PARLIAMENT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1316, 25 June 1880, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

" - j •- Wbllinqton, June 24, In the Legislative Council to-day, Two motions,- : by Sir F. Bell find Mr. re gtopk conversion and thfe commission to Sir. j. Vogel were deferred -io next. day. ; ~ The Brandy and ©rending Bill .was-read a third time and passed. The Deceased Husband's Brother Marriage Bill was read a first-. :time after a short, in which Col. Brett termed the measure obscene • " ' j Mr. Meimes qiovcfi lor a eall of the Council on July 16th- to consider the Deceased Wife's Sister Marriage. Bill.' On; this there was a long, disorderly, and irregular discussion, dyring.which several members , were called to order.. Some emphatic expressions were" used, concerning members (of whom there ar? now twelve) habitually absent, ; after ftwo: divjsioiis, the call was rejected by 22 votes to 8. i . i The Deaths by Accident Compensation Bill, 'the Adulteration Bill, 'the Juries Bill, the Cruelty to Animals Bill (Statute Revision Bills) were passed through mittge ,ajji4 . ' The Council adjourned 1 at 5 p.m.

In the Souse of Representatives today, ... ... L iMr.'-Seddon gave notice of hi§ intention to! introduce a Gold- Duty-Abolition, Bill, also a Bill to legalise .payment of members of the. General Assembly.' > 'Major Harris .moved that leave of ; absence be granted for one week to Mr. Hamlin. - ~ ..."

On tiiis a discussion took place, upon the motion, during which .reference wasriijade to the fact of J^r,the Waimate Plains .to,see for himself if the statements made by the Native Minister with reference to certain matters there were correct. ■ ;»...

The motion was then put. and agreed

Dr. Wallis asked on what days and, as nearly as possible,, at-what'hours previous to .p.m. on Friday 18th June,. 1880, the Government supplied "the New Zealand Timpa .-and, the. -Otago Daily Times newspaper a.nd theChristchurch Press newspaper with a-copy, of the report of the Civil:: Service Royal Commission.

Mr. Hall said that the report became public property so 'soon as it was forwarded, to the Government, and before-it , was laid on the table of the House. It was forwarded to the .Governorat 4 o'clock on. the afternoon 6f "Friday^"arid was returned by him about 7 o'clock., He had not an oppprtunity for layiiig it on the table until "a late hour'that evening. In the interim two press.reporters applied to hirn and obtained copies of the report. It ivas simply a case.;of part, and had applications been made to him by other members of the press, they too would have been supplied with copies, Mr. Jones asked what steps had been taken to discover and punish the person who stole the report of the Royal Civil Service Commission, as srated in the House on the 20th inst. by the Minister of Justice.

Mr. Hall replied that " stolen" was rather a stronger phrase than Government wished to convey. He would prefer saying that the report was obtained in a, highly irregular, manner; by the. members of the press. He had questioned the Government Printer as to how the report [had been got hold of,' and the reply he made was that it could not possibly have been got through afiy la'ghps in ofiice. If the Government'"co'uld find out-the offender, they would oertainly cause him to be punished most severely. In replying to Mr. Shrimski, Mr. Rolleston said that no result'had been arrived at with regard to the claims of Mr. Thos. Russell for a large portion pf land in Te Aroha Block. i: ■ t?:.

