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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4157, 17 July 1874, Page 2

The hon. member for tho is determined to be noticed, even at the X'isk of not being appreciated. He wasted some time of tho House yesterday in endeavoring to justify himself in some of his late proceedings, in connection with hia Otago Waste Lands Bill, and to draw tho lion, tho Speaker into an acrosshouse discussion not becoming the dignity of his high office, by a display of audacity which in any “ other place” would have been called impudence, and in any “ other place” excepting one would have exposed tho hou. member alluded to to tho charge of possessing a very short memory, or a very large notion of the gullibility of the company ho addressed. The subject was his previous “ Otago Waste Lands Act,” which he induced tho House to read a first time a few nights ago, stating that ho proposed it at the desire of tho Provincial authorities of Otago, which he felt himself quite competent to draw ns it was only a Bill to repeal “ six words ” of an existing statute ; but which tho hou. tho Speaker at the time assured him he would not allow him to briug up for a second reading unless the Bill were printed. It appeared that tho Superintendent and the Provincial Secretary of Otago having arrived, the hou. member for Dunstan did not feel quite so confident as he had done before ns to the delegation of authority to him to move for them—to save time —in proposing a Bill to amend tho “ Otago Waste Lands Act. Ho interviewed —as the Americans phrase it—tho Hon. the Speaker on tho subject in the morning, and impressed the

Speaker with the idea that iu the preparation of the Bill that never was prepared he had been assisted by the two gentlemen from Otago already referred to. When the House met that notion was dispelled by the rising of Mr. Macandrew to give notice of a motion for leave to introduce a Bill to amend the Otago Waste Lands Act—which was evidently not the Bill of Mr. T. L. Shepherd, set down for the second reading that evening. The hon. member for the Dunstan then got up a sham appeal to the chair as to the practice of reading dummy Bills only when the first ■ reading was proposed—a course which he had suddenly discovered, on a very cursory appeal to “ May,” was not a proper one. He wished for a ruling —which he did not expect to get ; he equivocated as to his relationship with the Superintendent of Otago in the matter of 'the Bill; and induced a direct appeal by the chair to Mr. Macandrew, to which that hon. member most adroitly responded, by making a few observations, which avoided a reply to the question, and ended with the introduction of a totally different subject. Mr. Macandrew, in short, repudiated Mr. Shepherd, and the hon. member for Dunstan repudiated his own Bill—which he forgot that he had said would be a short one, to repeal “ only six words” of the existing law—by being absent, possibly in Bellamy’s, when the order of the day for the second reading of his Otago Waste Lands Bill was called on.

A somewhat curious episode occurred yesterday in the House of Representatives when the Supreme Court Judges Bill was under consideration in' committee. After the clause had been passed which increases the retiring pensions of the Judges, a message was received

from His Excellency recommending an appropriation to increase the pension of Sir William Martin, formerly Chief Justice of this Colony, by the sum of £166 13s. 4d. per annum. The motion was supported by some members, who thought the Government were only doing an act of grace in making the proposition, on the grounds that the pension was inadequate to the services of Sir William Martin, not in proportion to the increases to the pensions of the Judges of the Supreme Court just voted, and not creditable to such a Colony as New Zealand, while since his retirement Sir William Martin had constantly given valuable services to the Colony, especially in questions involving titles to Native lands. It was as warmly opposed by others, who held that Sir William Martin was sufficiently rewarded by a Colony the population of which when he was Chief Justice was small ; that he had now been in retirement for twenty years ; and that other officers who had retired long ago had an equal right to have their position considered. One member went so far as to assert that Sir William Martin had done nothing to advance the interests of the Colony, but, on the contrary, much to injure them ; he was always in antagonism with the Native races ; and was one of a small clique whose operations had been most inimical to the progress of the" Colony. In answer to a question, Mr. Vogel stated that the amount of the pension at present enjoyed by Sir William Martin was only £333 6s. Bd., and the proposition was to make it £SOO per annum. The Premier added that the motion did not in any way emanate from Sir William Mai’tiu ; the Government thought it was not to the credit of the Colony that a Chief Justice of New Zealand should be left in his extreme old age to “vegetate” on so miserable a pension as he now enjoyed; and the matter had been proposed to the House more by way of largesse than otherwise. As the Committee appeared to he at least considerably divided on the subject, Mr. Vogel withdrew his proposal, and the measure passed through committee without the new clause which the Premier had proposed to intrdduoe.

The Wellington Special Settlements Acts Amendment Bill was read a second time in the House yesterday, on the motion of Mr. FitzHerbert. He stated .that under the Act of 1871 the Superintendent of the Province, with the advice of his Executive, was empowered to set apart certain blocks of land, to be disposed of under a system of deferred payments, for the purpose of encouraging settlement. It was found, however, that the Act gave the Provincial authorities no power to alter or vary the boundaries of a block once proclaimed, and, consequently, portions of blocks, not perhaps so good as others, had not been taken up, and could not bo disposed of excepting under the provisions of the Act. It was now proposed to enable the Provincial authorities to alter boundaries and re-proclaim blocks where necessary. The Wellington Hospital Reserves Bill was also read a second time yesterday. Mr.. Bunny, in proposing the motion, stated that the hospital reserves produced a revenue of £BOO a year. Three acres of land were occupied by the present hospital, and eighteen acres of terrace lands were reserved for its benefit. It was proposed to sell either the sit© of the present hospital, or so much of the terrace reserve as might be necessary to raise funds for the building of a new hospital, better adapted to the wants of the City. The House appeared to agree cordially with the proposition.

It was gratifying to hear, from the Superintendent of the Province of Marlborough—as the House did last night—that the Province was progressing so rapidly that its Waste Lands Act, passed seven years ago, already required considerable alteration to meet the improved state of industry in Marlborough; The Act, it appears, specially requires alteration, as regards the mining interests, which have grown greatly; and also as to the management of the forests, so as to enable the Provincial Government, when they let timbered land to the owners of sawmills, to insist on proper regulations as to the manner in which the forest should be cleared, the way in which the woods should be protected from fires, &c. It was now necessary also, said Mr. Seymour, to enable the Provincial authorities to encourage, by grants of land, works of a public character; and it was proposed to provide that lands, after having been exposed to sale at public auction, and not taken up, might be so dealt with. The second reading was agreed to, and the Bill will now go before the Waste Lands Committee.