PARLIAMENT

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1299, 5 June 1880, Page 2

PARLIAMENT

: r ; WelUKgton, June 4 ! ■ ",Xn the Legislative pounci] to-day, { • The . second reading ,of the five new -.jSTative.Land; Bi]Js ; ..v-as ! deferred to Wednesday, on the suggestion of Colonel Whitrnore. I',-. J- ! A large amount of imnor business; -hiaving^been'disposed:;6ff, i r 'l A'lonfe 5 - debate-followed with referenceto i the-coh^ersfon !l oi' ! t'he' last loan. This was qrigijiate.d. by ,the ,„Hqn.. Mr. house',' Svlio nlovea-for-the 'papersiii'Connection with the conversion. He declared that'''tfi.e hsld - 'lJ6 ! eri ; "converted upon terms which were equivalent to issuing a 5 per cent. afc-TSj-while South had just raised-a 4 per cent, loan at oyer 92, Bd, The loan should not fiaye' beep coil*-, verted, but ; might ,h|L^e f -been paid off in ten years By a'4r| per "cent, loan at which course wq uld hjive saved the at the end of 50"years the .currency of; a: converted loan of L 2,600,000, less L 122,000. that will be saved in the firsir ten years, Were the whole debt converted upon the same terms, it would cost the Colony L 14,040,000, money which', might as well be thrown into the sea. i !

Col, Whitmore seconded the motion, arid said that Sir Julius Vogel had either acted without instructions, and should; be told he was not master of the country,' but a high servant, or else the Govem r , menthad given instructions which showfei them to be wholly unfit for their financialwork.

The Hon. Mr. Scotland wondered the Colony had not.. the moral courage to get' rid of Sir Julius Vogel, who seemed to cast a spell over ever every Ministry, and do as he liked with a country to which he Owed everything, having come' to it an adventurer and a broken-down gambler; -m Col. Brett defended .Sir J. Yogel, and was palled to order.

Mr. Wood and Dr. Pollen said the debate would be more in place when the papers were furnished..

-1 ~ } 1 > - < t= Sir F._D. "Bell, said we had made thorough fools.-bf ourselves! in .our conversion of the loan business.? ;■;•■ - Mr. ■ Hart said instead of 78 as the price of the issue at five per cent., it should he 81Mr. "Waterhouse admitted the correc-

; -There was a further debate on the subject; - but several speakers suggested it shouldbefully discussed whenthe papers were preseut.,. , ~, A moti'onwas carried to : Adjourn at 4.

; In the House of Representatives today, ; Mr. Stewart asked whether or not the Government intended to introduce a Bill to provide for licensing labor agents, with a view to preventing frauds on persons in Search of employment, and of placing such agents under the control of the police. /j: f j Mr. the subject would receive ■consideration, ; but whether they-would be able to deal with the question this session or not he could not say. Mr. Swanson asked what action the intend to take in regard to the harbor of-Auckland..- fi -„-'

; Mr. Oliver replied that the lowest tender received for the work was L 15,000, and;the sum attheirdisposal-wasL2s,ooo, |so that tender, could npt be.accepted.: What the Government proposed ; to.. do iwas to go on with the outside wall and iculvert for draining;' :and as they ivere ;able to proceed with the remainder of the wprk^ : for ; which a further Vote would be tasked this session, i '' • ;

* 'Miv' : Gisbbrn'e aslied' what J coilrse the' Goyernment.proposed to take wit.h' {ion to the aboriginal' Wktiv6s Coinrditted for trial, and_now, in prison waiting trial j' under. the> provisions' of thp Confiscated Lands Inquiry and Maori Prisoners' Trial Act, .-1879. -Al : '■ ■■■■-■ X ir-y-'' Mr... Rolleatpii replied .that .the .time authorised'by Parliament for disposing of this matter had not yet expired. Before the expiry of'Ahat -time 1 it : vw'ould'.be:the duty of the Government to ico'me down to Parliament and state its intentions. - At present it was. not convenient for the Gove,rnanenfc'tomake'that ! statemeni.Mr. 'Hiitchisoh : asked if the Government intended...this session touring,in a Bill prohibiting Chinese immigration. • 1

Mr. Hall said-.their attention had been directed,-fa Ibut. he' was, afraid they would noi ijp dealwitH it this session. They would, however, do so at all events next session.! y'-v :

,:-Mr. Reid; asked -what/amountwasvrexpended ori thei:Hbkitikar.Gr;ey.mouth Railway out of the vote of L 46,500 last session, specifying the 'amounts expended * before and after the close of the; said-session. Mr. Oliver said that'between- the Ist of July and the 19th 'December last L 9952 had been expended, and since then L4OSO. . . . _ .... Replying to Mr. Reid, Mr.,, Oliver said no report had been received froai the Commissionvon Rail ways,~ and.; that the only expenditureon < railways at [present was carrying- op. cojitracts already entered into, and Ithe .providing ,pf work : for the unemployed. ; i ■i.L sl-./.i. ' ->K Replying to Mr. Pyke, Mr. Oliver said L 51,000 had been expended on the Otago Central Railway arid' it was ; -a: ; taistakfe -to say r that L 175,000 had beeiv: expended-fori 'the work'. ' ' ' :

Replying to !s>,.. Mr, 1 Hal said -it was. intended subsidies to local bodies. -f ......

