PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 170, 1 August 1901, Page 3

PARLIAMENT.

I'Elt P.I ESS ASSUCIAriOX. LEG TS I. ATI VIS COUNCIL. . WEDS»S!/AY, 31st JULY. The Council mo- at 2.30 GOVERNMENT INSOIUNCE. Hon. W. G. Walktr shned in reply to a question by Hon. Shrimiski tliat it . .vas a fact that officers of the L fe Department of Government Insurance wi-re to a certain extern, carrying on accident insurance business. The two businesses were kept quite diarinet, aod if any loss occurred in the accident branch tbe Consolidated Fund and not the Life Insurance Dspartmam, was liable. The expenses of the offices ■ would be divided in a fair proportion between tbe two businesses. The original scheme of Government Life insuracca was to provide cheap insurance rather than high bonuses, and if bonuses paid under those premiums were not as high as those of other compacies theie could be no cause for complaint, considering lowness of premiums and the fact that State security—tbe best in the world—was provided. TRAINING SHIPS. Hon. Jennings moved that the Government give effect to the unanimous recomm;mda<ion of bcth branches of the Legislature by providing two training ships, the second one to be a cruising ve-sel, in order to train New Zeland youths in seimanship. Ho estimattd the annual cost of maintenance at £7OOO. 'I he Minister f( r Education spoke on tbe advantages and disadvantages of tha projict, and desired to be in tbe first place sitisfiei that Parliament and the country were convinced that youths under training could be beitT trsintd at sea than on rhore. The debatr, which was generally favourable to the project, was adjourned till co-morrow. PBOGRESS OF BILLS. The Cyanide Process Extension Bill pass- d its final stages. The Land for Settlements Bill was read a second time pro forma, and referred to the Waste Litds l ommittee. THB REFERENDUM BILL. Debate on the Referendum Bill was cobtinued by the Hons. JeDkinson, I Kerr and T. Kelly, who opposed tbe 'measure, and the debate was further adjourned till to-morrow. The Council adjourned a f . 4.35. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Wednesday, 31 s v , July. The House met at 2.30 p.m. , THIRD READING. The Ashburton Oountv Council Empowering Act Ameii .- e t, Bill was read a third timennd tuaseJ. PETITIONS. Several pe"it>ons were presented against the provisions u the Shops and Shop As-is"; nts Bi 1, dealing with bar k clerks and ■sarahou-emen. A QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE. Mr. Pirani raised a question oF privilege. H-- said he had b«en asked, while the minutes were being read at the Public Accourts Committee that morning, to withdraw from the room. He stood on hie rights and lefused to leave, and he complained strongly that the chairman commit,tee had [suggested that a policeman s'lould ba sent for to put him out. Mr. Fisher, chairman of the committer, objreted to a trumpery incident, of this kind being raised to the importance of a bieach of privilege. He would not have cared if Mr. Pirani had been at the meeting for a legitimate r a, on, but he sat there out of pure cussedne-s. The remark about the p liceman was merely the outcome of joking that was going on ail round the taMe. The Speaker said he regie'ted that this conflict had taken place. The member f< r Palmerston was certainly within bis rights in declining to leave the 100 m, but it had always been customary when a member was atked to withdraw for him to do jo, and he hoped that custom would be followed, Mr. Seddon said that no fe°ling was imported into tho matter, and there was no discourtesy shown towards Mr. Pirani. Mr, Jas. Allen contended that if Mr. Pirani had beea trea'ed courteously he would have withdrawn. The mattei- then dropped. FIRST READINGS. The following Bills were introduced and rrad a firs* time : —Fire Brigades (Mr. Witheford), Kairanga Couuty (Mr. Pirani), Bating on Unimproved Values No. 2 (Mr. Seddon), Cook and o'her Islands Laws Extension (Mr. Seddon). QUESTIONS. In reply to questions it was stated that the New Zealand Ensign Bill would be re-introduced this session; that alteration was required in the work of the Arbitration Court and that the Government was much disappointed at delays th»t had taken place, but it was hoped that a satisfactory state of affairs would toon be attained; that a d-spitch from tht> S rre'ai'y of Stata to jthe Governor of Fiji wo i'd b6 kid on thm labia of the Hovise before the Fiji debate was twkr*n; thas a list, of Dames of numbers of the yp< mm <i contingents dssiring to ot'iiin employment was kept by the Governoien', which was . doing its be?'- ir. tht mat* 1 , r ; that negotiations »e e proceeding in regard to acquiring th» native rights of the ; Mangdiaro est-.te; that the Gove h- '■ ment rid not infc nd to bring in i- ■: lt'on t l ,is to deal with out;'standing claims if old soldiers; that J jcountries communicated with were opII posed to a pinny po-tage rat l f' r ro s- ' papers irre-peo'ive of »eght, anl ?he > 'Postal Unioa w.is also ant'goodie 1 the proposal, buS Government would, howevf-r, make further representations * on cbe s'l' jccl ; 'hat there was no in- ■ tention «f u.cieasiig salaries of i Suprame Court judges, but the quess tion of. increasing the salaries of ])is- ' trie* Court judges was under corsiderai tion; that the qunst,ion of graotir.g a ) rcbiletf the duty payable t;n rmchio- - cry iouor-ed by the New Zealand i Glas* Company would bo considered by s the Cabinet; that ir, was considered 3 inadvisable at present to introduce s a Bill to extend tho provisions of th« i Advances to Settlers Act, to enable ad f v.-nces to bp made on approved shipment! r of N.Z dairy produce, but the mattei would be considered ; that while th< s whole question of Government v»lua V tion of land required to be looked into e there wai bo intention to iritrodue; d legislation to allow local bodies to riiaki > their own valuations; that; Governmen would consider the advisab'enasa o e giving a rebite of Customs duties oi s btone-crushing machinery imported b; ,r local bodies; that no increase would bi y asked this session in tbe subsidy foi public libraries in the colony; that th( Government intended to give facilirie; fer instruction in veterinary surgerj

