PARLIAMENTARY.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1889, 12 August 1874, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY.

(Per Anglo-Australian Telegraph Press Agency.) o- \ t LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. la Wellington, Tuesday, 7.35 p.m. pLYTxiiLTON OAS BILL. The Lyttelton Gas Bill was read a C second time. ff TREATMENT OF LUNATICS. j ( 'The adjourned debate on the treatment £ of lunatics was resumed. S! Colonel Brett passed a warm eulogium a on the Superintendent of the Canterbury e| Asylum, and hoped the effect of the motion would not be to supersede that officer. CONVEYANCING ORDINANCE, S Captain Eraser stated that the Superin- S tendents of Canterbury, Nelson, and b Auckland were willing to introduce the I modern system announced by the House of Representatives upon an amendment of tho Couucil on the Conveyancing Ordi- 11 nance Amendmeut Act, giving it a future f< instead of a retrospective operation. This was agreed to. s BILLS READ. 6 Tho following bills were read a second J time:—lmprisonment for Debt Abolition it Bill; New Zealand University Bill; c Hokitika Mayors Bill. 'V BILLS PASSED. F The following bills were read a third t time and passed:—Presbyterian Church of Otago Lands Bill; Merchant. Shipping Act Adoption Bill; Municipal Corporations Act Amendment Bill. HOUSE OP BUPREBENTATTVES. Wellington, Tuesday. , Ten days' leave of absence has been . granted to Mr Pyke. ( Mr Yon der Heyde took bis seat j THE LICENSING BILL. On the motion for committal of the | Licensing Bill Mr Fox made a vigorous ; speech, chiefly in advocacy of the prohibitive principles of the Bill passed last year. He stigmatised the Premier's Bill, ; the motto of wliich appeared to be to let i those drink now who never drank before, i and those who drank still drink the more. ( Mr Vogel defended the bill on the ; ground that the Government gave the utmost attention to the subject in order to remedy the defects of the bill of last year. Advocacy of the hon. member foi Kangitikei was too enthusiastic to allow him to take a rational view of the subject. The discussion on the various clauses, seemed to be interminable. A division was taken on the question of whether tho Government should appoint a Licensing Bench or choose from the people Licensing Boards in the same way as lioad Boards. The original motion was carried by 42 to 20. Two bars in one house clause was carried. The bottle i license clause only to apply to those pro--1 vinces which have provided or shall provide for their issue. After a great deal ; of discussion the 23 clauses of the bill were passed with slight amendments. The House rose at half-past one o'clock a.m. Resolutions abolishing provinces come on _ The Premier says he expects tho session will be over in a fortnight. 7 p.m. THE FORESHORE. ; In reply to a question by Tairoa, Mr ' Richardson said the Government had ob- ■ taincd the cession of all rights to the fore- ' shore on the North Island, and every | Government ha \ kept them siuce. j LIGHTHOUSE. ! In reply to Mr O'Neill regarding the i lighthouses, Mr Hichardson said a state- . menfc on the question would be made in a ■ few days. 1 $ EMIGRATION. • The Premier, in making the emigration s statement, said the number of souls ' introduced between June 1873-4 was ! 17,513, and of those 7,503 were brought j out under the Immigration and Public [ Works Act. There were now on the 8 water 14,530, or nearly as many as j arrived during the past year. He referred the House to the immigration I; correspondence laid upon the table, which;; .. showed the history and position of immi- , gration. He could not deny to the i House that immigration had not been s carried out to the satisfaction of tlie >' Government, but, notwithstanding 1 that the Agent-General and the j Government were not at one, he ;0 h a <l worked most zealously accord,Q ing to his own ideas. As to selecy tion, he considered that on the whole the •k immigrants were of a class such as the i. colony should be satisfied with. It was id impossible that any care could always suem ceed in preventing a few undesirable is characters being introduced so long as the ie the present great impulse to emigrants to Pi New Zealand was in existence. He would, id however, admit that room for improveto ment existed in the mode of selection, and " more pains should be bestowed upon the £ system of nominated immigration. Ana other cause of dissatisfaction to the ly Government with the Agent-Genoral was te the unsatisfactory nature of the arrangeg - mcnts at the depots, and the shipping of eo emigrants. While' recognizing the zeal ul of the Agent-General, the Government le must insist that their views are carried 3 S out—though no doubt allowances must j" be made lor tho difference botween in- .' structions given here and tho way they are carried out 10,000 miles away; but all these nt questions would probably be discussed when the estimates regarding immigration it/ 1 were brought down. Having stated the id .causes of dissatisfaction with the Agentbe General, the Government, felt also bound to bear testimony to the great amount of

work he had got through, to the many difficulties he had to contend with in organising his department, which was now a very large one, and the inefficiency of many of his assistants; and to the able assistance he rendered in financial arrangements. He was not able now to say to what extent the Government were prepared to introduce immigrants into the country, which must to a great extent be regulated by the power of absorption shown by the colony. That had hitherto been very great, and remarkably successful, notwithstanding that a large proportion of them arrived in the colony at an unfavourable season of the year. They had to accord the highest praise to the Superintendents of otago and Canterbury, but to tho latter especially, for their valuable co-operation and assistance in regard to immigration. I'lie power of the colony to absurd immigrants must depend more upon the absorbing powers of the interior parts of the colony than upon that of the seaport towns. The lion, gentleman described the estimates, of which the following are the principal items:--The Agent-General's department vote, owing to the great expansion and increased clerical labour, and the establishment of branch agencies in tho United Kingdom, was increased largely, £12,065. he expenditure lor tho introduction and location of immigrants on the way was increased from £2511,000 to £275,000. The appropriations for different provinces lor meeting various expenses incidental to immigration, and exclusive of advances for works in connection with the location of settlers, including advances for cottages, wereA uekland, £17,858; Taran.-iki, £20,125; Hawke's Hay, £12,13(5; Wellington, £66,285; Nelson, £11,150; Marlborough, £16,535; YVestland, £14,175; Canterbury, £9,317 12s; 0tag0, ( £17,395, which, with various other expenses in connection with the depots, steam launches, &c., make a total vote ol £481,161. In conclusion, the Premier said the estimates had been framed with a view to the different circumstances of eaeh province in the colony. BILLS PASSED. The following bills were, passed:— State Forests Bill; Naval J raining Schools Bill; Christchurch Drainage Debentures Bill; and Uamaru Harbour Board Land Bill. WARD-CHAPMAN COMMITTEE'S DEPORT. The interim report of the Ward-Chap-man Committee states that the committee found that the charge made by Judge Ward against Judge Chapman was not substantiated, and that inissuing the order ex parte for the inspection of telegrams Judne Chapman had not acted partially in discharging his judicial duties. The committee recommended that the Government should make arrangements for periodically altering the circuits of the Supreme Court and District Judges.