PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 196, 2 November 1871, Page 6

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

(From, the "Daily Times" Telegrams). "Wellington, October 25. Mr. Steward's motion in favour of the items now included under the head «' Permanent Charges " being made fiubject to annual appropriation, was carried. Mr. AVood moved a resolution in favour of the next session of Assembly being held in Dunedtn. Mr. Lightband moved as an amendment that it should be held in Nelson. Messrs. Keid, Macandrew, Ha ugh ton, T. L. Shepherd, and MGrlashan, supported peripatetic Parliaments. My. Fox opposed the motion, chiefly on- the grounds of inconvenience • and expense. My. LightbaTuVs amendment was negatived, and Mr. Wood's j-esolution carried on a division by 40 to 20. Mr. Murray's resolution for cons*;i'tutional.changes were shelved, by fie previous* question being moved on the first.

October 26. The Grold Miners' Draiuage Bill, Gold Mining Districts Bill, and Land Transfer Act Amendment Bill, passed through Committee and were read a third time. The Legislative Council has altered the Highway Boards Empowering Bill very • extensively, excising amongst other clauses those conferring borrowing powers. It has also altered the , Juries Bill, by requiring a verdict of five-sixths instead of two-thirds of a ■ jury, and also that nothing except a , unanimous verdict shall be taken until ' .after the jnry.have been iv consultation for six hours* witboutj hope of agreement. A return has been .laid on th.c table of the expenses of Mr. Vogel's trip to England; The items ure as follows ; —

Travelling allowance, £2224 18s. j do. to Secretary, £210 JOs. ; Passages, 1 £216; Telegrams,. £189 Bs. fth.jiQfficial Rooms, Stationery, and Incidental Ekpensea, £324 14s, lid. j totel. .'■ £$m io& sa. ' .' ■ ./ ' \ The, Public Work*' Bill fixes M *a]ary of the President of $xejso&&l, of I •Works at a. year, and that q| .. the other members at £500 a year Qachj , The Board hiay appoint ag many sub^ -Boards an, it please*, each -containingnot more than three .members, who are . ,-ta be paid out of t&e .moneys at the ....credit. of r tbe r PubJift. Works aoqoa.nt o - such %\luty as the Board, with theoonseu^of the Governor, may determine. The Disqualification Act <is not to apply •%q any jjerson/'lijf reason -of Ins being; 'fljP^piuted-^ujenjber of the Board or of i

any sub : Board with a salary attached to such appointment. The House,- during ."the" remainder of the session, will sit every day, and meet in the afternoon at 1.30.

' October 27th. The debate oh the Brogden contract was resumed by Mr. Bathgate, who, while admitting fully the advantages of railways, raised a warning voice against embarking too largely at first in works. Operations should be confined at present to lines that were certain co pay working expenses. The contract was a fair and equitable arrangement for the Colony, and those who objected to it were ignorant of its provisions. He spoke as having experience in such matters. He was perfectly sure that Mr. Brogden would erect manufactories, and give full employment to the labour in the Colony. Mr. Brogden would only enter upon such undertakings from large convictions of the resources of the Colony, for f.'om their develop ernent t?uly could he look for his profit.

Mr. Reynolds thoroughly agreed with Mr. Bathgate that the con ti act was a good one for the Colony. He had carefully considered the resolutions passed at the various public meetings held to consider the question, bnt was unable to agree with them. It was essential that the contract should be in the hands of men with large means. He moved the following addition to Mr. Vogel's resolution :—": — " And further recommends that the Government negotiate with the Messrs. Brogclea for the modification and extension of No. 2 Contract, or the substitution of one in its place, as nearly as possible to the following effect: — That Messrs. Brogden and Sons construct such railways as are authorised, or to be authorised, by the ''Assembly, as it. may be agreed shall be offered them, to. the amount of £1,000,000, being within the limit fixed by the Legislature. Messrs. Brogden and Sons .to state the price at- which they are willing to construct each railway, aud the. Government to be at liberty to refuse to accept their offer ; payment to be made in debentures bearing 5^ per cent, interest, or in cash, at the option of the Government. In the event of the Government and Messrs. Brogden and Sons not being able to agree as to the construction of rail ways under these provisions, the Government or Messrs. Brogden and Sons, on notice to that effect being given by either party, to be bound to carry out No. 2 conl ract.

Mr. J. E. Brown thought that if cash payments were adopted, the contracts should certainly be open to competition. He was willing to agree to the amendment if the Messrs. Brogden would take debentures at par in payment. He moved the omission of the words "oi* in cash." - •

Mr. Shepherd's amendment was ne gtitived on the voices.

Mr. Yogel accepted Mr. Reynolds' amendment, as it would strengthen the hands of the Government in their negotiations with Mr. Brogden.

Mr. Reid opposed the amendment. He asked why they did not alter tbe present hulf-miUkm contract by substituting payment iv cash or by debentures. He advocated a- system of small contracts to be let by tender, aud separate tenders for material and ro ling stock, with a condition that they should be manufactured in the Colony. The amendments moved by Mr.

