THE NEXT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 257, 31 October 1871, Page 2

THE NEXT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT.

(From the Wellington Independent).; Mr. Wood, in moving that in the opinion; of this House the .next session of the Assembly be held at Dbnedih^ said it . did Dot necessarily follow that the place which happened to be the seat of the Government of the colony should also be the place for the holding of the Legislature. When Auckland was the seat of Government, resolutions of this kind were brought on almost every session, and iv the session of 1862, for the first time, the place of the meeting of the Legislature was fixed to be at Wellington, but thatL <lid not entail any great disadvantage to the Execute Government of the colony. In the following ; year again the session was held' at ; Auckland, but' the Government of the day strongly advised bis Excellency the' Governor that the sessions of the Parliament should be held iv Wellington, and soon after tbat the seat of Government was removed, and the meetings of Parliament have always been held here since. But siuce it had been removed to Wellington there had been "'■ many resolutions brought before the House of the kind he now proposed. The fact of the matter was, that the mere fact of Wellington being the seat of Government did not confer any vested right to its being also the seat of the Legislature. That right had been challenged nearly every year, and, this being a new Parliament it was not very strange that it should be again challenged. Of "course there were many conveniences in having the seat of Government in the place where the Parliament :was .being :held. The facility with which returns could be furnished was undeniable, and there were raauy other obvious advantages connected withit, but at the same ; time : he thought he would succeed in showing that it would be beneficial to the public interest that there should be a change of the seat of the Legislature. There would be no great increase of expense by a change of the kind, because circumstances were not now the same as they were a few years ago. The existence of telegraph communication removed one of the most difficult abjections. If the session were held at Dunedin the Government could obtain, any information desired by the House, and could communicate almost as readily with the officers of the different departments by means of the wires as they could now through the ! offices- here, so that there was really no practical ..objection .to be urged on that ground. But in any case the expense need not be great. In one respect there would be a considerable' saving to the public, in the abolition of the Hansard. That publication had been in existence since 1866, and the necessity for it was caused by the fact that Parliament had been removed to a place where the public press of the province was not equal to reporting the debates that took place in the House. When the sessions were held in Auckland tbelpresS of;; that pitypiwere equal to publishing very accurate and very full reports of the important debates, while those of less interest/were compressed in such a manner that the public at large had full information of everything that was being done in the' House; but it was found, in the removal of the seat of Government' that the debates of the Parliament were not fully represented by the local press, and the result was the establishment of Hansard. He had no doubt whatever that if the Legis-

lature were reinovedH.to Dunedin, the public press of^tbat ciqyowould be found equal to giving full reports of the debates which took place in the House. In that city there is ample accommodation of every kind for carrying on the business of Parliament, so that no inconvenience would be likely t0 ... arise from the want of accommodation. So far he had shown that there would be no great inconvenience, but he would prove tbat there would be positive advantages arising from a temporary change. One of those advantages would be that as the representatives of different parts of the colony For remainder of news see fourth page.

are now called apon to legislate upon a different class of subjects than "heretofore, namely, the public works to be erected, in the' various parts ofi ihe colony, it. would be very material to them to have: that amount of local knowledge and information of all kinds that they would be likely to acquire by holding the sessions of Parliament in a place different to the one in which they held them at. present. For instance, if they were to hold their t "meetings at Canterbury and Otago, they would be in a position to better ascertain the requirements of the country thau they could possibly be in Wellington, and therefore, when they- were about to enter upon the consideration of those great questions : of immigration and public works, it would be greatly ;to the public advantage that the sessions should be held in those places where the members would be able to see something of the workings of those local institutions which weie about to pass awayV : and which had: done a vast amount of public good. Members would be able to see whether it would be advantageous or that the Parliament should move from one place to another. ■ . Then, again,, it would not only be advantageous to the members them-,: selves, but advantageous to the public. if the sessions of the Assembly were held occasionally away from Wellington. If they Were to remove to Dunedin there would be more chance of their, being brought, into connection with the people; of the colony. Therefore, he thought it desirable not only that they should hold the next session at Duoedin, but that the succeeding offe should be held at Christchurch. He would move " rhatiiu the opinion of this House- it is. desirahle that the next session be held at Dunedin." Mr. Lightband moved the iusertion of the word "Nelson" for that of " Dunedin." ; : '■ : Mr."Reid would. have no objection if the hon. member would assure them that there was provision made in Nelson for accomor dating the members. : Mr. Macandrew thought for the sake of stereotyping the unity of the colony it was highly desirable that they should have peripatetic Parliaments. A great advantage that would "be" obtained would be the abolition of the Hansard, because he felt sure that the papers there would publish the proceedings verbatim. ; They might advantageously hold a session without attempting to make fresh laws. They might weir do without the hundred and fifty bills introduced every year. Mr. Lightband said there was every accomodation in Nelson. They- had the Provincial Hall, and every requisite would be provided by the people. Mr; Haughtdn agreed with the suggestion of Mr. Macandrew that they should tinkering with the laws. Some such plan as that adopted in the Roman Parliament should beadopted here, namely, that every member who introduced a bill should appear with a rope round his neck;' so that if his bill or amendment were rejected he should be immediately strangled. Mr. Fox saw no very great strength in the arguments adduced in favor of the motion. Members might remove the seat of Government and not find any greater amount of comfort than was to be found in Wellington. There was the advantage that there were not many fascinating social meetings or field sports or race meetings to distract members : from their legitimate business. Another reason given was that the press of Wellington was not equal to publishing daily reportsof every day's debates. The argument was a very weak one, because when the sessions were held in Auckland they were no better than were produced in Wellington after the removal of the Seat of Government. There were complaints made in the House every day of the wretched nature of the reports published by the Auckland papers. So that that objection was not of much weight. The strongest reason of. the whole, but on which the hod.' itieinber had said ; least, r ! was the question of expense. There could not be any doubt that the increase in the expense that would be caused by the change would be a very, strong reason against the removal of the Parliament to Dunedin. : : "' Xliia J mover; hiving replied, a division was called for, .the result being : — Ayes. 40; Noes, 20. n -Ayes; :~ Wood,i 7 Batbgate; ..Gillies,, Webster^ R.Ri&hardeon, ..Shepherd,; J. E. : Brown', ; Macandrew, Harrison, M'Glashan, :i fteid.|s£l£eiry; Steward, Faruall, O'R,ork<>, jMurray, „ Shephard ; , Hender,|on, Reeves, Katene, M^Eberaon, Swainson, Bradshaw, S-O'Cbnor, )tri! Munc6,'i>(Karaitiana > Peacock, E. RibhardaoDi Pariita, Lightband, J. iG. Brown, Qrmpnd, Qahtr'ell; ; ; , Curtis, Thomson, Taiaroa, O'Ngi,U, , C^eighto^^amngtpn^^^f^; j Noßß.—-Studholme, , CollißSriGisborne, J^VEellyii^lark, Eyes, Earfelaisfei Ropdes,. Byrce, Hooter, Tribe, Parker, j Fox, Andrew, Fiizherbert, h Johnston, loglea, and Parker. Mr. Creighton gave notice that next

day heiwo'uld move a motion infp|ining his Excellency the Governor that any expenses. incurred in the removal of the Seat of the Legislature will; bej : voted by ; the House. ; : - _■_ : , , „. •