PARLIAMENT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 21 July 1880, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

Weclington, July 20. : In the Legislative Council to-day, : Mr. Whitaker gave notice to introduce the .District- Court Bill. The Rabbit Nuisance Bill -was read a third time. Mr. Taiaroa moved for printing a return of the reduced and dismissed Native Assessors Speaking on the motion, Sir F. D. Bell and Mr. Whitmore censured the Government for depriving the chiefs, who had done great service in the past, of their small pensions. They had been given under the name of assessorships. Mr. "VVhitaker said he •would support giving pensions pure and simple to eminent chiefs, but would not uphold the bestowal of sinecures. The motion was carried. The greater part of the sitting was occupied in Committee on the Elections Petitions Bill and the Native Reserves Bill, in neither of which were any important amendments made. The Council adjourned at 5 p.m.

! In the House of Representatives today, Mr. Stewart gave notice for leave to introduce the 'Friendly Societies' Act , Amendment Act, 1878. Mr. Hirst presented a petition from 14 settlers residing in the County of Wallace, Southlandj.praying that the payment of deferred payment settlers' instalments be extended from 10 to 15 years. -In reply'to Mr. Ormond, Major Atkinson said the reduction of 10 per. cent, on salaries and wages of employes in the Civil Service was not a Question of income tax,, and that the two things were not connected, in the; mind ..of the Government when the reduction was decided on. ! Therefore it was unnecessary to associate it in any way with a Bill to tax provisional incomes. Further, the jGovern--1 ment had no intention of introducing such a Bill.

Replying to Mr. Stewart, Mr. Rolleston said the last advices they had from England were to the effect that applications for an Inspector of-Prisons for the Colony had: been invited, and the appointment was probably made by this time. In the present condition of the Colony, the Government "thought such ah appointment imperatively necessary, One week's leave of absence was granted to Mr, Reader Wood. The House went into Committee on the Maori Prisoners' Bill. Sir G. Grey, Mr. de Lautour, and others asked that the Government would at once state what they proposed doing in the trial of file prisoners. Mr. Bryce said it was plainly the intention of the Government to release the men without the necessity of resorting to a trial. It would be no use attempting to try them, as enough had already transpired to prove that even if they were brought into Court, they could not possibly be got to plead. It was nonsense to say that these men had resorted to ploughing operations with a view of getting their claims brought under the notice of judicial authority : in accordance with the orders of Te Whiti, , They had resorted ta the ploughing outrages for the express purpose of extending their own possessoris. They had shown a thorough contempt for European law, and had asserted that Te Whiti;was their sole law-giver. • Mr. Sheehan said, as a matter of policy, they should be subjeeted r to a'trial. If they were not, they should be sentbaek. The, l opinion would set abroad that there was' no law that could touch them, and they would at once jump to the conclusion; that Te Whiti's prophecies had come true!,. and by that means a greater evil would be wrought. He would propose as an amendment'to the Bill a clause providing that these prisoners should be brought to trial before release. Mr, de Lautour moved the following amendment on clause 2: —This Act shall remain in force until the last day of October, 1880, and no longer, unless the Governor shall be satisfied that it is necessary from time to time by proclamation to extend the time during which the Act i shall remain in force for any period not lexceeding three months; provided also that no such proclamation shall have any force or effect at the close of next session of Parliament.

The amendment was agreed to, and the clause as amended passed. On clause a, Mr, J. B. Siaher proposed an amendment providing that the .prisoners'. waiting trial for default of entering into, sureties to keep the. peace may be detained in custody until the expiration of the Act. r , On a division the amendment was lost by 25 to 3C . .. - •. - - The clause as printed was passed, • ■On clause 6, Mr. Sheehan . inpyed, an addition providing that ho prisoner be discharged unless he shall be released on his trial according to law in respect of the offences with which he is charged. On a division, the amendment Was lost by 20. to 35.. • : The clause as printed was passed.

