NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT.

West Coast Times, Issue 299, 7 September 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Tubsday, August 28.

PROVINCIAL LOANS.

Mr Campbell asked the Colonial Treasurer — " Whether it is the intention of the Government to bring- in a Bill th ; s session to consolidate the provincial loans, with a view to covering them with..- the General Government guarantee." Mr Fitzherbert said he was not prepared to say more than* that the whole matter was under the consideration of theGoveru"mebt.

CANTERBURY WASTE LANDS BILL.

The motion for the second reading was carried ; and the Bill was ordered to be committed next day.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL BILL.

On the Council going into committee- on this bill, it was moved that the Chairman should leave the chair. The Committee divided, when there were for the motion 17 ; against it, 38. The motion was therefore lost. Mr Stafford said that the Government had not had sufficient time to consider the bill before the committee, He had voted for the first and second-readings in order that the bill should be properly considered, and a proper conclusion arrived at. For his own part, he was in favor of an elective instead of a nominative Chamber. (Hear, -hear.) p?Mr Crosbie Ward rose to speak . on the measure befor ethe House. They were not going to make any great constitutional change (Oh ! oh !), they were merely going to place the Legislative Council in the position it occupied until a very recent period. He wished hon. members to reflect that what was sought for was not any great change in the Constitution ; but the propositions that had been brought forward since the bill had been submitted to the House were

evidently calculated to effect a very great constitutional change indeed. Reference had been made to the Upper House of Victoria; and the fact of that Chamber

being an elective body was advanced as an argument why the Legislative Council of NeWrZealand should be elective instead of nominative. Bnt where, he would ask, was the argument in support of such a statement ? "Had they always theisest men in the Upper ' House of Victoria? Was it not known that a worship of wealth had often returned the very worst men to • that Chamber ? Was if; not notorious, too, that adventurers, play actors, he would say, had been returned to that House by misguided elec- . tors. Such a system would certainly be v injurious to New Zealand. The time had not arrived when any change in the Legislative Council of New Zealand should be . considered." He hoped the Committee would consent to consider the proposal submitted to them as a very simple one, -and not as one involving any constitutional change in the government of the country. If the Legislative Council were obnoxious to those hon. members who raised the cry of democracy, he would advise .them to leave the House of Representatives, and use their influence to obtain seats in the. Upper Chamber of the Legislature.

Mr J. C. Richmond, in reply to some of the remarks by Mr Ward, said that the Upper Chamber was growing weak, and had a tendency, to grow weaker. He (Mr Richmond) was more disposed to support the Bill as it originally stood, than as amended. ,

Mr Hall said that on this occasion the Government was not called upon to express a similar opinion and to give a like vote, because, before the Government was formed, they had expressed opinions differing from each other. He was disposed fp vote both for the Bill as it originally stood, aud with the amendment proposed. If it could be shown that an elective Chamber would be % the better of the two,U would- then be premature to pass the prsent Bill in committee. They had a nominated Chamber, and it had worked well, he thought, since first it was constituted. He would vote for the Bill," and was prepared to acoept the amendments that had been proposed to it. Mr Joseph Newman thought that the wisest course to pursue would be to let the Legislative Council remain as it was. Mr Whitaker remarked that Mr New-

man had said no evils existed, .and, therefore, it was better to let well enough alone.' ' But there were evils existing, and it was time that they should be remedied. At the present time no inducement was held out to men of standing in the country to take seats in the Upper House, because that Chamber" did not take that independent attitude it should certainly assume.

He considered that a limitation was neees- > sary, and he would therefore support the , Bill.

