GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1544, 19 August 1886, Page 4

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Thja Legislative Council met at 11 a.m. on Monday. The New Plymouth Recreation Reserves Bill was read a second time in Committee, was reported amend* fionlstages. The.Bpacij*l Powers, and. Contracts Bill was yPamdltted, when V number of amendments were struck out, and the Bill i as ameuded-waa reported,"and passed its final ' i The Owahaoko Kairaanawa Block Bill was received fiom the House ; passed ill its stages, and the Council adjourned to 10.3 Q next day. The Council met at 10.30 a.m. on Tues- ■ day. , ' , After agreeing to some amendments in the Babbit) Bill, proposed by Government, it adjourned at 10.35. HOUSE OF/REPRESENTATIVES. The House met at 11 a.ro. on Monday. The Owahaoko Kaimanawa Native Lands Bill was considered in Committee, and read a third time and passed. Mr Bradshaw,-.moved that' in the opinion of the House it is desirable that a Minister of the Crown should be resident iu Dunedin during the recess.—This was negatived on the House resuming at 2.30p.m. On the motion to go into Committee of feupply Mr Mob* said he had wished to draw attention to the necessity of insisting our* statement early in the session of sums expended on harbor defences and the purchase of native lands. The Government bad accepted; the responsibility of the Stark Tbuf very few people in Auckland defended it.—A discussion on the purchase of tpe Stark property £IO,OOO too much had been paid for it. The House went into Committed-on : the Supplementary Estimates. The discussion was resumed on the item £2OOO, services of Sir William, Fox on the West Coast, and,; after further discussion the item was retained by 25 to 16. J~jV j 77;! Mr f; Sut’ter moved th-t the item—£3ooo for compensation to F. D. Rich, for opejjii^,J.bdg..Pouit-coal- ffiine be struck out. —The item was retained by 81 to 11. fe. The item„£4so, subsidy of £1 for £2 for auuforoßlil cement crushing machine, was etrudk dhtt 5J - J The Hbnse rose at 5.30 and resumed at 7.30 p.ro. ’ 7 ; ; * State forests account >£6885. A discussion arose on this vote. The Minister of Lands said the cost of the new department was not large. Six hundred a year was paid to the chief conservator, who was specially qualified lor the work. It had be<-n determined last session to establish an agricultural college at Whangarei, and £IOOO was to erect a building. He remarked that if anything was to be done towards replacing the timber destroyed, it must be done at once. Kauri would be worked out in twenty years. Mr Buchanan: raovedto reduce the vote by £3500. Mr Hursthouse moved a reduction of the vote by £5450. 7 Lost: oh the voices. Mr Buchanan’s amendment was lost by 33 to 22, and the item retained as printed. OolOnlf TrinfefeHallel! wh‘y u the Auiikand Christchurch managers only got £450 a piece, while the Dunedin agent received £BOO, besides commission. , v Sir Julius Vogel explained the reasons lor Mr Driver’s appointment. [!r . ... ~ Mr Seddon moved % |eduo|ion,pf the ' .total vole by £IOOO. The amendment was carried by 33 to . 38, and the tolahvote teduced to £26,582 passed. ,/i { ■ s. ,: .[ Roads on goldfields—ltems, surveying and prospecting river beds, £2OOO, was struck out. The vqt», 'reduced' to£Soooj was then carried by 24 to 12. The rest of the Eat imates, were passed without alteration, thbugh after much discussion. , 'r ( The Premierjsaid the House would probably prorogue on Wednesday. The House rose at 2 a.m. till noon. In the House on Tuesday, ° Mr Ballanco said the* amendments by the Council finfjt,he^§peciid/Powers and’ Contracts Bill^bre£^ery v numerous,- 4 s(M i largelyaffected its character. He strongly l protested against the;. alterations, ‘hA to disagree with them .would be tplose the Bill altogether, he preferred to accept it as it was. —After some debate the amendments were agreed to. In Committee of Ways and Means, the Public Works Fund and Consolidated Fund Approt tiation: Bi Is .were i introduced. The House adopted the report of .the Joint Library *Ctimjni|.iee, after some andMajor Atkinson, who urged that members ought to have the use of books during the recess. The Public Wuiks Appropriation Bill passed stages, ' • 7 • The 'Bill was passed through Committee.—On the motion for the third reading Major Atkinson nudes spirited 'attack on the Ministry, criticising their actions since they cume into office, and Messrs Hursthouse and Moss also condemned the ; Gotrern'menl. ! ' ; The Premier and the Colonial Treasurer defended the Government, and the Bill was read k third 1 time. On the motion that the Bill do now ‘ pass, Messrs Wakefield and Bryce made an onslaught op the Government. The Bill was then passed. The Premier moved that the House do adjourn till 4.30 p.m. next day. Mr Seddon: expressed regret that no attempt Had been made to deal with the : South Island Native Reserves Act Amendment Bill, or the question ot privilege as to the rejection of the Gold Duty Abolition Bills by the Upper House. A discussion then took place as to giving Mr Macandrew an opportunity to bring on a motion which was down on the Order Paper relative to the unemployed, but no decision was come to. A message was received from the Council returning the Appropriation Bill. The Premier said the prorogation wonld be taken at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The motion was carried, and the House adjourned at 11.16 p.m.