The Bill as amended was reported, and read a third time by 36 to 25, and parsed. The Oamaru Watpnyorkg ~Apt,, Amendment ' Bjll "Was .passed . through Committee, read a third and passed.' The adjourned debate on the motion for the second reading of the Na,tive Land Sales Bill was resumed. - - ... . . i : Mr. Tain ui spoke in opposition to tlie provisions of-the Bill.; . Major Te Wheoro asked, the .Government to .'allow the. Bill to stand over to nextjsession, and get the opinionof 'the natives in the meantime. - Mr..Macandrew said it would be well to rfefer'the BiJi to a cocfipflittee, - a great technicalities which" it : Wis cfuite impossibly to expect theT House to master. ' There was a ipystery attached to : the whole Bill, and he wo.nld iVsk the Government tq.adopt the. suggestion he made. It seemed to him that the Bill proposed to give more power to the Native Lands Courts, and that was one great cause of all the native difficulty. Mr. Bryce said the Bill did not deal with the : Native Lands Courts at all.

Mr. deLautour concurred in the opinion that the Bill ought to be sent to a com- . mitte'e to make a careful report. The Native Ministry, in introducing the Bill, had riqtgiyei} all the par|;igl!lq,r§ respecting its proposal?. It prqpq"§efi tq dpal with a million of money, and yet it had Rot been sorrounded by these safeguards requisite for the administration of su.eh a large §um. It was a fliatter of notoriety that there were I large oontraots pending, and information on the subject ought to have been given l . —The Native • Minister did- not come before the Souse with his policy in a straightforward way. The policy of the Sales Bill wits this : the Boards of 4he> districts in which the lands were to satisfy themselves that all the paTties were consenting parties. He. likfe : knbwJ how they'were 'to satisfy rtnemsfelyps;on;' the subject. Th'eyr could 'only.dtf;;gio o the employment cif the Auckland lja^4 i ; |ro® its go^tjtv(t{Qri;that iatprs ..wpulcl,, find ..itsoperations .j niost' accommodating: ; f or ; their:,purposes.. i f The l present land .purchase; system clothed" the-' Native Minister . with • • too extensive powers, The present Government 'proposed j:o b.vit thpy hot propose any themaelv.es against themselves or frbin'outside pressure;'" Ttie agitation got - ; up .in Auckland'by a Company to' get the Native Lands Court,.at r Pjjtei;e., thrown:off,,,wer,e,alluded to 'at conMderablejfinfftli. On that

solicitjous about,securing the ( repaymenfjgf, his adivancey '&iia for the -^nterestr iJi^! 4he' f^n i atlve^'' i 'she deputation that waited' *&n the Minister regarding Patere had been illegally in

