PARLIAMENT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2817, 2 August 1890, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCILFRIDAY. Tin; Council met at 2.30 |>. in. The public petitimis coinmitteo recommended that the potitiori (if the fruition holders of tlio Taranaki Hai'hiiiir Board debentures, he referred to the dovernment for consideration. Tlie follnwiiii: hills were read for the first time, Doff Registration Amendment Bill, Hinployinent of Females and Others Act Amendment Rill: Borough of Brimnertun Knabling Kill.Jand Auckhind Hospital Reserves Hill. At 2.10 p.m. the Council adjourned. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. THURSDAY. The Ifoiiso met at 2.M p.m. Air Withy brought up an interim ro |wrt of the Hutchison Charges Committee. It was to the following etfaet :-" Your Committee has the honour to report that a difficulty has aiisen in the conduct of i's enquiry, resulting from the refusal of the Rank of X.sw Zealand to produce a certain portion of the hooks and documents requisitioned fur. This portion contains the private accounts of certain members of the. Ministry.'' Appended to the report is the correspondence between the chaii mini and committee and president of (lie Kink ofNew Zealand, on the subject. The report was ortlered to lie on the table. j Mr Withy then moved that the report ! be taken into consideration to-morrow at j half-past two, and that Permission lie given to the Bank of Xew Zealand to be Hist heard by counsel at the liar of the House. j In reply to Sir J. Hall, | The Speaker said that counsel would bo i heard before the. report was considered. j The motion was uptrend to. ! Mr Reeves (fnanpf.ihiia) moved, " That , in the oninion of this House, the conduct of the Riilwiy C 'inuiissiuners n m-ilriti;; a charge for the transmission of single newspipers is vexations, and injurious to the best, interests of the colony." The debate was interrupted by the o :!0 adjournment. The House resinned at 7-110. Mr Samuel moved the sec mil reading o c the n iinqiieiiui.il Parliaments Kill, to repeal the Triennial Parliament Kill, -and to provide for the duration of future Parliaments to rive veais. He said the Ttion-ni-il Parliaments Kill had had a good trial, and he thought he would admit it had been ' a failure. He also asserted that under the \ present system the power of ni'tuVrs was ' entirely neutralisiti during the titst two ' sessions, ami there was great power for evil [ in the third s.-ssion, owing to the fear of ' offending constituents. That state of things would lie remedied if Parliament wciu ' made to exist for live years instead of three, ' as at present. It would also be to the ail- .' vhiiUku of a poor man. who would he better '. able to stand the. cost of an election every ' five years than under tlie trieimi ti system. ' Mr Tanner supported the Kill on the.-eore ! of economy, and rem-ii kod if the expense of H2.i,000 were to be incurred every three J years it would be a serious question. f Captain Ru-seN oppo-ed the Kill as a Minister, but if he weie a private member he freely c 'iifossed he should support it. , He pointed out, however, that the people had decided previously that the qninquennial system should be abolished, and he " thought that before any change was mule the electors should have another opportii- V nity of eonsidering it. ' l Air liodgl;inson considered it would be . belter to lessen than to increase the term, and he should also oppose the measure. f " Mr Krnce.said the measure had his most g sincere sympathy. Triennial elections kept j' constituencies in a state of political unrest, :, which was undesirable, and he ventmed to assert that a general election cost directly !ind indirectly.t'loo,ooo.

Sir (Jeo. (!rey hart always been a sup I porter of the triennial system, and ho fel | confident in his mind the House would no ■ assent to the present Hill. | Mr llceves (Inangahua) ul<o opposed tin | Bill. Mr Ward moved the adjournment of tin dobate, but, after some discussion, ho with drew liis motion. Mr S.mnders spoke ip support of tin Bill. The motion for the second reading wai lost by 45 to 18. The House went into committee on the Auctioneers' Bill. After a very lengthy discussion progres.' was reported. The lions-i went into committee r>n the Employment of Females and Others Act Amendment Bill, which was reported without amendment. Tho House rose at 1 a. in. FItIDAA . Tiie House met at 2.30' p.m. Messrs Bell and Stafford were ushered into the chamber by the Serjeant-at-Arms, and the former addressed the House at Croat length on behalf of the Bulk of New Zealand in reference to the production of the B ink's books and the chaiges of the member for Waitotara. He said he appeared, with Mr Stafford as Counsel, on behalf of the Bank of Xew Zoaland to answer to the report of the committee appointed fo inquire into the charges ol t he member for Waitotara, with regard to the delay in the production of certain records of the bank, which that committee had required the bank to produce before it, referring at tho outset to the summons, he said it required the bank to produce its books (ontaining the original and all other entries, balances, etc., of three members of 1.110 present (iovernment, who were named. \u question was raised by the bank, either Jirectly or indirectly, as to the right of the lommittee to call for such a document, but with regard to the private accounts of the xmk, the bank had been advised tlint having ■egard to the pledge of secrecy, which its >ihcers h;t"o taken, and having regard to lie duty which the law imposes upon it not o divulge the confidcnceof its clients unless >y the proper authority, it ought not to Jroduee tho records containing the privato iccnunts. ' Counsel then quoted aulhoriies to show that such a demand as this vould not be made by an order of a judt'e, vere the muster befure ;v court of a civil

