PARLIAMENTARY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2642, 8 September 1881, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Wellington, Sept 7. BILLS PASSED. The Timaru Harbor Board Act Amendment Bill passed through Committee, which, together with the Postoffice Bill, was reported, read a third time and passed. NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR. Mr Hall moved the second reiding of the New Plymouth Harbor Commission Bill. Mr Kelly submitted that it was to all intents and purposes a local Bill and as such it ought to have been notified by advertisement in the district or locality affected by the Bill. The Speaker ruled that the House having before them the report of a Committee ordered the Bill to be introduced. As it dealt with large colonial interests, it could not bo held to be a local Bill. Mr Kelly then further argued that it was a money Bill, and ought to have been introduced in Committee of the whole House. The Speaker said the main object of the Bill was to enquire into and report upon certain works, and as such he ruled it was not necessary to introduce it in Committee of the whole House.

Mr Hall then proceeded to move the second reading. He gave a general outline of its provisions. The Government recommended that three Commissioners should be appointed. They would suggest that Mr E. C. J. Stevens and Captain Russell be appointed,' as also a professial eng’neer upon wlfom the Government had not yet decided. The duties of the Commissioners and the purposes of the Commission were next detailed. For the present Government would take over the property of the Board as well as its functions. Mr Wakefield believed that the land fund endowment was the sole justification for the House interfering in the way proposed with a local body,and but for that he could not be a party to the House interfering with the Board at all. Mr Hurst agreed with much that was said by the previous speaker. The action proposed committed, the colony in his opinion, to a very important precedent. It was not so much the saving of £IOO,OOO as the bad precedent of doing anything to lead the creditors of these local bodies to think that the colony was really to take over their liabilities.

Mr Stewart scouted the idea of paying compensation to parties settling in the districts if the works were stopped. Parties settled in these places subject to an exigency that might arise, and no question of compensation could be entertained.

Major Atkinson said, speaking as Treasurer, he spoke at a disadvantage, as his judgment was liable to be warped as being a member of the district. The Bill, he ventured to say, was nothing less than the colonialisation of the whole of these local loans, and but for the position in which he stood he would take a very different stand. He denied that the conclusion arrived at by the Committee as to the rating powers of the’district was reliable. The rating area would be at least double in twelve months, and in the course of ten years it would be equal to £20,000 The House was afraid the work could not be done for the money, That was no ground for interfering; otherwise tne interference of the House would be endless, as it would have to interfere in almost every public work carried on under local supervision in the colony. Sir George Grey said Sir John Coode was an old friend of his, and before leaving the colony that gentleman had expressed to him the very highest opinion of Mr Blackett’s ability and reliability as an engineer. He himself had been educated as an engineer, and in 1818 he and some eminent military engineers, then in the colony, had planned a harbor of refuge at New Plymouth estimating the cost at about £IOO,OOO more than Sir John Goode’s estimate. They ought not to act bostilely in this matter. He was astonished at the sudden fury with which this report was taken up. A competent Commission should be appointed, with power to dispose finally of the question. To stop the works now would be a most disastrous course, and he therefore counselled them to pause in what they were doing.

Mr Kelly criticised the estimates and comparative estimates put forward by the Committee in its report, arguing that they were altogether erroneous. With the cash in hand they could carry out the breakwater to 17 feet at low water, which was sufficient for enabling steamers, the size of the Hawea, to come in at all states of the tide. Property in Taranaki had already gone down, and if the works were permanently stopped the permanent decrease would be from fifteen to thirty per cent. He therefore hoped the Bill would be changed in the direction of leaving the whole question to be dealt with by the proposed Committee. Mr Wright read a number of communications from public meetings held in the district concerning the report, and thanking him for his effortsdo put an end to what was described as an abuse of public expenditure. Ho defended the estimates and prices of the respective works set forth in the report. On these facts, he argued, it was

ridiculous to say that the work could be executed at anything like the cost alleged by the member for New Plymouth. At Timaru and Oamaru the conditions were greatly superior. The cost’of cement work per cubic yard there was 335, and it was nonsense to say that at New Plymouth it could be done for 25s The expenditure was £16,000 per annum, and the revenue was altogether uncertain.* The sources of revenue were to a great extent from deferred payment settlers, and they had evidence in that House how very uncertain that source was. He had been talked of as a young reformer last year. He was one of those who supported the Railway Commission, and on that occasion the Treasurer did not taunt him, for the fact was that report suited his particular views rathet better than this report did. Mr Richardson spoke in favor of the Commission being left to say whether or not the works should be gone on with.