competition with the Government for the purchase of these lands, and .had the Minister done his duty he would have ordered them out of his Bight; instead they were sent away fortified with the Minister's promise. These men had been law-breakers to a far greater extent than the men who were kept in prison, and yet that was the way they were treated by Government. The correspondence connected with these transactions all through showed that the Minister was in confidential communication with these speculators and their solicitor, and no apparent regard was being had for the natives or their interest. The Native Minister was playing a double-hand negotiation directly with speculators, and at the same time smoothing over the natives, and telling them that if he were to be offered L 14,000 he could not agree to remove the proclamation, as he could only take it from the owners, and yet at this very time he was intimate—in fact, was on the most confidential terms with the solicitor for the speculators. Such an example of doubledealing was discreditable to the Colony, and no consideration of pecuniary advantage to the Colony could possibly excuse it. The whole transaction evidenced duplicity highly discreditable to the Ministry. The correspondence showed that the Native Lands Court had even been used to advance these designs, and yet this was the court whose power they were asked to extend by this Bill. Then, again, they found the Act strained in the niost monstrous manner to enable the court to deal with the block at all. The judge intimated that unless Ministers assented, he would not put the blocks through, and that was given by the Minister. They could now see how a certain member had not been in his place for a long time. He was interested in keeping away till the transaction was settled. It pained him to go into these transactions, but he was forced to do it. He hoped the Native Minister would be prepared to meet these charges, and he would be glad if he could meet them satisfactorily. Captain Russell regretted this digression ; still, he thought the Minister was to blame for having attempted to draw a. red herring across the scent. He believed it was a necessity for the benefit of the natives themselves to have a perfectly free system in dealing with these lands. 'ln many instances the accusations made agaihst the parties arid their agents engaged in the purchase of these lands was no doubt to some extent true, but it was a mistake to think that these parties had been less scrupulous than the Govern-, ment land purchasers. It was absolutely necessary that they should give facilities to get the land into the hands of Europeans, and as a preliminary it was impossible to avoid allowing the lands, in the first instance, to go into the hands of that much-abused individual, the land shark. It was quite impossible that they could perfect any system whereby these lands might be got from the natives and put in the hands of small capitalists with advantage either to themselves or the country. They ought to insist on the individualisation|of the Bill, and a clause should be embodied in the Act, compelling the natives to take legal advice in selling their lands. This would be of great importance- to the natives, as it would be the means of protecting them, and would confirhi | the . title in. the hands of bona fide purchasers. It would also facilitate matters if trustees were appointed to act on behalf of the natives. It was hard that a purchaser should be compelled to get the consent of as many as 200 natives for the sale of one block. He would support the motion, and when the Bill got into Committee, would be prepared to suggest certain amendments. Mr. Tawhia spoke in opposition to the Bill, Sit W. Fox said they had a difficult problem to solve, and by way of relieving them of the difficulty, he would suggest that Government should offer a reward to anyone producing a Bill that would satisfy all sides of the House. The natives had talked about the indirect taxation they paid on their lands and pointed to the large' profits made by Government on the sale of these lands. He reminded them, on the other hand, that until Europeans came, and constitutional government was established, their lands were practically valueless. When they eame to this country the right of purchase was vested in the Queen. Subsequently that right was shared in by private persons.. Then came a law by which Government simply took up the position of standing by to see the purchase was conducted fairly as between Europeans and natives :£he Bill now before the Honsg proposed to make the Waste • Board stand between the piuphaaer and the natives. He prepared to support this Bill, the principles of which lie was pleased with. He believed they might very judiciously import into the Bill the special settlement principle, that system having been, in his opinion, one of the greatest incentives to colonization that had existed in S ew Zealand.

Mr. Gisborne the second reading of ths BjU. Mr." recognised the difficulties that attended the purchase of lands direct ; from| the natives, The natives had not confidence in Waste Lands Boards to administer their estates. It might be considered how far it was advisable to .modify the constitution of these Boards to .meet) the "circumstances, by providing for native representation on them. The trade in land meant that a few speculators and should secure monopoly of these lands, which mnst o.f necessity get into the hands of men of large'means, and in support contention he instanced the of Manawatu which had been cut up from the first into small holdings. While approving of the principles of the Bill, he believed that in. Committee it would ha\-e tq undergo cevtain modifications. IJe would support the motion.

Mr. Mcistf regarded the Bill as an avowal on the part of Government to abandon all land purchases in future. He was afraid the Bill would not work. The natives would not be induced to take advantage of the Waste Lands.Boards. Again, if put into the hands of the Boards, delays lender the Bill would be so numerous chances were it would b§, taken o,ut again, long before it could b,e sold,. He favored,the idea of trustees being appointed to deal wjth native lands; Jf they'passed the Bill without providing alternative tma for disposing" of the "lands, he believed they would be doing an 'injustice, and lie would vote against it. ... "" Mr.' Tomoana did not consider that the proposals of the Bill were satisfactory from a native point of view. The Maoris -should be consulted aboijt any Bill of the i kind, i

Mr. 'T'ainui spoke in opposition to the | ; At 1.15 the House divided on, a motion to adjourn the debate, the' res,u\t -Ayes,'l7 ; noes, 27, '! :: ,r .T:";' - . <5% 25. ths m,otroi\ for adjournment of d&bate last night was negatived, Hamlin moved the adjournment of jthe -House, and a desultory discussion followed. , . . ..Mr/ Hall regretted c that members :wasted the time in preference ta goi,ng on with the business, ai\d the native members of-being put up to talk against time and stonewall, • ;' : ;Te "Wheoro and Tawhia denied this.

'"'"Mr. ;Hall stated that he would agree to adjourn the debate if it would be reVumedj a^2.30 pextrday/.. < r O ?Mr. | Sheehan arid others objected "to the private members'.day bejng tak§n fpr business.* " ' Ultimately for; the adjournment cjf the House was "negatived and the adjjouriiment_£fr afternoon "agreea to. The House rose at 2.15.