HOUSE OF REPRESENTIVES.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3365, 4 October 1879, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTIVES.

Aftornooa Sitting.

The House mot nt 2.30.

Mr ,T. (j. Erowu applied to be allowed to ask a question notice, it waw that the Postmaster-General be requested to slate whether the Luim on the 31sl ; August, 1872, left Wellington with the I mail on boa.nl, contrary to what was stated by the Hon. Mr Hall. Mr Hull sitid that ho had never stated any date as to when the Luna left Wed- j lington with the mail. Eventually the j latter part of the question was struck out, j and the question as amended was put to Mr .Fisher, who said the information asked for would bo obtained. j "WASTE LANO BOARDS. j , Mr Hutchinson asiked whether it is the I intention of the Government in connection with their proposed land legislation to introduce a measure of reform in the Waste Lands Boards of the colony, and if so will the Minister of Lands indicate the direction in which such a reform will shape itself. Mr Thomson said that on the second reading of the Land Bill, now before the House, he would state the views of the Government on that point. PUBLIC TENDERS. Mr Hutchinson asked if they will be agreeable to call for tenders for the repairs of Government steamers, as for other public works and repairs. The Premier agreed with a general tenor of the question, but they were not | always able to let these repairs by tender. Mr Stevens asked whether there is any foundation for the statements made that a number of men have been dismissed from employment oh the ballast train on the Canterbury section of the > few Zealand Bailways, and that prison labor has since been employed on that duty. Mr Maeandrew replied that having no labor for the prison gang, they were employed on the work indicated. THE "WORKING MAN'S AFFAIRS. Mr Swanson asked Government what steps, if any, they intend taking to enforce compliance with clause 23 of the conditions in Government contracts. Mr Maeandrew said that the provisions of the clause would be enforced on complaint being made that tlse men had not received their wages as provided by the Acfc. THE AMBITION OF THE AGENT GENERAL. / Mr Murray asked if Sir Julius Vogel had applied to the Government for leave to stand for the representation of an English constituency in the House of Commons, and if so, was such permission refused, and why. ' The Premier sard the Agent-General had made no such application, and the opinion of the Government was that he should not stand as representative for an English or any other constituency. RAILWAY SERVANTS. Mr Andrews asked if all the employees on the Government railways are treated in a uniform manner as regards hours of work and rates of pay ; if any exception exists and to whom it applied; if a uniform rate of pay exists* for similar services given ; if there is any fixed rule for the payment for overtime, and if so what that rule is, and is it observed in all cases. Mr Maeandrew, in reply, said on the table whs a copy of the regulations under which railway employees were engaged. DEBATE RESUMED.

Mr Bowen resumed the debate on the no-confidence amendment, and he said the grossest misrepresentations had been made against the Canterbury members in connection with their land laws. The statistics would show that there were more of the yeoman class settled on the lands by virtue of these laws than in any other place, and for the objectionable part of the Canterbury land laws the Premier alone was responsible. When Governor of this colony he had, in defiance of the prayers of the people, given effect to legislation which actually gave away these lands to the large monopolists. That he did in defiance of the machinery of the Supreme Court. It was perfectly amazing to hear the Premier trying to shift the responsibility for these proceedings on to the shoulders of others. What disgusted members on that side of the House was the absolute imposture there was in the cry got up by the Government of its Liberal measures. The fact was there were no fixed parties in a new colony like this, and parties were formed from time to time, as occasion arose. Anyone of the acts of the Ministry would in another country have been sufficient to unseat a Government. Their conduct in connection with Larnach was instance! as a case in point, for in Parliament it was stated that Larnach Trent home at his own expense, and now it turned out that he had been paid some thousands of pounds. He instanced the Triennial Parliaments Bill, and said that he believei it had drawbacks which had not been fully considered. It would do away with an appeal ta the country on the occasion of some sudden emergency, 83 in a case of that kind it would be deemed more advisable to allow it to run out. It was not, however, a question which divided both sides of the House—it only divided individual mouibers. He hoped that the Bills which had been kept dangling before the country would now be allowed to pass, and that the legislature would settle down to the business of the country, and not have anyone going about idle asking them for bread and getting nothing better than a stons. He alluded to the Land Bill, and stated the predilections of that side of the House. As to the defects of the Bill, which have now been fully displayed, he felt convinced that the country would be satisfied with nothing short of a more equitable distribution of the tax. In concluding, ho stated that his side of tho House hoped to see true Liberalism introduced, and not the word made use of for mere clap-trap purposes.