Mr;.-Hall; mpved..thef .secpnd; readingrofj the Hospitals and Charitable/Institutions: Bill: ; He said, the effect of:legislation:!?ad' been to create a variety of systems for the ■Working of r After detailing the various purposed of :the Bill, he went on to say that a measure of this kind must necessarily be open to a great dealoi; difference of opinion, and that the Government 'would go into ' Committed On the Bill, and were quite prepared to considerevery reasonsable proposal. Messrs. Pyke, Shepherd, Montgomery, Stevens, Barron, and Andrews supported the Bill, though they" generally agreed that certain amendments were necessary. " !

Mr. Hutchison said that from clause 4 to 33 the Bill would be found to be cumbersome. He recognised the difficulty of drawing a Bill of the kind. Sir W. Fox looked on this as one of the most important measures that qould be brought before the House." He could not approve of the Bill to the extent other members had done. The fault he found with the Bill was that it dealt with the symptoms, not with the root of the disease. In doing so they oDly succeeded in drawling the disease inwards. It was calculated to promote the taste for pauperism! The poor law agitation'hr years ago;, had tms-.effeet-Hmen ..were,;, so to, speak, born in pauperism, and they lived, and were content to live, in pauperism. After having grappled-for'forty-' years with thfe;:evil,,:k was ; a eommqn- ;; saying, that;.qyery respeqfcable i_person. Pr ratepayer carried so many paupers on his'bact- ' The fa6t was they had made a mistake in not striking, .at the ro.ofc of theevil.., How was it tha-t the French peasant was"'enabled to "hoard'! up his' moneyT'- It was this. " They did - indulge- in. the habit of bar-parlor, they did not indulge in horse-racing, or sweepstakes, they did' nothing of. that kind ; the only amusement they indulged in was a game of'-dominoes in their little, .parlor .oii Supday afternoon,'andr mqst. rigid ebohomy : in -their- and persevering industry in' their labors. ; If they could rescue the money, that'was a;t present" paid for dnhkj J if 'the LicensingAct ,proposed, rby the, ~Q.overpment.. .was amended in r certain dir£ptions,"then ihst would be, striking the root of . .the..eyil. Close some at least of the public-houses, and remove temptations at present existing for; drinking and "shouting." Let them enquire what were the tendencies to pauperism;; ";let them ask relieving officers, governors of reformatory schools and otlief'publid? institutions, and'they would be told it was drink. If they would remedy these evils then they, would grapple with the.evil. . * , ..

; Sir' Ge6rge Grrfey 'saM''Providence had brought one essential -aid to his side that night in the speech just delivered by the : previous speaker. He ; had traced out ,tl|e evils of pauperism " 3.8 t)iey existed in • '-Britain, : and''tiien' < con"tratsied r thesfe' with theiSt^ts.,o?,,the t populationFrance, .It was true " that* of 'a most: dreadful kind Existed' in Britain, The PcemierJi hadi iadtoitted; J that Jthis; was ! a poor-law. HeimaujJained that a poorlaw ought not, to be at present required in: _thfe ' description of the his, holding 6f to the English paupers, Jhe greftt different was—the latternot; a- little plot of ground he could .caitjiis own. He had no hoijie, :h§> W3§ : ,#.n• ts£*gfc, worl?ing: for a .starvoil-!wif©:aßd family.. It. was ..a sa,d piotai'e,taThiQbfinade biift-icesorttq drinfc,: iTh'at-was" the seerectofrhia sinkingodaep in tHe s/jcial scale; > ; No'w-j;. what" .were.. the fact's • of : the •' case-'-in ls Newi 'Zealand 1 The' GovernmeiVt; : ahd. their friends- had done-.bther things^t6 J oeWnt. ai^nJMiig-'.' a ; hpriie fierce,; as ji_n* JVan ce."-V' The.'teri'd6nsy oiquE f a. pauper. .j»o ;.QUtcast"s, j- Hafbeijpygfj,,ti}atj£tHe previous ;.speaber: - woiild ionly-reaspn out;.his - own to - theip zo-ym : reasQnable. conwbiild rabst'-assTiredly tcoipe. round to his side~of: the House, and take-, *care J 'th3t hot ailbther* acrb '6fs nativMatids was grasped for'tli'e purpose of acquiring '• tcr life detriment of as : a ; whole.-«- ■ ■ Mr. ,fidllesf6uiisaid; :thafcithe reception '■this matter hadvjnet with convinced hiin that the country was now content to settle down to practical legislation. The question was one which had different origins, and therefore required to be dealt with by different methods of treatment,

Mr. de Lautour could not agree with the Bill, as it would bear' particularly hard on the province from which lie came.

Mr. Oliver spobe in support of the Bill. „

Mr. Hall denied the statement that the : G«verninentdeßiredtoreduce.thepriceof. labor. When the Government wanted labor it paid current rates; when it did no<i--want labor- it provided,- soio,.say, for,, those unemployed a kind of subsistence. The motion was: put and carried; oU the voices,- and at- 10.15 p. in. the-House adjourned. ' ' i: r i, :V- - v