NEW BILLS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5714, 23 July 1879, Page 2

NEW BILLS.

We have received copies of a number of the new Bills. Many of them are of but little importance, and pressure on our space compels us to hold over any notice of them. The Representation Bill proposes the appointment of a Representation Board, consisting of the persona from time to time holding the following offices : —The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Colonial Secretary, the Chairman of Committees of the said House, the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral, and the Registrar-General. This Board will be called upon to divide the colony into electoral districts of two classes, town and country districts. The former shall include any town with 6500 inhabitants ; the qualification for the latter is contained in the following clause :—“The total number of members to be elected for country districts shall bear to the aggregate population of such districts a proportion exceeding by, as nearly as possible, 25 per cent, the proportion borne by the total number of members to be elected for town districts .Mfthe aggregate population of the town districts." The Maori Representation Act is specially exempted from the operation of this The Administration of the Estates of Deceased Persons Bill, which was the only one reserved for the Royal Assent last session, but which was returned for amendments, has been re-introduced, and some alterations have been made, but none of a very important character. The last clause of the Act is, however, an entirely new one, and is as folio svs ; after this Act comes into operation, any female shall die intestate, leaving no husband or legitimate children, or their issue her surviving, but Icaviug illegitimate children or their issue, such illegitimate children or their issue shall succeed to her real and personal property in all respects as if such children were legitimate.” , _ The Chinese Immigrants Bill, which has been prepared by the Hon. Mr, Gisborne, provides that any master of a vessel carrying more Chinese passengers than one for every tea tons according to register or measurement, shall liable to a of £lO for each Chinese carried in excess, and a penalty of £2OO will be inflicted should any master of

a vessel, on arrival, fail to give a list of Chinese passengers to the Collector of Customs. Before any Chinese are permitted to land, the master will have to pay £lO for each, except such passenger be one of the crew ; and if such amount is not paid, the master will be liable to a fine of £2O for every Chinese whom he has permitted to laud, and shall render his vessel liable to be seiz.d and condemned. Power is, however, given to the Governor to remit the whole or auy part of the penalty inflicted under the Act, and also to make such regulations as he shall deem necessary for giving it effect. Those Chinese who are in the colony will be exempted from the provisions of the Act, provided that an application is made to a Resident Magistrate for a certificate of exemption on or before the Ist of January, 1830. It will be remembered that when Mr. Reeves introduced a motion on the subject last session, the then Attorney-General (Mr. Stoutl stated that the question was not of a pressing character, because there had been no sudden influx oi Chinese into New Zealand to interfere with the labor market. Although the Ministry promised to introduce a poll tax upon Chinese immigrants, if threatened with an invasion of Chinamen at that time, they distinctly declined to do so unless such was the case. It cannot be said that it is a pressing question now, and we fail to see that the time has yet arrived to render such a measure a necessity.

The Plurality of Votes Bill, introduced by Sir George Grey, provides that no person is to have more than one vote in the election of local governing bodies. As the Act is only to apply where the local body is subsidised from the consolidated revenue, it can easily be seen that the Bill is but a sham, and will not be likely to mislead any person of ordinary common sense, as the Financial Arrangements Act, by which the subsidies are granted to such bodies, will expire in the course of another year. The Bill is simply “ clap-trap,” like so many utterances of the present Premier.