PARLIAMENTARY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 176, 7 August 1874, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY.

Wellington, August 6. The Bankruptcy Act Amendment Bill has been I'ead the s&qond time. On the corajg^fUal of the Wtllington Lands Payment Bill a sharp altercation took place between the Premier and *• the Superintendent^ of Weliington. The latter accused'"the Premier of - making fish of one" and flesh of ; another, and alleged that the financial statements regarding Wellington were . utterly repugnant to facts. The Govej.fifn_.ent refußed to allow Wellington to pay fcr its roads and bridges out of land, although a few hours ago they had ' allowed Taranaki to set apart v absolutely one-fourth *5£ the whole, '■■ '"oJ the land in~*^*tte province '* for. harbor purposes,- When tljie* Government persecuted and sat updn "-•Wellington, was it because the Taranaki votes were safe and'those of Wellington were not ? The Premier replied to the imputation (bat if they wanWf_l' votes tbey had not ■',_ far to go for them, as tbey were -notoriously available in Wellington at . very/ low terms, and they certainly would not go to the smallest province in New Zealand fcr them. Ho adhered to every statement he had made regarding Wellington, and referred the ..House to the correspondence on the Audit Act to form an opinion between himself and the Superintendent. Tbe Superintendent eaid that the ".Premier was hurrying the colony to speedy failure, and that he knew he was. doing sd. - Mr Luckie was about to quote the words of the Judge on the Audit case, but cries of "Question " cut short the altercation, and progress was reported. The Hpuse adjourned at midnight. "• , .To-day the Select Committee ap- -. .i'^ointed to enquire into the alleged :, breach of privilege on the part of the .... Tribune in printing what purported to ..'. be the evidence of Judge Ward before ;, the Ward-Cbapman Committee was made a Joint Committee with tbat of/ ! .the Upper House. It i 8 understood , that Mr Luckie admitted belore tbe r Committee that he was the author of the telegram, having taken down exactly what he beard members talking of in the passage of the House. Tbe Premier announced that the : Government had decided not to run the risk of instituting legal proceedings against Mr Webb to recover the penalties for non-performance of tbo . mail contract. He laid before the ; House a letter from Mr Thos. Russell on the subject. The Premier also made a statement __ I regarding certain remarks as *to tho General Government expenditure upon, the North Island, and the abolition of the North Island provinces in consequence of one speech which made out that the Forests Bill was a concentrated attack upon all the provinces, j and especially upon Wellington. The Government had turned tbeir attention .seriously to the whole question of Provincialism in the North Island, and had ascertained that the amount r/ derived indirectly by the North Island from tbe .Assembly exceeded all he had

ever dreamt of. Amongst the conditions referred to in this speech were the question of the Seat of Government and the compact of 1856, These should be recognised by Act of Parliament. Although confident that the majority of the members and of the people throughout t'.e colony would welcome a measure abolishing tbe provinces, it would be better not to take action this session, as auy surprise iv the direction of legislation was not acceptable to the country. The people would naturally prefer that large organic changes should not be hurried on without allowing them an opportunity of expressing their opinions by petition. He was not prepared to say whether the Government would 'or would not bring down resolutions on the subject. They had no right, however, to prevent the House from expressing an opinion upon the question, as many members might think that extreme action was justified under the circumstances.