HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4529, 11 July 1883, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Wellington, Yesterday. The House met at 2.30. ' THE BIG LAND COMPANY.

Mr Bryce presented a petition*from 150 natives against the N.Z. Natire 'Lands Company's Bill, complaining that their lands had been unfairly dealt with by the company. [A summary of the petition appears elsewhere.] - & 1.Mr JDeLatour said what he was about' to more would command the , approval, of the Government, and, he had no doubt, commend itself tb the t souse. ' The objections raised by the examiner of private billi:, as to the .power to purchase ,being conferred, were, no doubt, technically •orrect, but the clause referred to was in serted in the bill by error. The company always had that power, but; its exercise would be totally subversive of the principles of the company, and destructive of the interests of the shareholders. The company never*had purchased and did not want to purchase native land, and he was quite willing: that a clause should be inserted prohibiting the. company absolutely from so purchasing. ' It was a case in which the promoters should be allowed to defend the bill on its nlerits before committees, and' the House. Mi The company combined business with an honest desire to do good to the natives) and they were naturally; owtby greedy land purchasers with JNtiitipresentations j such as those contaiotf in the petition jut presented. RtmtM that the House accept the report of tbjpStanding Order Committee, and that tEw bill be introduced in the ordinary course and them, referred to the proper Committees. He wanted f|tie'geyeresfßCTOfin^bTthtrbfll.-H<^n»T«d - tfeat the report' be agreed to.—Major Atkinson thought the proposal a reasonable one, as it would afford full opportunities for consideration.—Mr Hurst objected to the Standing Order being dispensed with to allow of the bill being introduced. He,wanted to know how many members of the House were; directly and personally interested inj the bill, and to what extent a list of such! members should be placed on the table? —Mr Shephard said the allegations of the preamble of the" bill were in direct conflict with those of the petition presented by Mr Bryce, and in justice to all. parties the bill should be allowed to proceed, so that there might be full investigation before the proper: Committees.- 1-1 Mr Moss was one of the original founders of the company, but he had ceased to be connected with its management since it was fairly started. He denied that the. company, originally had any power to' purchase native land. The character of the company had since entirely changed. At the meeting of shareholders' held to authorise the application for this bill, it was agreed to insert in the bill the right to acquire by purchase both European and native lands. He then read the minutes of the meeting. The whole constitution and character of the company was entirely changed. If the law was to be altered or improved it, should be for the benefit of the whole colony, and not for Wafc of a private company. It was sought to give a monopoly for 'a territory larger than the Province of Canterbury, and he felt bound to protest against it.— Mr Bryce thought .the House would at a subsequent stage be in * a.: much better position to discuss the merits of the bill than at present.—The motion was adopted that the report of the Standing Orders Committoe be agreed to.—Mr DeLautour then introduced the bill, and it waa read a first time, and referred to the Joint Com mittee on Bills to report whether it was a public or private bill. .„ •; ',-'-; The report of**the Standing Orders Committee.on the " Guardian, Trustees, and Executors Bill" .was also agreed to, and thejbiji^eadafirsltiie. .-*« * Replying to questions Ministers said: It. was intended to consider the propriety of abolishing postage charge on delayed telegrams.—The questionsof establishing a reformatory* as recommended by Captain Hume, would be considered during the recess.—-A padded room would be; added to the Napier Lunatic Asylum.—lf pos sible Government would introduce a bill to obviate the necessity for local bodies obtaining conveyances of lands acquired for roads and bridges. a

The City of Auckland Additional Loan Bill (Peacock) was introduced and read a first time.

In Supply a resolution allowing the issue of £] 00,000 Deficiency Bills was agreed to, after which the Impounding Bill was considered in committee.

Sir Geo. Grey gave notice to move the following on going into Supply:-—" That this House regrets the Government has expressed its intention not to make any proposals to deal with lands specially benefitted or advantaged by the construction of railways, in so far as such benefits or advantages hare ooearred in the past; as, in the opinion of the Housa, the principle of taxing all property increased in value by the construction, with the public money, of railways, roads, bridges, harbours, and other works is jngt." Mr Montgomery moved his anti-central resolutions. H^ contended that" the central system had failed in its promises. He reviewed the political position at the opening of the session of' 1874, and the cause which had led to the introduction of % tlie abolition resolutions, and their

