PARLIAMENT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1147, 18 December 1879, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

"Wellington, December 17.

In the Legislative Council to-day, The Special Powers and Contracts Bill and the Public Reserves Sales Bill were passed through all their stages. At one o'clock, a free conference having been held »n the Land Bill, its result was stated to be that the managers had agreed on their differences, except regarding the I4th ctause.

The Council then adjourned to allow of consideration of the report of the conference by the House of Representatives.

The House met at 11 a.lll. and went into Committee of Supply on the Supplementary .Estimates, when a number of items wens passed. On resuming at 3 p.m., a message was read from the Governor, recommending the House to make provision for the purchase of district railways. Sir G. Grey moved the following in reply t.» the Governor's message on the subject"The House of Reprctcntativcs of Scvr Zealand in Parliament assembled respectfully represent as follows : That they are willing 60 proceed to the consideration of the subject read in your Excellency's message during the session of Parliament, and humbly pray that they may not be required so to do until next session, for the following among other reasons : 1. The Bill making provision for this matter was not brought before the House for consideration by the Government until the very last days of the session, when members had cither returned, or were preparing to return, t» their homes. 2. It was brought down in a wholly different, form to that set forth in your Excellency's message. 3. It proposed tn fact to authorise the Government to purchase four district railways, which were private property, in a manner which would entail a charge of considerably ronre than L SOO,OCO upon the Colony. 4. None »>f these railways had previously or subsequently to the commencement of their construction been submitted to or approved I y Parliament. 5. Throughout the session the Government has steadily declined to entertain proposals or to give assistance to railways or lines of communication which many members considered of great public importance, on the grounds that there were no funds available for additional public works, and members have, therefore, refrained from making proposals for several railways or public works for fear of uselessly delaying public business. G. That the expenditure of any money on those district railways until the claims of other parts of the Colony have been fully considered would be an act of great injustice. 7. That variutts other plans for the expenditure of any surplus public funds, such as settling the families of settlers, many of whom are now out of employment, on public lands, 1 should be considered bcEore large sums of I public money be disposed of without due i notice to the House or the country. |B. That, to the present moment, no infor- | mati>m of a definite kind has been afforded | to* this House by tlte Government of the isutns which have been expended upon ! these several railways, how far they are I completed, or what sums will be necessary i for their completion, what Crown lands I they open up, whether they run through ! public land or private property, though ! there is good reas&n to believe some of ; them run wholly through private pro- : perty. nnr is there any information before thts House to inform this House of the number of inhabitants of the districts through which they run, or are proposed to be carried, for we d-> not even know Ch.it they have all been commenced. !>. That some members of the House are largely personally interested in these district railways. 10. Th.it the Minister for Public Wn'rks, the Hon. IJ. Oliver, who is promoting the measure in the House, is personally interested in one. 11. That the sudden manner in which the Government has varied its proposals for dealing with the question shows how imperfectly it has been considered. 12. That, therefore,on the ground of the unexpected manner in which the question has been brought before us. the insufficiency of the information afforded, the injustice it would inflict on o'hur parts of the Colony and on the people ' £ New Zealand at large, the magnitude of the sums involved in it, the J act of menders of the House who are supporters of the Government being s<> largely personalty or indirectly interested in tt, and for various other good and sufficient reasons, we respectfully prav that consideration of this question may lie delayed until next session, for a period of little m >re than four months, that this House and the people of all parts of New Zealand may in tne meantime have an opportunity of considering and discussing a question in which so many and such tar\re interests are involved. Messrs. Macandrew and M'Lean spoke against the resolution. Mr. Ketd supported the motion. Dr. Waltis said he would not vote for the address unless he was assured by the Premier it would be accepted as a no-con-ffiignce motion. Mr. Hall said it imputed censure on the Government, and as such it would be accepted by the Ministry as a no-confidence motion.

t£r. «te Lititottr aatd he would vote for eaeh of the twelve prtv{«>siti»!i3, which, he si.'Uit v=ert* literally ; :i> fact he haul a flirty trt the Ilortsc f»r years, ;»ml it km wirh deep regret he felt that Che leader <>i that party was now aiding t« carrying through this very question. After this proceeding ho would now consider himself relieved from alf party ties. Sir G. t*rey satd he had only one object in vtevr, iu«t that was to give time for a fair consideration «f the proposal to puretww« these r- Hway. Mr. Haiti s>»id the tenor of the Address in Reply left no doubt but it must be accepted in the light of a party question. He wootd not say that the statements set forth in the address were incorrect. They were »trnply, however, half-truths, which were the worst of all lies.

The question was then put and negatived. The qaesti<w was then put that the House g«> into Committee on the Governor's" Address, and a division took place—Am, 30 ; noes, l-l. Before gnini; into Committee, the Land Bill waa reported from the tfppor House with amtneiKtcnents. These amendments tint having taen agreed to, a committee raas appointed t»> draw up reasons for dissenting from these amendments. Mr. Otiver moved—That the House go into Committee on the Governor's Message, recommending the House to make provision for guaranteeing debentures ot the undermentioned district railway companies, to the extent of 75 per cent, upon the amounts which they shall respectively prove to the satisfaction of the Government to have been expended in their construction, or in procuring rolling stock for srtch ritl»avs : Schedule Waimnte Plains Railway* C-t., Duntroonnnri Hakacera:ttea Railway Co., WaimatJ Branch Railway Co., Asburton F«>rk3 Railwayed.

t»n the (notion for going into Committee, Mi-. Barron said that although he objected to the principle of taking over private railways, he would Bupp.-rt the Government in carrying through the proposal. "Still he hoped they would see their way to withdraw the objectionable dailies. Mr. Tunibull objected to tho proposal in toto.

Mr. Macandrew spoke in favor of these companies being aided in carrying out their works, rather than the proposal for purchasing the lines. In Committee considerable discussion took place, and the .Minister for Public Works explained the views of the Government at considerable length. They would make the best terms, as business men, which they could. Several hon. membera followed, and expressed opinions with regard to the Bill generally, but particularly in reference to the 30th clause.

Sir G. Grey considered the explanation of the Government insufficient, and s:>id he should oppose the proposal. Mr. Montgomery moved an amendment to the effect that the information available 011 the subject was insufficient to enable the House to come to a conclusion on the inafier, and therefore respectfully submitted to the Governor that Ministers should during the recess obtain information which would enable his Excellency to recommend more acceptable proposals next session in regard to these lines of railways. The question was put that the words proposed to be left out stand part of the question, on which the House divided — ayes, 2-1; noes, 13. The resolution was then reported and agreed to. As no new business could be taken up, the hour being 12.i35, Mr. Hall said instructions had been given to detain the steamer Ilinemoa until 2 p.m., for the convenience of members who wished to remain till the business was concluded. He moved that the House adjourn till 11 a.m. The adjournment until 11 a-tn. was put and carried, and the House rose at 1 a.m.