Mr Stafford reiterated his opinion that the Legislative Council of New Zealand ■bouldbe changed from a nominative to an elective body. If the Bill were passed in its present shape, he certainly would not advise his Excellency to assent to it. (Cheers.) Sir David Monro observed that as the House of .Representatives consisted of seventy members, the Legislative Council should be composed of thirty-five. Mr Burns moved an amendment to the Bill bejng considered, as follows : — " That in the opinion of this committee it is inexpedient to entertain any proposition, with reßpect to the constitution of the Legislative Council, which does not provide for the said Council being elective, and that with this view, a respectful address be transmitted to his Excellency the Governor, in.order that he may be pleased, during the recess, to have a measure framed accordingly." The Chairman ruled that the amendxnend could not be put. Mr Burns then moved that the Chair- ' man should,report progress. * The motion for reporting progress was put r and lost on a division. • ->• Ayes, 23 ; noes, 26. Mr Reynolds said that it* was clear the ' Bill would be rejected if,, it should go to a vote, and would, therefore, move that the Chairman report progress. .Mr Ward enquired whether the hon. ' member meant that the Chairman should report " progress, with leave to sit again next day, or whether he meant that progress should be reported with a view to topping the Bill altogether ? « Mr Reynolds replied that.it was his desire that the Bill should be stopped. • Mr Bunny suggested that the words, _ " with leave to sit again, 1 ' should be added tq Mr Reynold's amendment. He did not wirt>tob»rke my disewsjou on x the sub. jnl}b& fee $ipf W ti )n iwtawtyMl tlizi

he would use his best endeavors to have the bill thrown out. . „ The • amendment was withdrawn, and Mr Vogel's amendment to Clause 2 of the Bill was put as follows : — " Except as is hereafter provided the number of members • of the Legislative Council shall not exceed ; such number as from time to time is in the 1 proportion oi" one to two members of the i House of Representatives." I The committee divided on the question being put for the insertion of the above as' I Clause 2. Ayes, 19 ; noes, 24. The Chairman reported progress, and t\e Bill was therefore thrown out. 1 Wednespay, August 29. The following Bills were brought in and read a first time : — A Bill to' consolidate and amend the Goldfield's Acts ; a Bill to impose a duty on bonded warehouses. COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY. On the question that the House go into Committee of Supply, Mr Macandrew said that he had. thought it would be better to have gone first into Committee of Ways and Means, to see what there was at the disposal of the country. ' It had been said that at present no- suras would be voted but those absolutely necessary ; but it might be said that all were necessary. For his part he would not be a party to any further taxation ; he believed tb#t a good deal might be saved on. the Estimates in departments. He himself was prepared to strike off at one fell swoop the Defence- and Native Estimates, and reduce the miscellaneous items by L 15,000. By these means he believed L 350,000 might be reserved for the prosecution of public works in the provinces, and he trusted that he would be' supported.' The Hon. TV. Fitzherbert said that he was glad to see that the hon. member was prepared to assist the Government in a course of" retrenchment, but he might say that it would be absolutely impossible to make the saving mentioned. The Government was prepared to listen to any obj^fetions that might be made to the Estimates of the present Government, but believed that no material reduction could be made in them. The House then went- into. Committee of Supply, and passed the votes under the head of 'Customs, amounting to L 46,320 2g, without alteration. While the Estimates under the head of Justice were being cqnsidered, various reductions w6re proposed -on the item Resident Magistrate's Court, but the vote was ultimately agreed to with a reduction of L 225 in the province of Picton,. Thursday, August 30. marine board act. # Mr Burns asked the Postmaster-General what steps had been taken to give effect to the Marine Board Act. The Hon. Mr Hall replied that the greater part of the stepi that bad been taken to give effect to the Marine Board Act of last session had been taken by the late arid not by the present Government. It was found impossible — certainly it was not wise— to bring that Act into effect until some provision should be made for discharging the duties jthat had hitherto been discharged by the Marine Board. Arrangements had now been completed ; Mr Balfour was engaged as Marine Engineering Superintendent for the colony, and was now installed in office^ THE PANAMA SERVICE. Mr Baldwin asked the hon. the .Post-master-General whether the Government had made any arrangement with the Government of the United States with reference to the transmission of letters and newspapers from the United States to this colony by way of Panama. •* The Hon. Mr Hall replied tha* satisfactory arrangements had been made with the British Post-office. EXEMPTION FROM SERVING ON JURIES. Mr Cargill moved — " That in the opinion of this House all volunteers holding a certificate of efficiency be exempted from service on juries, and that a Bill be introduced to amend to that extent the Volunteer Act, 1865.'' Hon. members, would recollect that up to the passing of • the Act last session volunteers were exempted from serving on juries. When the Act was brought forward, it was urged that if volunteers were exempted from service the Mat of jurymen that would be obtainable would be reduced to such a limit that- in point of fact a jury could not be found. It was then asserted, too, that the volunteers were the men best suited for juries, but he (Mr Cargill) contended that they were not. (Laughter.) He hoped therefore the House would consent to the resolution he had the honor of moving. The Hon. Mr Hall regretted that the hon. member had bo disparaged the volunteer body. He did not' think that the volunteers, as a body, would ask for the privileges sought for by the hon. member. H# (Mr Hall) was second to no one in showing his appreciation of the services rendered by voluuteers, who were deserving of every encouragement; but he thought that Mr Cargill should not have ■ said that they were unsuited .to serve on juries, and trusted that the hon. member would not press-his motion. Mr Moorhouse said he had listend with 1 great gratification to the speech of the '• hou. member who had just sat down. He ' did not think that Mr Hall was fully aware • of the duties that had to be performed by i volunteers. He (Mr Mocrhouse) had not • the honor of belonging to the volunteer body, but he would say that some induce- ■ ment or privilege should be given to members of volunteer companies, to repay them • for the sacrifice 'they made for the safety of the country. Their duties were ceV3 tainly of a more irksome nature than those of the hon. the Postmaster-General, who, like all other legislators, was working for c his existence. (Laughter.) a After a long discussion, v the motion was c put and carried. « The Bill was brought in, » read a first i. time, ordered to be prmted, and made an d order of the day for Tuesday next. n I- . TUB GOLDFIELDS. o The Hon. Major Richardson brought up the report of the committee appointed to i'- consider the Acts relating to the Goldfields. - s, The resolution of the committee recoind mended that the administration of the laws )t relating to the Goldfields should remain in 3- fche hands of the Grmqnl Government at

