PARLIAMENTARY.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 213, 1 September 1893, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY.

POLICE COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. The Chief Police Commissioner states that the system of filling- vacancies by transfer of men from the Permanent Artillery continues to work very satisfactorily. The practice, of moving officers -and con sift bias; from station to station had been found fo'be beneficial though considered a great hardship. General attention has been given during-the year to enforcing the LicensingAct, but the Act requires amendment. In the ■ absence of a superannuation scheme, about which there is a great difficulty, militia .men ' enrolled as constables-are required' to have their lives insured. The Commissioner points out that the proportion of police to the population in New Zealand is far below that in other colonies, and that'the ’fqree'khoujd. he 'ali-gmcut ed, especially in view of_the turtritfer of Wihiiifcd classes how flocking to New Zealand. A matron should be appointed at each of the. chief centres to look after female prisoners, and in the larger centres two mounted constables should patrol the suburbs nightly at uncertain hours. There is also a. growing ' evil of ‘baby farming,’ premiums of £6 to £2O being- paid for the placing- of children in homes where the sooner they die the better everyone is pleased. Legislation on the lines of the Infant Life. Protection Act of England is necessary to secure the -regulation of infants placed .out to- nurse and directing inspection, of houses in which they are placed. NOXIOUS-WEEDS BILL NO. 2 This Bill differs materially from its predecessor. Clause 8, which provided a penalty on persons knowingly .removing hay, or sewingseeds containing noxious weeds, is oinmittecl, as well as the provision for the cleaning of threshing machines. The contribution from the Government to local bodies for the-clearing of weeds from Crown lands is to be increased from half to three-quarters of the cost. BETTERMENT BILL. The object of this Bill, which has been introduced by the Premier, is concisely stated in the full title, which is ' An Act to. Impose on Lands Traversed by Railways Constructed at the Public Expense a Charge in Aid of Such Construction.’ The principal provision is contained in clause 5, which reads thus • ‘ All lands whatever which are si'-uate within twenty miles from the middle of a line of a public-railway, or within a radius of twenty miles beyond the terminal point of any such railway, or of any section of such railway authorised and commenced after the 30th September 1893, shall bo subject to the provisions of this Act. Lands occupied by public schools or oburohos, or used in connection with public institutions are, _ however, expressly 'exempted from the operation of the Act. 'The amount of contribution for which lands shall lie liable ia the shape of a betterment tax, shall be equal to one half the amount by which such lauds have been augmented in value by construction-of railways These contributions are.to go to the Public Works Fund. ‘ Augmented value ’is described to be the difference between the value of lands as given in t Iso assessment roll of the Borough or County Council hist prior to advertising for tenders for construction of the railway, que] such value as appearing on the assessment roll first : prepared after the opening of the railway for public traffic. Private land owners liable to j contributions are to have the option of paying the same on demand or allowing them to remain ; as a debt due to the Crown, paying- interest at the rate of five per cent, " ;