within the colony; that it was rot. I prspesed this session to deal with the | question ef dehorning caUle ; ;t;haS the i Government would bring forward some | pro; o=aln regardirg restrictions 011 the jimi itatiouof honfs and bont'dustj j The House ros? at 5.30. I Evening SittinoJ i ; The House resumed at 7.30. ! FIltE INSURANCE HILL. f* Hog« movt'd the second reading (f the Settlers Fire Insurance Bill, to provide for insurance against fire of bnildings or any pecurity he'd by the Government Advances to Se! tiers Office. He pointed out that the returns showed that under the present system of insurance between £SOO and £6OO was made annually in clear profit .out of settlers, and it would be most beneficial to settlers if tbey could have the use of this money. Mr R. Thompson pointed out that the Bill contained certain appropriation clatisps. Messis ITerrics and McLachlan spoke in favour of the Bill. Hon. C. H. Mills said the Bill contained appropriation elatices which could only be introduced by Governor's message, and he could not sllow the Bill to proceed in its present form but promised that Cabinet would consider the whole question. Mr Hogg accepted the Mintetei's ultimatum. He was glad to hear that Government would consider the question opened up by the Bill, and he had achieved some useful object in bringing it forward, Mr Guinuess movfid the adjournment of the debato, which was agreed to. REPRESENTATION ACT AMENDMENT. Mr Ell maved the second reading of the Rsp e ; en'ation Act, 1889, Amendment Bill, to provide that the 28 per cent, concession to rural population in the new Adjustment of hounderies shall not apply in the following elec'orates (namfd in the schedule): Ohristchurcb, DunediD, Wellingfon, Auckland, Oaversham, Napier, Lyttelton, Avon, Kiccartou, Parnell, Timaru, and Invercargill. Mr Herris supported tbe principle of the Bill, but suggested it should be made more general by the removal of the schedule. Mr. Fisher did not se« any reason for altering the deci>ien of the Legislature siven some yens ' «-■ : n rogard ' to the 28 per cent, concession. | Mr. G. W. Russell opposed the Bill, Mr, Seddon did not think the pro- i posal <o deprive suburban populations of the 28 per cent, concession cruld be ! sus'a'n' dby any argument. He held J many ef these suburban districts ware as much country distucte as arjy in the colony, and he would not vote to take from them the conressioathey now enjoyed. Mr. J. W, Thomson opposed the Bill. The motion for the second reading was lost by 38 votes to 16. SECOND HEADINGS. The motion for the second reading of the Divorcfl Act, 1898, Amendment Bill (Mr Wilford) was lost by 33 to 28. Mr Pirani's Sjhool Attendance Bill (No 2) was read a second time, and the House adjourned at 12.15 a.m. j