New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4870, 31 October 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31.

Sir Georoe Grey has never been accused by us of fairness in his Parliamentary tactics, and yesterday he, gave final proof that he never should be io accused; The House, in distinct opposition to the wishes, of the. Premier, ratified ...this session the justice of the claims of Messrs. Sarxoris and Downes in connection with certain lard arrangements of a byegone date in Taranaki. Acting upon the expressed wish of the House, a Bill was introduced and carried through all its stages for the purpose of compensating those gentlemen for the losses they had sustained. The Bill was sent up to the Legislative Council, and that body struck out one clause, which it was feared on a technical point might defeat the Bill. Yesterday Major Atkinson, in order that the; previously 1 declared wish of the House might'not be prevented by any technical 'hitch from being carried out this session, moved that the amendment of the Council should be agreed to, as doing so would’ not affect the .compensation of Messrs. | Sartoris and Downes. ; But Mr. Oar : 1 rinoton, who haa for years advocated the cause 1 of those gentlemen, and who-had j charge of the Bill during its passage t through the House of Representatives, i happens to bo a staunch Government supporter and though, when. the, ma-, jority of members left for their homes oni Saturday, it was understood that no action; previously taken by the ;House;should be, reversed,stilt the fact of Mr Carrington's. pOliticalopiriionsbeing ihaccord with those of the Ministry was quite sufficient tocause Sir Geoeoe Grey toopppae'Major son’s - proposition of Concord with the. Upper House, in order thereby to get a chance.; of- burking the Bill altogether,! and of so taking revenge upon a Minis-j terialist/ Accordingly, Sir George Grey snatched a 'majority of dhree .to support him in disagreeing with the UpperHouse,' and then coolly proposod that the further consideration of the ‘ mutter sh'ouldj be postponed until next session, and thus by a triok to defeat the, desire of the House,' as unmistakeably expressed on previous occasions before the majority of members left for their homes. This trick was too apparent, and accordingly

■on the next vote Sir George Grey was left in a minority. But _by getting himself and another Opposition member chosen as managers to draw up reasons and confer with the Legislative Council, ho succeeded, as will bo seen, by our parliamentary report, in further delaying matters for some hours by: making the Sartoris Downes" Bill a peg upon which to hang a constitutional’ difficulty with the Upper House, As a result, the debate-was adjourned; and since moreimportant business, in the shape of the Waste Lands Administration Bill, -is .before the House,* there is no knowing ■how Sir George’s ruse, may-have effect.

As will be seen by our report of proceedings in Parliament yesterday, the session is scarcely yet at an end; The Lords have so emasculated the Waste Lands Administration Bill'that it 1 will ‘prove simply .ruinous to provinces like Auckland. The Lower House have, as an absolute necessityi taken 1 a- stand 1 in ‘coriseqiferTce, and ithe matter has been . referred to_ a consference, to meet* this 1 day.’ ‘ Conciliation must always govern human affairs, and, we can recommend conciliation to the Legislative Council in this. case. The country will hot put up with their treatment of the Bill under notice. They had much better yield ’to circumstances, and ;prevent our expressing ourselves more 'plainly. One matter in the Legislative Council was singular. Mr. Waterhouse worked himself into a fine frenzy over the question of settling: the people on the land, and then in committee voted against the deferred' payment clauses. • This is consistency with a vengeance.

Telegrams to expect further fall of barometer and northerly winds were sent : South oh Sunday. Warnings were sent out yesterday to all stations; The glass' was falling; up ■to a late hour last night. i Several measures in the Legislative Council .yesterday were, not allowed to pass without remark, although : time ; wits so pressing. Mr. Waterhouse delivered ,a, long address on the . Appropriation Bill, 1 and breathed out warnings of trouble, if not of actual disaster, to come, jThe hbn.'gentleman seems to be possessed of an iidea that he was born . .into this-world to act as ;a political weathercock. It is no ■ doubt an ■admirable part to play, [ that of indicating !“how things are going on ’’ in fact, and what |is likely to.result,' but it becomes confusing, as ■well as monotonous, when the.indioatoralways .points one way. The Hon. Mr. Waterhouse ‘is always indicating “ approaching- storms," which" are to arise put of: the'system of finance ’which has obtained in this colony of late years, ■ and which, he says, is based on a rotten principle. He objected to Treasury bills,and pointed out that the revenue had not met the'expenditure; and informed the Councilthat if payment in i full had been made for the government of the country, and the interest on the loans for the year, there would actually be a deficiency of £245,747 3s. 10d., instead of a surplus of £53,000. The hon. gentleman also complained of the coat of Government, residences and their maintenance. Mr. Bonar did not take such a gloomy view of the affairs of the colony, and explained that the Government were necessarily placed in a difficult position in consequence of the large changes in the Constitution. Generally, however, this gentleman’s cheerful view of things was a relief after Mr. Waterhouse’s picture of clouds, small at present, but calculated to increase to awful dimension. A good deal of discussion took place, the hon. Mr. : Hall agreeing to a certainextent with the hon. Mr. Waterhouse as to the financial question ; and the hon. Dr. Pollen replied to all that the , hon. Mr. Waterhouse had said. He said that the Government had great difficulty-,in discovering,rthe.. precise needs of the provinces (in some directions they had not met with much assistance), and the Treasury bills were necessary, inasmuch as they had to leave a large margin to meet unexpected wants.. The Bill was .passed through all its stages.-- ' *f'

