GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2239, 11 August 1891, Page 4

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

August 7. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Tlio 0..,;u:cil ■ m•„■■', at 2.30. p.m. rn Friday. y.v. i'Lo';:■];;.<■> .iiV.'.r.j'LTTV irn.i.. The Liability Bill w. : read a thiru :/:io .ind passed. i±*..' ■■: i'.:LL. The Truck Bill, uli-x: a debate, w;-.. considered in Committee. Clause 11, prohibiting peiw;t:. exchanging goods made by themselves i<., ■ bsi-tjr, was struck out by 16 to 5. A new subsection was inserted in cla/us--12 providing .-£SO for a third offence fo" breach of the Act. An amendment prohibiting crossed choraies being given for wages was to th^Bill. A new clause empowering employers to supply bush fellers with two months' necessaries was inserted. The Bill was reported with amendment? and ordered to be read a third time or* Tuesday. HOUSE OF ItEPKESENTATIVES. The House met at 2.30. p.m. on Tuesday. THE CASE OF MAJOR MAIR. The Public Petitions Committee reported on the case of William Mair, who petitioned the House to be allowed to 'remain in the service of the colony till he was entitled to receive his pension in .November, 1802. The report was to the effect that they had no recommendation to make. After a long discussion a motion was carried that the rep art bo referred back to the Committee to ascertain whether Major Mair was entitled to a pension in Liw or in equity. SOLDIERS AND VOLUNTEES' CLAIMS. Replying to Mr M. Smith, Mr Seddon jaid that the Government would delay the introduction of a Bill dealing with the claims of old soldiers and volunteers till later on in the session, in order that as many claims as possible might be received and considered before the Bill was introduced. The adjournment of the House was moved and a long debate followed, the general opinion expressed by those who spoke being that the claims, of old soldiers should be dealt with without delay. THE LAND AND INCOME ASSESSMENT BILL. The Land and Licome Assessment Bill was briefly discussed up to the 5.30. p.m. adjournment. The House resumed at 7.30. p.m. and went into Committee on the Bill. Clause 16—Exemptions from tax. Mr Mackenzie (Ciufcha) called attention to the fact that there were considerable sums of money in this country invested by people on mortgages,which money was not their own. He though that money should be exempt from taxation. The Premier said that cases of that kind were already exempted by the clause. Mr Guinness moved to exempt from taxation under this clause all teachers' residences, the property of Education Boards. After some discussion the amendment was withdrawn, on the understanding that the Premier would undertake to provide that it be given effect to. Replying to Mr G. Hutchison the Premier said that Roman Catholic schools were exempt from taxation. The clause was altered so as to provide for the exemption of any public schools established under the Education Act, 1877, and all lands and buildings used for any school not carried on exclusively for gain or profit which does not occupy more than fifteen acres of land for the purposes of the school. Properties belonging to schools .of mines, friendly societies, building societies, masonic bodies, and charitable institutions, not carried on for gain or profit, were exempted from taxation. Mr Hutchison (Waitotara) moved to strike out that portion of the clause that proposed to exempt Maori landowners. The Premier could not accept the amendment, which was eventually withdrawn, Mr Perceval ruling that it was not admissible on the ground that it meant increasing the taxation of the people. laconics derived by building societies were exempted from the income tax. The Premier moved that income derived from the following be exempt from tho income tax :—" By the owner or occupier of land in New Zealand or from the use or produce of such land derived by such owner or occupier, or from the mortgages of such land except where otherwise specially provided for." Agreed to. Progress was reported. The House rose at 1.10 a.m.

LABOUR. Sydxey, Aug. 7. The conference between the pastoralists and the shearers began to-day. The Pastoralists and Shearers Union are conferring, the terms of the agreement being under discussion. It has been agreed not to compel men to work more than 48 hours per week. Auckland, Aug. 6. At a meeting of the Trades and Labour Council, the action of thr> vio'ica in preventing uuiou bootmakers; going to the end of the wlntrf was discussed. The Kocror irv '.v is iu.sfruete ' y!-o vapo-t the inatior to tlio Almkuea of Justice. FOOD SUPPLY. Aug. h. The Tkueu, in re'brring to t!i." English harvest, considers lint it will be late and below the average. August 7. The Daily Neva ost.h'ij'-.fo 1 ; that tha American wheat crop will give a total yield of 000 !>u:.;lto]«. of which K)O.nOO,O0O bushels will be available for export to meet European requirements. Micx.'co, Aug. 0. Rains have partially destroyed tha American crops. New You v., Aug. 0. There is ;i considerable demand here for wheat ou behalf of Russia.

HOW GERMAN WOMEN ARE

BROUGHT UP.

The German woman is neither the excellent housewife .she professes to be, nor the bluestocking she is often thought. Gretchen exists no longer, except on the litis of boxes of candied fruit, and she in quite enough for Faust when she meei.3 him. In fact, the German girl of to-day, especially in Berlin, is not so much like the Margaret of Goetho as the Loulou of Gyp. Gorman school-life is a serious business. It begins at seven years old, and the two subjects which are especially in favour with all conditions of people of any pretensions are French and the piano. Says a writer," Ido not think it an exaggeration to say that ninety-five per cent of the daughters of parents in eas}' oircunis;tnnces play the piano, and ninety per cent speak French. As soon as a girl has been confirmed, her education is complete, unless she goes in for special branches of study. Her parents begin to think of getting her married, and she goes to her first ball. Courtship,, the preliminaries to which generally take place on the floor of the ball-room, or, in the winter, to the rhythm of the same waitz-tune played by the same miJlitary band on the ice, is inaugurated thus : If the young man means business lie calls on the young lady's parents on Sunday and breaks the ice. Pie will then be asked to dinner, and a ceremonious exchange of little sentimental presents will take place between the pair, interlardfd with sentimental sentences always French. When an engagement has been definitely given out, the young couple are allowed epiite an amount of freedom in their intercourse. Indeed, if we may believe the writer, their manners and customs are considerably more frank and free than ours of this country, for she says they do not scruple to Iris:., each other in public as often as they feel inclined, and there is nothing more disagreeable at a soiree than the spectacle of one of these sentimental couples. Before marraige the German girl is a great reader of novels, her capacity for stories being simply inexhaustible. Rarely, however, does marriage in Germany prove the realisation of any of the dreams in which her girlish fancy took delight. The German married v/oman has never occupied the same place as does the French woman, by reason of the total absence of any sentiment of chivalry and romance in the treatment of woman by man in Germany. True, the sons, the husbands, and the brothers of the women in Germany deserve our respect for their energy, their character, all that supplies a nation with its force. But how disastrous is that force for the woman. Force is more fatal to grace than even to right. What h vrdness in that dignity ! What carelessness, what supreme indifference on the p;irt of those proud, vain, and selfish heroes, who do not ask their companions oi the other sex to understand them, but only to keep house satisfactorily and to bear a number of children. The state of intellectual, moral, and social subjection of the German woman naturally does not tend to develop any originality in her. She starts a new idea or a new fashionImitation is the utmost that she is capable of, and even in imitation she is slow. The famous "deuidieSjiveib" who is the traditional type of the German woman, is the Germania of Tactius—the servant of man. ,