Tainui remarked upon the fact of the leader of the Opposition having left the other House and come into this one. He did not know during all the time he had been in the Government of his ever having passed any laws for the good of the Maori. Ho believed if the Premier were left alone he would be able to remedy some of the evils experienced by the native race. The natives of the Middle Island thought that nothing had btcn done for their special benefit, still they thought Legislature was progressing in that direction.

Tjnvhia paid that the leader of the Opposition was a member of the Government who had embroiled the colony in v native war, and it was not fair to blame the (.lovernment now in offleu. He had been sent to this House as a friend of Sir G. Grey and Mr Sheehan. and ho would curry out what he was sent to do. Tomoana said lie came. here about native grievances: he came to support tho.so who were doing well for the Maories. JSot one promise that had been made tiS'uctiiig the natives throughout the Inlands had been fulfillod. He did not think Use Native Minister had administered the affairs satisfactorily, but personally he was not opposed to that gentlemen, nor yet to the Premier, but he considered they had mismanaged native affairs. He could uot support the Ministry in the present crisis. Mr Sheehan said he "would not have spoken at all but for the fact that; there were so many new members, by whom his silence might be misconstrued. Ho thought they would be glad to have heard the two Maori members who had just sat down. It appeared, from the remarks m«de by one of the members, that the leader of the Opposition had interviewed the Maori members, and that member had said that Mr Hall was a new member, and that he believed all he had said to him he would carry out. That was the way support was got—whntever was asked was promised. They bad been told that the Premier was the first man to make war in New Zealand, whereas the fact was the war was in full swing when the Premier came here. Some of the promises made by the leader of the Opposition to the Maori members were perfectly absurd. The same questions had been put to him (Mr Sheehan), and he replied, " it can't be done at present— in the state of Maori affairs it is quite impossible." Wow he could come to no other conclusion than that Mr Hall, for party puposes, had made promises he never could nor yet intended to fulfil. He would ask them to consider for a moment the position of the case. They claimed to be a superior race, they had introduced Christianity amongst the natives, and yet for party purposes to gain these benches, they misled the Maori, and made promises they never intended to fulfil. He would say that the members on the Government side of the House were well satisfied with the change which had taken place in the leader of the Opposition. He thought they would all agree that in Mr Hall they had an improvement on what they had last session. He referred to the fact that they had gone to the country with a majority of 14 against them, and they now found that they had come back with a good few of , a majority in their favor. He further alluded to absence of certain leaders, Sir Wm.? Fox, Mr Whitaker, etc., and argued that these facts alone showed the Opposition had not the sympathies of the country with them. He had to complain of the course taken by the Opposition as being, if not unconstitutional, at all events unparliamentary and unfair. They tabled a vote of want of confidence before they were allowed to bring down their measured JN"ow, that was most unfair to the new members; the old members knew from past experiencehad all the information that could be got 1 from Parliamentary papers and records of the House, so that it took these new members at a disadvantage. They had to take for granted that what they were told was true, and not allowed an opportunity to investigate the truth or otherwise for themselves. He then went on to say that it was well known fact many would be disposed to support the Government, but the excuse they made for their defection was, to use their own words, because they could not staud Grey. He would defy anyone to point out a valid reason why the Premier should be thus denounced. His (Mr Sheehan's) private character had been attacked last session, but he would say nothing about that-, but when they found his private character again assailed outside the House during the late elections, he thought he had a perfect right to complain. The constituency had very pr perly rejected the candidature of his maligner, and he hoped constituencies would always mark a sense of such cowardly conduct in a similar way. The speech waa interrupted by the 5.30 adjournment.