There were a good many cases at the Resident Magistrate’s ' Court ’ nine of them being drunkards.' * Peter ' Pash' was charged with attempting to commit suicide. Constable .Commons stated that; on receiving information that a man had stabbed himself in Maori-row, he ’ proceeded there/ and found prisoner lying in his bed covered with blood,and with a wound in his breast.' /A-khife'was found lying beside him, which was supposed to be - the instrument with- which; he had wounded himaeL—Robert Maokay' was charged with assault, the offence having been committed in November,-1874. Mr. Travers appeared for the prosecutor, and Mr Barton for the defendant, who waa fined 50s and costs, or in default fourteen days’ imprisonment.—Thomas Blackwood, charged with being an accomplice in the assault upon Edward Clutterbuck, was. remanded until Thursday week, A meeting of the Kaiwarra Local Board was held ‘ yesterday at the Tollgate house ; there being present Mr. Wyatt, chairman; and Messrs. Cameron, Gilford, and Phillips. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. Mr. C- Thompson, secretary to the Board, was appointed to the offices of assessor and collector also, and the honorarium due to him as secretary was ordered to be paid. It was resolved to appoint Messrs. Cameron and Gilford to inspect the slaughter-houses at Kaiwarra, and report to the Board; also, that.the proprietors should be compelled to comply with the by-laws in the management of the slaughter-houses. It was resolved to procure a common seal for the Board, in, compliance with clause 8 of the Local Boards Act. . The secretary was instructed to write to Mr. E. M. /Taylor, informing him that he must discontinue the practice of slaughtering battle on his own pre-mises..'-.Themeeting then adjourned until next Monday. ; • . The labor question cropped up again yesterday in the Legislative-Council, when the Immigration’ /and Public Works Appropriation Bill was being- considered; The Hon. Mr. Waterhouse looked upon the proposal to introduce; a further supply of-male immigrants as dangerous to the welfare of the laboring, class in New Zealand'at the present time, and stated that in the Wairarapa; there werenumbers of men well able and willing to work who. could not find employment. The Hon. Mr. Robinson then rose and/said -that in his part of the country such was not the case, and with regard to the price of labor, about which so much had been said, he begged, to record his opinion that: high' wages 'were 'an indication of prosperity,; and'he should bo happy tosee the price of labor 50 per cent higher than 'it was at the present time. The Horn' Dr. Pollen thought the state of affairs which’ ithe 'Hon. Mr. Waterhouse had, depicted' : as / existing in the Wairarapa - must’ be 'peculiar to that district, and could gcarcely_understand the 'cases he had men- 1 'turned being genuine cases of distress, consider- ■ ing the means of communication which existed j between the different parts of. the colony, and; he knew for a (act. that in no other part was there such distress ; but on the- contrary, l laborers were scarce. ..] A clerical error occurred in our issue of yes-| terday with regard to Messrs. Bethnne and’ -Hunter’s advertisement of-the--sale-of-the re- ’ maining sections in the • township of- Alice-; town. The'upset-price 1 is still j£2l,’and not •i2o.' We may fbmafk that as regards the few. remaining sections hot -sold by the Cth of Noveipber, the upset.price will from that date; be £3O per section; ’ s ■■■-'• | There was a large attendance at the Theatre; last evening, when Rip jVan was again’ produced; ■ Mry Collier’s; representation, os- isj well known, is exceedingly good, and last night, he received hearty calls. . In the farce which; followed, “The Widow’s Victim,’? Mr. Collieralso made a great hit in the- pomic line ' The • Hegarty - Troupe, -which created so: favorable an impression on their first appear-, ance in Wellington ’some few weeks ago, will Arrive in ’town again on Wednesday morning, and the same evening commence a short season in conjunction with Messrs. Bates and Howard’s company at the Theatre Royal.

The Lingarda open'at the Theatre Royal on. Saturday evening. ;*% \\ ■ A special meeting 'of the City Council, will be held on Thursday at 4 *p.m,, to consider existing building regulations. Entries for the Prince of Wales’, birthday sports close this evening, not Thursday evening, as previously stated. A tea and public meeting will be held this evening in continuation of the anniversary festival of the Webb-street Primitive Methodist Church, I Barlow’s circus opens at the corner of Cuba and Ingestre streets to-morrow evening. Entertainments of this character are always patronised well; and as the .performing dogs |and monkeys of Mr, Barlow’s Circus are reported to be very clever, no doubt there will be“a large attendance on the occasion of the opening night, - : ;r ■ The Hon. Sir John Richardson addressed the Council yesterday on the subject of defence, suggesting that a portion of the vote for that purpose should be devoted to external defence. He . pointed out the necessity r for being thoroughly prepared in the event of the colony having to contend with a power hostile to the mother country, and seemed to think that a war in which England would engage might probably arise at no distant date. The Hon, Hr, Pollen did not think there was any danger, and looked to the cable communication with England as a safeguard against surprise in such direction. He also pointed but the improbability of the Home Government failing to acquaint us here with their intentions to go to War.