judicature, and ho submitted thiit Parlininent, following the rule In id down for tilt guidance of Court, would not go bcyonr; bounds which the judges li:id set as tin limit of their mvn jurisdiction. At the conclusion of the address Messrs Bell anil Stafford retired from the ehambei ro and .Mr Withy, chairman of the, Hutchison le Committee, moved on behalf of the cools' loittee the following resolution :—" That t.) Mr John Murray and Mr Mellaril Rotloi w Kigg do attend before the select commitpk tee on the accusations of the member foi ill Wattitara and tiring with tlieui all of tlmii i- bulking books or documents which the said iif committee has already ordered to be it produce] or may hereafter require.' is He explained that the motion was hi a formal one. for if the committee is reduced its demand at al', Mr Hutchis m is might have reas mto say that they cut off d his chances of making good his case. s- liesides, if they did so they might, when ts the enquiry had advanced to a certain •e stage, Hod it impossible to complete the d investigations for want of book-, and so he I. unable to report this session. The comit mittee would bow to the decision of the d House, which must, however, share with n the committee the responsibility for whatr ever action was decided up'in. '« Mr McAi'thnr moved to add to tho tno- )- tion, provided that the IJank shall only he is compelled to disclose, hooks, accounts, and u other papirs, and information of a private 11 nature, on the committee leporting to the n House, that as alleged in the speech of the i- member for Waitotata, the public funds e have been improperly used, and raised by e Ministers to the advantage of the Ji.uik of s New Zealand, and to the dettiment of the o colony. No business man would say that t the charges against the Cnveriiinent went f further than that ot administering public 0 funds wrongly, and if that were shown it i would be time enough to try and prme the e existence of the relations'of debtor ond 1 creditor, between tho hank and Alinisters, v and to enquire as to whether the dealing a with the public funds resulted from any- ) thing'further than ignorance or c.irelessr n.?ss. i Mr ijallance said the cuimtiittce assumed ) from the Hist that the evidence required by I Mr Hutchison should be placed before ) them, and it did so without dissent. Me f was much surprised to hear Mr McAtthur cisting reflection on the committee, as it it had pnrp xely delayed the prnciednms, and f if thens had been anv delay at all it was ■ owing to the desire of the committee to in t vestigate the whole question thoroughly > and to alford the fullest j'l.stice. The who]'- • substance of Mr Hell's s j, : li seemed to be '. that what the bank had leally objected u, i was that the accounts of persons 'who had i no interest at all In the ease should lie produced before the coinniitte. He contended the House could just as well decide as the, committee whether the public ace units of Hie colony hail been properly adinini-teivtl The only question for the committee to consider was the private accounts of the Ministers, but the committee weie now asked to abrogate that function by the amendment before the Hou,e. Mr l.ryce considered tint Mr IJillance had strayed from the real point at issue. Ho had argued that because a iMmister had over-drawn hn ace nut he was therefoie to be subject to accusation, but he (Mr Bryce) ventniedto assett that such a stiteuicnt would iiittind favour .uiywle'ie, except m the Hon. gentleman's mind. The committee had now sat for l-hiee w.eks anil they had not vet had the Hansard roport of the speech in winch Mr Hutchison made his charge--, before them. There was no cause whatever for the delay, and he submitted, therefore, that Mr McArthnr's amendment was the only way now for the committee to pursue the enquiry. Mr Sc ld"n repeated the charge that un-tieces-ary delay had occurred. Alluding to Mr Hell's address |,e, said that when Mr liell was before the committee he seemed to b:: appearing more on behalf of the Ministers than the I'.iuk. Mr Hislop: That's not true. The Speaker slid that impression inns'. be withdrawn, and Mr Hislop at once complied with the request. Mr Seddon then charged the Minister of Kdueation with liming been disiesp"ctfui to the chairman of the committee during that day's proceedings. Mr Hislop again stated tho remark wis untrue; upon which tin Speaker agiin insisted on the. withdrawal of the remarks. Mr Seddon (continuing) said he did not see why the Ministers should not consent to their accounts being produced before the ceiiiiu ; ttee, as the present ci-e was one in which there should he no delicacy. The II .use rose at o.,'i(j p.m. The House resumed at ~.00 p.m. Mr Downev Stewart resumed the debit' on Mr Withy's motion. He submitted it was the duty of the committee to elicit from Mr Hutchinson the evidence on whi :h he made his charges against the (Jovernment. He asked would the member for Wauganui, or any other member mi a general charge that he had been guilty of maladministration of the colony, submit to have his private alfiirs investigated before a committee until there was some proof of the. charges made. With respect to Mr Hell's sp-eeh he thought he had established the bank's case completely. Mr IVrciviil regarded the whole preceding connected with this committee as a succession of blunders, and now they were asked 11 commit another blunder by voting for Mr Macarthnr's iMiiendmenf. Sir John Hall considered thucleiily the committee should first determin- whether any cise had been made out by Mr I lutein- i son before the evidence asked for should be I produced. There was never a statement J more devoid of foundation than that .Ministers were trying to burke this enquiry. Mr Hutchison said he wished omphalic- , ally to deny the statement that he had ob- , strutted the proceedings of the committee. , He hail formulated his charge three weeks • ago and had not been allowed to approach '. the c iir.itiitlee's door since. The amend- :■• ment proposed by Mr Mac Arthur was moved in committee that day and negatived by the casting vote of the chairman on the ground that it was most improper at the present stage. The (Jovernment there- '| fore were now about to contest a motion ;| brought up by their own c nniuittee and ~ wmild use their majority to make it a | ; thorough party question. Had he had an h opportunity he should have stated to the a committee that the Oovernment had as- n sisted the Mink of Xew /-.aland in many t ways and tint the AUorney-tlenKral—the l, pie-i lent of the Unite and chairman of ( Directors -hid been under heavy obli A -a- | tions to the Bank. He could also have t 1 shown that the I'reoiier was under a heavy | guarantee to the bank for another person, t, and that the Xative Minister was uuler j, heavy obligations to the Kink, and even e if they had since been discharged he b could [/rove they had previous'y existed, fj (Left sitting.) h, . SS w