The debate on theno-confidence motion was resumed by Mr. Hutchison. Alluding to the Civil Service Commission, lie said he' agreed with' the' report re r the railway management, but the inquiries ought to have been ccmduoted by the Government itself. These Commissions would cost a sum not less than, LIO,OOO, ' and that amount could have been very'well saved. The Government had- been warned last year that the-property tax, as passed, was an inquisitorial measure, , but they had a majority at their baclc, and they would listen to nothing. Its tendencies were calculated to debar capital from coming ijitq the gplopy,.and that of it§elf was a very bad feature of .the Act, ' ■ . M : - Mr. Macaridrew'said "he would support motion of the member for the Thames, Until the Public Works Statement was brought down, the. financial proposals could only be "discussed in a very general way. , There ought to .be no further" borrowing, involving' drairi ~bh the poultry, for interest, existing loans' involved a" drain of a million and three-quarters,, and that was. a very serious matterl The "existing depressipn was-traceable ;to that facti- He.could ribt agree, \yith the opinion that public works shbqld bj3 stoppediinless provided forout pf ..the revenue,; He hoped, Qoveinimeu t; wbulci ahriouhciß ' ■' determination'-"of! .carrying out. in its integi-ity: the .railway! policy of 1878, and that too without goings beyond sea's for a'ssistance.- He owned- to ! having been a promoter of the public; jyqrks jgoljgy. Jju.t h$ w.as,- r no.t for i'ts abiisps. ' He npyer have gonej in for ft had 116 not expected it would; have - beett' locally 'administered:He; thought- further taxation bej resorted^?- ; If' the' expenditure Gwas in! excess of the income, then the former musV be 'curtailed, and, even Necessaries; cut off. The'question-should be, how-can; we best reduce .taxation, instead of in--pfeasing it. Be helipad the "taxation was pot'- only 'enough"..fop" mugh.; localities should be left to th§, tax foi? their own local requirement, ...This waa to sQnae extent what was, proposed, to, <be:v done, .but then first, ife was pro* posed-' to-= empty.': the;: pockets, l of. the districts: He had 4iope& r that .the; pro-, bertyfiax -would be abandoned altogether.: The'-aihendinenf; wss. uflt' ty-' d'esife or- in-, '."fenfcioii' - ' !ori ; ' tljeir part i: to' ''unseat- the Gooffice at"altj ;it -a. false' issue put;f or--Ljvard. ..by the, Goyernmpnty arid it 'coriipli-: •cated»tl\e dpbjite ip a not have been done. He wished all hands itb'- work. the.' pumps, in; vorder thatthey might save the -vessel. They had beeti told. that -'it : would take on;e, .million of niopey, fori salaries and.. j # ?mucii less sum shpuld;Stiffice^ ; , Th'eyvwere'asked itg vote "for''a' Vtaifding army f g'ucfi a prpposaF was absurd. 411 that the land revenue should not te"con- ] sidered remu©; i(

be devoted for the purpose of the districts frpm whence it was The land fund ought to be devoted now entirely to ! tHe construction of railways. He referred to the statement made that the L 5,000,000 loan was negotiated on unfavorable terms, simply on account of the late Government. But for the indecent haste the present Government exhibited in storming these benches, the Loan Bill would have been passed early-in July last, and got hdme-in good time for negotiations. He demurred to Mr. .Wood's talk about repudiation, and the' flippant" mariner in ' wliich it was uttered. When he heard him speak thu3 he could not help saying to himself— Indeed ; are these the doctrines of the future Agent-General of New Zealand? What he would now advise was that the Estimates should be. taken back and remodelled, No doubt a number of Civil servants, -would have to'be dispensed with, and he saw no reason why they should not be settled on a decent piece of land, if they cannot §nd work otherwise. Mr. Quiver congratulated the last speaker lan his" skill in manufacturing finanoial [statements. Had he exercised his undoubted ability in line when he was in the Government it would perhaps have been better for- the country, and undoubtedly it would have been to the advantage of that Government of which he a'prominent member. It was plain there was no proper' understanding or -agreement ampngst those on the, Opposition side. "It was .not the finance of the Colony tliey had been considering, but a general system of doing everything, down to governing the universe. . ; , , . . Mr. Ormond criticised the speech made by the membor for Port Chalmers. Had the principle laid, down by Mr. Macandrew re railways been applied to Otago, many of the non-paying .lines in that province would never have existed. His proposal about placing digbanded civil servants on-the "was utterly impracticable. The next point referred to. was the railways. As a Government, lie did, not think they were ever likely to make .these railways pay;. Being in that- position; the question arose whether, or not it was worth while keeping these lines. The country had come to the conclusion that they could be worked; better by private companies. They could; be sold under conditions of settlement along the lines. The disposal of these lines, coupled with the disposal of the public, .e&tate, would relieve them of owe half of the public debt,.., ..... : \

Mr.'. Sheppard.' thought the Public Works Minister had addressed- the House as: a lot of refractory children.. .• v. Mr. .Sutton was-not satisfied with the. proposals." At the same time," he thought'' the Government as constituted was better able to administer, offices than any other Government likely to be formed. The House adjourned at 12.30.