Sir William Fox supported a similar view. The House would be bound to accept the decision of the Commission, and there was no reason wiiy operations should be postponed. He blamed the disputes that had been going on between the Board and its engineer and servants as a great source of the whole difficulty. The enquiry so far as it had gone had not been uncalled for. Mr Montgomery expressed a similar opinion. Mr McCaughan argued that the expenditure was out of all proportion to the commercial importance of the place. He was well pleased that Mr Wright had at last succeeded in unearthing this hydra-headed monster, Taranaki, a place with an export trade not exceeding £66 per month. Mr Weston spoke in favor of the Commission having the final disposal of the question. Mr Tawhaio spoke in a similar strain. Mr Fulton defended the report of of the Commission. Mr Pitt thought the House should reserve the final disposal of the question to itself. Mr Ballance considered the Bill objectionable from beginning to end. The responsibility of going on with the work should not be left with the Commission, but the Government should take the responsibility. Mr Saunders said it was evident enough that the whole thing was cut and dried, and it was perfectly absurd to go through the farce of appointing this Commission. A wasteful expenditure was evidently going on, and it was nonsense to go through the farce of passing this Bill. The two members named for the Commission were simply an outside Executive, and it was well known how their report would go. Mr Turnbull expressed his entire confidence iu- the two Commissioners, He believed the Committee did its duty in accordance with the evidence adduced. Other persons interested said they could adduce further evidence, and this Commission would offer au opportunity for so doing. He was glad to find that they were disposed to give the requisite power and not delay further operations until next session. He did not believe that there would be any loss, even although the Government had to take over the work. As an opponent of the harbor works he said it ought to be decided as fast as possible, Mr Hall replied that he did not think Mr Saunders was justified in the remarks he made in reference to the Commissioners named. He had asked Mr Richardson to act, but ho positively declined. He would be glad to see the alteration made in the Bill in the direction indicated. The second reading was put and carried, and the Bill ordered to be com mitted for Friday. At 1.5 a.m. the House rose till 11 a.m. to-day. Sept, 8. At eleven a.m., when Sir George Grey moved the second reading of the Protection of Debtors’ Bill. It was intended to render property to the extent of £SO exempt from seizure for debt, rent, or an}- other cause, and to allow bankrupts to retain property to the same amount. Mr Hall said it was too lute in the session to properly consider so important a subject. He objected to the first clause as it would prevent the seizure of goods even for a penalty, unless the person had upwards of £SO worth. Sir Wm. Pox objected to the third clause, which would render landlords a prey to unscrupulous tenants. He suggested the postponement of the Bill until next session, promising to give the subject full consideration daring the recess. Mr Weston contended that clause 4 was absolutely prohibitory and would prevent anyone from effecting a mortgage. He took exception to the clause which he contended was unworkable. Mr Shepherd held there was another principle in the Bill. Its effects would be to put an end to credit among the humbler classes, and in case of rents they would either have to pay in advance, or else the tenant would be bound to give good substantial security. Mr Andrews spoke in favor of the Bill, contending that the existing usage was to bring the poor into a hopeless state of poverty. Mr Shrimski spoke on behalf of the poor and unfortunate landlords. The Bill, as it stood, opened the door to dishonesty, and its tender mercies were to make the landlord harsh and uncompromising. Mr Swanson said so far as he could judge the Bill was one that would prevent the poor and enterprising people from raising money sufficient to give them a start in life. Mr Seddon supported the Bill as a step in the direction of abolishing legal recourse for the recovery of debt altogether. Mr Pitt spoke of the distress for rent, as a remnant of the dark ages. Sir George Grey replied that rich, persons were enabled to make settlement upon their jwives and children, and that secured their effects from debt. This Bill proposed to make a similar settlement for the wives and families of the poor. [The House still sitting.]