.e • swept aWay;'b'yone' mfeasure,"one division, or one vote. (Opposition cheers*), Enor? anous work was required to give in the place of,-tho\system ..fcjristing -that which W>uld give greater satisfabtion;'and to jprevent what must absolutely be a feeling of great?, disappointment.' ' If; abolition was io b& anything,'this bill Was but the be■ginn.ing of the end. 1 ' The present task was ■one that required 1 the utmost patriotism, as well as the intellect of every member. The Bill then passed its second reading."' —" Where does come, from?" "This Mr.-Ileid's very pertinent questjonto ft sta'tenjent made, by the rer, that " the .Provinces would receive from consolidated revenue s total sunr of £5,10,000, the result being of the proposed, change that they wo ..Id be in receipt of £91,000 more than if the present arrangements' pfentinue." are inclined,, to add—Granting the.jpresei^t,. what about t3ie :fixtuire f hot ,the argument the. other ;day,, that ..with , abolition,", the', money spent'.would be less; iThisstruck. Mr. Reader Wood, and he wanted to know 'a good deal, and moved for a return showing the estimated -amount of, lahd fund to be received within Provincial district for the' period from November Ist, 1875,.tq JuneSOLh,' Is76,'together With he raised in aid by_ issue', of Treasury; Bills,, under, the provisions of section 17. qf the. Abolition* of .the, estimated • •amount for v each Provincial district chafgeabfc against the land fund by subsections 1, 2, flnd.3j_of section 16 of the said Act, together with tho estimated amount for dfepartrrieiltal services for publio Works v arid educa'tion proposed to be charged against the land fundi He Could not help calling the attention of the House to the fact that • the told them they were to pay the Proyinees £348,000 for Provincial services. If this was. the way -Provinci'alisni was : .tq, be abolished, this way of ddiWg it was n'ot a boon but a cufßdjto the 1 . ; wa^ v a little lively debate in tlieUotise on a motion of Sir George ,Grey'a,.,which asked for leave to introduce a bill t to render invalid cerrai» Orders in Council, dealing with' the confiscated lands. It appears that certain lands ixl the centre of the North Island hacj to Thomas Russell, Charles . Taylor,' and others, for 2s; 6d. perwacre, which Mr. Reeves characterised as a wanton'arid wicked waste of public estate. Mr. Eitzherbcrt strongly supported Sir George: in this matter, for which Mr. Stafford, told him his position with regard to Sir George was like that of a Newfoundland aog. Per this Mr. Speaker interfered. The upshot of the dispute was . thfttj/hq,, taking the motion as a voto of want of confidence, forced a division, the Opposition refusing to vote.—After this tho Abolition debate was resumed, and Mr. T. L. Shepherd unburdened himself. Mr. Shepherd deserves credit for being tho first Goldfields member in the Assembly who proved he had detected how miserably unjust the

Government proposals were to the GoldYet, with his usual characteristic, he joins in with the pack to pass the measures, as they are, trusting to his influence to remodel them afterwards. He had detected what we have already pointed out, that there was no real distinction between Gold fields and other districts. He is wrong in thinking such a distinction possible. If it were, the suggestion that gold revenue should be considered as rates, and subsidised, would be a good one. Sir George Grey had already pointed out that the miners were being shorn: like a lot of sheep.