Friday, August\ 31, new lighthouses.

Mr Bnrns asked the Hon. the Postmas-ter-General — " If it is proposeel .to place a sum on the Estimates for the erection of si lighthouse on Cape Sauriders, or- the Nuggets ; and also for the erection of another* lighthouse on Cape Farewell Spit." He said that the machinery and lanterns for a lighthouse haft teen purchased in Ota»;o, but there were not sufficient funds to set it up. He hoped that the Government would erect lighthouses both on the Nuggets and on Cape Farewell Spit. The Hon. J. Hall said that the Government would erect them as soon as it could afford it, and was of opinion that a lighthouse would , be better on 'the Nuggeta than on Cape Saunders.

POSTAL SERVICE.

The report of the committee on the Postal Service was brought up. It called attention to the cost of the existing services as being out of proportion to the revenue, but stated that tile committee had not been successful in seeing any way to reduce the expenses. There were at present subsidies to the Panama and Sues lines, and two intercolonial services and one provincial. The revenue might how^ ever be increased* by perhaps L 15,000 by altering the postage on letters and newspapers. The report also referred tq dther matters, but the above were the most prominent.

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY.

The item of L 3250, General Post-office, was agreed to with a reduction of L 75. Conveyance of mails by sea, L 65,300, passed without reduction. The item Telegraph Department, L 21,980 4s, was agreed to, as were also the Votes for the Marine Engineer's Department and the following Provincial charges : — Auckland, L 7248 15s ; Taranaki, L 929 15s ; Wellington, L 4791 ; Hawke's Bay, L 179 4; Nelson, L 2484; Marlborough, L 201 9; Canterbury, L 19,568.

Mv Dillon Bell asked^what would he the position of the Government with regard to the Defence estimates on one regiment being left in the colony free of cost, as appeared by the despatch circulated that day. On reading the despatch he found that the condition on which the regiment was to be retained was, that L 50,000 was to be spent for Native purposes. The Hon. E. W. Stafford said that not a shilling more would be spent than necessary.'

Mr Dillon Bell asked whether the regiment would be retained.

The Hon. E. W. Stafford said that he believed that it would be, but he could not gay anything exactly at present, and should have preferred that notice should have been given.

The Chairman then reported, and obtained leave to sit again on Tuesday. ' The House adjourned till Monday last.