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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4155, 15 July 1874, Page 2

The Ward-Chapman correspondence was laid before Parliament last night by the Premier. It covered some fifteen pages of closely-written foolscap. We give it in another column. Immediately on the production of the papers, Mr. J. L. Gillies gave notice of • motion for a Select Committee to inquire into tho case, and into the manner in which the contents of the telegrams became public, and other' similar complaints. The names of the members will bo found in our Parliamentary report. The com' mittee arc to bring up a report within fourteen days.

A largo, number of petitions, on a wide range of subjects, were presented to the House last night. Among them was one, the presentation of which by Mr. O'Neill, the member for the Thames district, occasioned Bome amusement. It was from a very large number of the hon. member's constituents, and prayed for representation more in proportion to the importance of the district in Parliament. The hon. member as ho described its prayer advanced towards the Speaker's chair, unrolling the petition as he went along. Its length was thus shown to exceed that of the floor of the Assembly. The hon. member, however, was not the inventor of this ingenious system of making the size, if not the merits of the prayer, of the petition visible, the same device having been resorted to on a similar occasion by an hon. member who represents a district in the Middle Island, and has not yet taken his place in the House this session.

A somewhat unusual petition was placed before the House of ltepresentatives last night. It is known that in the beginning of the war with the-Natives at Taranaki in 1861, a number of settlers were murdered. The widows were pensioned, and those of them who survive —if all of them are not living—have been regularly paid the money annually ever since : with one exception. One of the widows, who had a family, received her pension for two years, but it was then stopped. The woman was not in'a position to obtain correct information on the subject, and supposing that the other widows had been treated in the same way—that the' pensions, in short, had been stopped—she struggled on without making much inquiry, and had succeeded in rearing her family respectably, unaided. She had but lately learned that she had been treated exceptionally, through what cause she did not know, and she now prayed that her case would receive favorable consideration from the House. The hon. member who mentioned the matter to the House, vouched for the respectability of tho petitioner.

The Imprest Bill waß passed through all its stages yesterday in both Houses.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, one drunkard was fined, and several civil cases withdrawn and settled.

In the Legislative Council this evening, the second reading of the Real Estate Descent Bill, and of the Marriage Law Amendment Bill, will probably be proceeded with. A petition to Parliament was presented yesterday from Dunedin against the proposed increase of the duty on colonially-distilled spirits, notice of which was given a few nights ago by the Commissioner of Customs. The first number of Hansard, for the session, has been issued by the Government Printer. It brings the report of the proceedings down to the early part of the sitting in the Council on Thursday last.

Notice of motion of a Bill to deal with the Waste Lands of the Province of Auckland has been given by Mr. Sheehan. Mr. Curtis has given notice of a measure to amend the Waste Lands Act of the Province of Nelson.

Mr. Andrew Young asks the House, in a petition presented yesterday by Mr. Pearce, for compensation for losses through the cancellation or non-fulfilment of a contract entered into by him with the Government for the carriage of mails between Wanganui and New Plymouth. The s.s. City of Adelaide, which is expected to bring the incoming mail via San Erancisco (due in Wellington on the 21st instant), is announced to take the next outward mail from New Zealand. She will—if no delay occurs ■ —leave Port Chalmers on the 28th instant, and connect at Kandavau with the s.s. Mikado.