nce^ptar.ee bj Hie PL'Use. The promises then made were of tiie most solemn diameter. He qunted from Parliament arv records to show thai these promises had all been broken^ He reviewed the coarse of subsequent' legislation to show how this had been done He charged the authors of abolition with having either recklessly or ignorantly institned a financial policy which was sure to end in disaster.- It was impossible to govern the colony satisfactorily from a cen|r,f.,.., J)M Part >n?w\ nothing ,of the requirements of the other parts. Local matters ahou'd be left to local provincial bodies, and then a month or-* six^ weekly would * the Parliamentary sessioji,. .Customs, postal, defence, educttion, judicial, and land legislation, wTiv what should be reserved to the central Government, as well as payment of Mm public debt. Local bodies, elected by the people having community of interest, should have restricted powers -of legislation and administer education, land, police, railways, gaols, and other things snqb as the provinces used to administer. Otago, Canterbury, and the West Coast had a community of interest, and he thought N<-!son and Marlborough mie'it be included, but if their community of interest was more with Wellington, then ttey should be* united to it. Taranaki .would also go with 1 Wellington, and the rest of the North Island would form a third province, althnueh there was some difficulty ■bout Hawk«'B Bay, and he would be sorry to coerce its people on the subject. He saw no difficulty in reforming colonial and provincial finance so as to leave each able to perform its proper functions, and yet save £150,000 on the present expenditure. The, local .bodies would require,,power to tax themselves. If the resolutions were carried a bill should be brought in next session, and then the opinion of the country could be taken upon it.- 1-Major Atkinson said there was no proof that^he people de sired a return to Provincialism. Not r>ne member had been returned to agk it. nor was there a petition in its favor. Here- ;- gretted the affairs of 1874 had beetL.ruke<j up, as what wbh then donehad been judged by the peopled He replied nt l«n(?.|h.tV) Mr Montgomery's statements.^lVog<4"s adoption of al»pliti<>nW#|?a.noble »ii|pati-iutic step. He denied fhaff ny brerich; of faith had taken placein ragArd to the, land fund orother mattirs: He quoted fronftheFiijanii cial Statement&f the Grdy Government to show how unfounded Mr Montgomery's statement as tofthe financial condition of Affairs was; * It was the gross mismanagement of that Government which f had caused any difficulty in 1878, and h« dej fended his own financial policy of last year. The Government knowing theyg^r presented the people, and having the support of a sufficient majority, saw no necessity for going to the people to increaj^ that majority. These proposals are not new, but those who had supported such a scheme in the last Parliament were Dot returned to the present one. He denied that the time of Parliament was wasted over petty local affairs. What community of! interest was there be-, tween Stewart'* Island and Greymputh P If the seat \. of Government wa* in Christchuroh, Dunedin, or Hokitika would Inveroargilltbe' better off if gdteftrcirffom««ki'tik* instead of from Wellington P The talk 'ol cotntiiwaitj of interest was a sham, there was community of interest from one end of the colony to the other, and Wellington was the beat place for the seat of central administration. The tendency was not to join <»gether but to separate into fresh Counties and Eoad Boards. The people, he believed, were quite content with their present local governin / powers. Educa tion* andy lands were now really locally administered ; police and gaols could not properly •: be locally administered, nor could railways and public works. The public administration would cost upwards of half-aimillion more nnder the proposed system than at present. The colony had never enjoyed so much decentralisation as at present. Deducting education, the rate of taxatian was 2s 3^d per head less than in 1876; the increase per male adult was 7s, while the spending power of the people was as large as ever. Sir G. Grey charged Government with having let their friends acquire vast estates and wealth at the expense of the people, while the masses were ground down with burdens they could not bear. The people should throw off the tyranny under which they suffered, and assert their liberty. There was no fair representation of the people of New Zealand in Parliament. He called on Gorernment to terminate the native land scandals.

* * Latbb— T^is day. Mr Turnbull had supported Abolition, but now saw it was a mistake. It had failed to realise what was expected, and had intensified the evils it was intended to cure. Some change was absolutely necessary to avert a serious crisis arising. —Mr J. M. Thompson moved the adjournment of the debate till Thursday.— Major Atkinson objected, and moved Wednesday, as the debate had.really become one of no confidence.—Mr Joyce said i the discussion was quite useless. The result had been determined by the compact entered into/with the Canterbury members about the railway. He declined to even discuss the revivatofProvineialism, but was prepared to support that system. —Mr LeTestam hoped the debate would be carried on, so as toi get-o».t the facts of the compact which had been made in defiance of what had been promised iv the Public Works Statement.—The de bate wus adjourned to Wednesday.—The House roße at 12 o'clock. .