ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 345, 15 October 1875, Page 3

ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

"lama roguo if I do not, think T. was designed for tho helm of Stnto ; I am BO lull of nimble stratogerns, tliat I should have ordered affairs, and carried it ngainst the strearii of a faction, with os much ease ns a skipper ■tfould laver against tho wind.—" The Goblins." Tho Hon. Mr. Waterhouso Las giveii notice that ho "vrill move, as an amendment to tho Licensing Act Amendment Bill, now before the Council, the following clause " Any holder of a license refusing either personnally or through anyone acting on his behalf, except for some valid reason, to supply lodging, meals, or accommodation to travellers, or supplying liqtiors to persons already in a state of intoxication, shall for each ofFcnco be liable on conviction to forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding £10." —ln the Public Works Appropriation Bill the following items appear under the heading " Waterworks on Goldfields ": Mount Ida, £18,810; Beaumont and Tuapcka, £1360; .'Carrick Range, £5,760; Mount Pisgab, £BOO. Under "Public Buildings, judicial":—Naseby, £750; Queens town, £800; Hyde, £100; central penal establishment, £IO,OOO. —In tho Houso of Representatives tlio Speaker called attention to the amendments by tho Legislative Council ia the Goldfields Act Amendment Act No. 1, by which all expenses incidental to tho Goldfields were, to be charged on the 'Goldfields revenue instead of tho land re-. Venue. It was 'explained by tho Speaker that the House could not merely agree to the amendments, but that if the House Were favorable to them it would be necessary to begin de novo. The old bill must ■be allowed, to drop and another introduced, giving effect to tho Council's amendment. This wag accordingly done, and tho new bill was read a first and second time, and ordered to bo committed next day. It-has now passed through all its stages. As a consequence .the Pollution Bill so much was hoped from, and with which "Mr. T. L. Shepherd was in such an indecent hurry to bo, delivered, will bo anything but a blessing. The practical upshot of it will be that any ' treolioldor whoso freohold borders a •stream will have the power to closo a Goldfield above him, unless tho miners working it arc prepared to buy him out. —Tho _ House has rejected the amendments in the Otago Waste Lands Act, introduced by the Legislative Council. Mr. Reid said he did not think it desirable to raise arbitrarily the price of land. The Waste Lands Boards had already the power to fix such Upset prices as they might think fit. Then, as to deferred payments, the hon. gentleman objected to tho restrictions imposed, which ho believed would tend to make the holders Tinder that tenure ovado their obligations. The extra Is. Gd. per acre of annual rent which tho Council by their amendment imposcd_ would be much bettor in the hands of the people, as it would help them to make roads and other improvements in their respective districts. . lie also opposed tho proposition to sell rights by auction ; tho present system of tho ballot worked much better. Mr. M'Gillivray i thought 4s. an aero too high. Mr. T. L. Shepherd moved that tho House agree with the amendments of the Council, He thought that, with the good roads and railways through tho country, land was now better worth 40s, an acre than it was formerly 20s. Ho considered 4s. an acre for ten years a most liberal provision. Tho Houso div- 45 disagreed ivith tho r o4PPB(t'9 were for them. The iuiic, .Xg ace roe reasons assigned by tho Houso of Representatives' Jor disagreeing to the amendments of tho Legislative. Council "1. That (lie pastoral tenants who are leaseholders on tho Goldfields hold their leases under the I Waste Lands Act of the Province. 2. ! That it was tho intention of the Legislature-, when passing the seventy-sixth sec- , 'The Otago Waste Lands Act, I 1872, to place pastoral tenants on the same footing; but that it has, been found m practice not to be so. 3. That any land required for settlement on the Goldfields O' Otago can be proclaimed into Hundreds, when the compensation is defined under tho said seventy-sixth section ; but if tho said land is required for settlement under the Agricultural Leasing System, and the land is set apart under the sixteenth section of ' The Goldfields Act, 1866,' the ! amount of compensation is undefined. 4. That, in consequence of the said compensation being undefined, the Provincial authorities ot Otago are placed in a false position, inasmuch as they are unable to meet the legitimate requirements of thoso -desirous of settling upon tho Goldfields. 5. That greater injury is inflicted on pastoral tenants by proclaiming a whole run into a Hundred than would.be by opening a small block ; but under the present system, because of the difference in tho method of arriving at compensation, Hundreds are proclaimed in preference to blocks. —Sir George Grey has revived Mr. Macandrew's idea that a freehold title should supplant the titlo now supposed to be good under miner's right. If all special taxation and special departments were removed, this would be the only practical menstruum for mining disputes. _ Mr. Macandrow deserves credit rru J. ln # foreseen this two years ago.— Ihe Government have withdrawn the ♦supplementary Electoral Rolls ijill. The Electoral Qualifications Bill was thrown out on its mcrits: it was too much and not enough ; it professed to be tantamount to manhood suffrage, while, beyond tho enfranchisement of lodgers, it did not promise to reach the working classes at all. The twelvemonths residence was a fatal attachment to tho measure. The Representation Bill will havo a hard struggle for existence. Tho ensuing elections will bo based on the present rolls, and an early appeal to tho country is probable.