In answer to Mr. Thomson, the Commissioner of Public Works stated in the House yesterday that it had not yet been decided into how many contracts the works of the Balclutha and Mataura railway would be divided. All the plans, however, were now ready, and the department only awaited a favorable state of the money market to call for tenders. To-day, in the House of Representatives, Mr. J. E. Browne is to ask the Minister of Public Works whether " the Government have had a survey made to ascertain the best course for a railway to connect the West Coast of the Middle Island with the North part of the Province of Canterbury ? If not, ■ when it is likely to be made ?" The discussion on the second reading of the Civil Service Acts Amendment Bill was progressing in the House yesterday, when the hour for adjournment—half-past 5 o'clock—arrived. The House afterwards met, for the first time this session, for an evening sitting, which was devoted. to the speech of Mr. Vogel, explanatory of the State Forests Conserration Bill, the second reading of which he proposed and carried. The Bill now before the House of Representatives to amend the Post Office Savings Bank Act of 1807, is a very short measure. It enacts that "in lieu of the words ' five hundred pounds,' where they occur in the tenth section of the said Act, there shall be substituted the words ' one thousand pounds'; and the said Act shall henceforth .be construed and read accordingly."

The Bill intituled "An Act to amend the Westland Loan Act, 1873," consists of only one enacting clause. It provides that out of the monies raised under the authority of that Act, any sum or sums not exceeding £7294 19s. 9d., may be applied as the Governor shall direct from time to time, for the purjiose of paying such of those debts and liabilities of the county of Westland as became chargeable against the Province of Westland ; the residue of the sum named to be paid to the Provincial account of the Province, to be applied to the purposes authorised by the Act. Among the measures proposed by the Go venunent, and read a second time in the House of Repi-esentatives last night, were the Westland Loan Act Amendment Bill; the Electric Telegraph Act Amendment Bill; the Conveyancing Ordinance Act Amendment Bill; the Post Office Savings Banks Bill; the Municipal Reserves Bill; the Supreme Court Judges Bill; and the Regulation of Mines Bill. The second reading of the Qualification of Electors Bill was postponed till to-day. The gist of the Bill now before the House of Representatives to amend the Supreme Court Judges Act, 1858, is contained in the following clause :—" Every Judge of the Supreme Court, holding office during good behaviour, who having served, whether continuously or not,' fifteen years and less than twenty-five years as Judge of the Sujireme Court, shall resign his office after having attained the age of sixty years, shall, after the passing of this Act, be entitled to a superannuation allowance of one-half of the amount of his salary at the time of resignation." The following list of gentlemen, having the entree to Bellamy's, is published by order of the House Committee :—The Chief Justice, the Governor's Aides-de-camp and Private Secretary, the officers commanding H.M. ships on the station,. the Puisne Judges, the Attor-ney-General, the Captain and Wardroom Officers of H.M. ships on the station, the Comp-troller-General, the Under-Secretary and Secretaries of Departments, the AuditorGeneral, the Clerk of the Executive Council, the Clerk and Clerk's Assistant to the Legislative Council, the Clerk and Clerk's Assistant to the House of Representatives/the Director of the Geological Survey, the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Chief of Hansard Reporting Staff, the Colonial Architect, the Interpreters to the Maori Members, the Examiner of Standing Orders on Private Bills, and the Engineer-in-Chief.

A telegram from Wellington to the Daily Southern Cross was the subject of a conversation in the House last night. . Mr. T. B. Gillies stated that he saw in a late number of that journal a statement that some " severe despatches" had been forwarded by the outgoing mail by the Premier to the Agent-General. He wished to know whether the story was true, and, if so,. how it was that information as to tho contents of despatches reached the Press before it was communicated to the House ? Mr. Vogel, in reply, remarked that he was not aware'that any ." particularly severe despatches" had been forwarded. There was no desire on tho part of the Government to withhold information, and tho correspondence not already before the House would be laid upon the table in a few days. Had it but rained in moderation instead of iu torrents last night, there would undoubtedly, have been a crowded house to witness the unrivalled performance which Smith's Combination Troupe gave in their farewell appearance. As it was, the attendance was good, and it is unnecessary to add that everybody was delighted with the performances. The members of the company received a perfect ovation on the completion of each act. The season—owing to circumstances over which Mr. Smith had no control —has not been nearly so great a success to tho Combination Troupe as the spirit of the management and the superiority of the artists deserved. The company certainly has never been equalled in tins Colony. _______________