Brown and Mr. Peacock were negatived, and Mr. Reynolds' addition to Mr. Vogel's motion was carried .by 47 to 15. The following is the division list :—

Ayes: — Messrs. Bath gate, Bell, Brandon, Bunny. Cantrell.,Carrington, Clark, Curtis, Faniall, Fitzherbert, Fox, Gillies, Gisborne, Henderson, Harrison, Haugttfon, Hunter, Johnston, Karslake, K-atene, T. Kelly, W. Kelly, Kenny, LightbandjMacandrew, M'Glashan, D M'Lean, M'Leod, M'Pherson, O'Neill, Ormond, Parata, C. Parker, Reeves, Reynolds, J. Shephard, Stafford, Studholme. laiaroa, Stewart, Tokomoana, Tribe, Yogel, "Webster, "White, Williamson, and Wood.

Noes: — Messrs. Andrew, BradsKaw, J. C. Brown, Calder, Ingles, & MLean, Mnnro, G. B. Parker, Peacock, Reid, Rolleston, T. L. Shepherd, Thomson, and Wakefieid.

Pairs.: — For — Mr. .Tearce. Against — Mr. Collins.

Li" the Legislative Council the Oaniaru Dock Trust Borrowing Bill was +hrow-n out by 18 to 13.

The Chinese Immigration' Committee of the Lower House reported that no .case had been made out calling for legislative inofcrference.' This decision was carried by a majority of one.- Mr. Haughton -has given notice of a motion calling upon the Government -to-con-sider- during the x-ecess .the' evidence taken by the Committee, with 'a Viewto proposing next session some measure i to prevent the Goldfields from feeing overrun by Chinese. . {( : ! \On the motiop.to go into .Ce-mmittee iof Supply to. day, Mr. O'Rorke moved, '.'That the^transference 'of thosVEsti-; i jnates-of expenditure hitherto'knowir as' [Provincial Charges, 'is. unjust to, the ! Provinces of Auckland, Taranafi,.Nelißon,»and Otago, and ought nob to he legalised, inasmuch as it is shown by Table. 1., appended to the Financial, Statement, • 'that ' Auckland .'.thereby ; loses per annum £13,750 2s. 4d.'; Taranaki, £1,648' Us. 2d. j Nelson £9,293 19s; lOd. j-and Qtago, £15,066 12s. 7d." In doing so; he said that all the retrench meat' he sa.w in the Budget was j by"; robbing Auckland; and he had

no desire 'to see that Province cease to exist in a few months as the first fruits of Mr. Vogel's fine schemes. . It was not long since Mr. Yogel was glnd to nestle under the wing of tbe provinces, but now, like many others who had attained the position he desired, he kicked away the ladder by which he had ascended.

Mr. Swanson seconded the motion, saying that had Mr. Yogel promulgated such proposals before the elections, he would never have been returned by an Auckland constituency. Messrs^ Farnal l," Curtis, and Gillies supported" tbe motion, though th^y were perfectly willing to see the whole of the Provincial charges abolished, so long as it was done fairly to all concerned. Messrs. Reynolds and Reid said they would support the motion, unless the Government would promise to sweep away all the remaining Provincial charge-?. Messrs. TVibe, J. E. Brown, and Fitzherlwvt opposed the motion. Mr. Vogel ' made a long explanation to show that the Provinces would not lose as stated, and said that the Government had done all that was possible to be done this year in the matter. Next year he hoped the General Government would be able to take over the remainiug Provincial charges without lessening the capitation allowance. The motion was negatived on a division by 37 to 27. The Supplementary Estimates contain an item of £500 for the introduce tion of salmon. October 28. Mr. Gisborne, in moving the Public Works and Immigration Act Amendment Bill, reviewed what had been done in regard to the latter subject, and attributed the fact that more had not been done to the want of prompt co operation on the part of others, and the delay caused by the elections. The Public .Revenues Bill caused a long discussion in Committee. On the last clause various amendments were moved. Ulti mately, after several speeches had been made on the subject of control, a new clause proposed by Mr. Yogel, to the eifect that nothing in any other Act should prevent the offices of Controller and Auditor bein<r held by one person, was agreed to. Mr. Yogel stated that nest session the House would be called on to consider and revise the whole system of the control and audit of public accounts.

The House adjourned till Monday

After a long debate, the Legislative Council, by 21 votes to 7, carried Mr. Waterhouse's motion. "That the interests of the public services render it essential that tho Assembly should meet at the seat of Government." An address 'to tba- Governor on tbe sub-

ject was' also carried. The Bill to re-admit Mr. Smytbies to practice was road a. second timo in the Council by 13 to 2, aiter a long debate. Mr. Sewell intimated his intention to move an amendment which would hove the effect of again relegating the twitter of Mr. Smythies's adurpsionto the Judges of the Supreme Court. October 30th. Mr. S^well has resigned his seat in the Miri«fcry, and Mr. Waterhouse has accepted a seat in the Government, but only for the pm pose of carrying on the Government business in the Legislative Council until the end of the session. In the House of Representatives today, Mr. Sewell's motion, calling on the Government during the recess to prepare a Bill on the subject of the newspaper libel law was carried.

Mr. Macandrew's resolutions regariing the reductions in the Civil Service were carried ; the first without opposition, the second on a divisiou by 27 to 23.