The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, JULY 13, 1885. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2040, 13 July 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, JULY 13, 1885. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

The Legislative Counjil has rejected the proposal of the Government for a reform in , its constitution, and appointed a Committee to report oii the present " constitution, powers and pro. cedure," The present Government i s evidently not in the favor of the large' majority of the honorable members of the Council, despite the wholesale appointments it has made, for, to set aside the measure after only a short discussion, and then to appoint such a Committee of its own motion, looks very much like a severe snub. The Committee, which was appointed by ballot, consist of nine memhers, and here again the disfavor in which the Government 'stands was plainly exhibited, because out of the nine of which it consists, seven belong to the Opposition, Whatever may be the nature of ,the report that will be brought up, it isnotatall likely to prove acceptable to the Government, and the time of the Committee will therefore simply have been wasted, unless, indeed, the workdoneshould happen to prove useful on some future occasion, However desirable a reform of the Council may be, the reasons which have been advanced by the Colonial Secretary in its favor are of the flimsiest kind, There have been very few collisions between the two Chambers of the Legislature, and there has never been what might be termed a deadlock. In Victoria, on the other hand, where the Upper House is elective, there have been deadlocks which lasted from one session to another; so that it would appear that the definition of the powers of the two branches is not likely to lead to better working between them. It is in the very nature of things that the one should not be in a position to carry its proposals in the face of the other, otherwise the very object ot having the two would lie defeated. Judging by the past, no harm could result if the question of reform were to he left till the political atmosphere looks a little dearer than it has done during the past two or three years.

The returns showing the number of messages sent, and the receipts therefrom at all the telegraph stations in the colony for the year of 1884, are published in the volume of Statistics which has just reached us, and we extract from it the details concerning offices which interest the district. The number of private and press telegrams sent from Masierton was 9788, and their value £617 17s lid. The value of Government messages at the same rate was £Bl 19b sd, the totnlvalne therefore being £699 17s 4d. The cost of maintaining the station was £•108 17s 10, Carterton dispatched 329? (jinary messages worth £lB5 4s 4d] and Government messages valued at £l9 9s lid, making a total of L2u4 14s 3d. The cost of maintaining the station was Lllo 8s lOd. At Cashpoint there were, ordinary messages 1251, worth L 79 12s sd; Government messages worth L 66 16s 8d; total L 146 9s Id; cost ot maintenance, LB9 0s sd. Featherston forwarded 2900 ordinary messages, worth L1606s and Government messages worth L 39 13 Id, the total valnobeingLl99l9s la. Tlieexpenses of the station were LlOl 0s 6d. From Gladstone there were forwarded 760 ordinary messages, returning L2519s sd, and Government messages, 18s Bd, The total value was L 26 28s Id, and the cost LI3 12s 1 Id. For Greytown the figures stood 2780 messages, Ll7O 19s lOd, Government messages LIB 4s 8d: total value, LI 89 4s 6d; cost, Ll4O 16s 6d, Maryborough stands as follows: Ordinary messages 935, worth L 55 13s 8(1; Government, worth L 8 2s 2d: total, L 63 15s lOd; oost of maintenance, LI 2 lis 6d. From the Taueni 440 ordinary telegrams were forwarded, the receipts being represented by L 26 17s 2d, Government messages were worth only the small amount of 9s 7d, The total value was L 27 6s 9d, and the cost L 5 9s. Tinui sent 1853 messages, for which Lllo 2s 9d was paid. Government was represented by LI 47s 4d. The total value was L 129 10s lid, and the cost of maintenance L 79 2s 7s. It will be seen that all the stations in the district more than paid their way, It is worth adding that the number of ordinary imsiigeß from Wellington was 226,374, worth L 6151 10s Id. Government messages wero worth L 5841 3s 6d, the total being £11,992 13s 7d, and the cost oftnainißinance L8934,755d. Curiously enough, Christchurch, Auckland, and Dunediti each Konfc a smaller number of messages than Wellington, but paid, more'for tlifin. Tho cost of umintainance there was also smaller, but this is, of course, accounted for by the fact that they are not such extensive transmitting stations; Blenheim, which is the chief transmitting station in the colony, can only show a revenue of Lll9B, 4s sd, while the cost of maintainance was no less than L 3089 6s lid.