HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2825, 21 August 1890, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

i TUKSDAY. The House met at 2.150 p.in. 1 Mr Mitchelson roje to msiko a Mmis- ■* terial statement with respect to the order of i business fur the remainder of the session. * He suW the House was no doubt aware that < an arrangement had been arrived at be--3 tween the Government and the leader of 1 the Opposition on this subject, It had been arranged that the new Parliament was to meet on the !lth April next, and in the event <;f Parliament being called together earlier, the. Public Revenues Act, as far as this year's appropriations were concerned, l would cease to have any application after •- the 31st .March, 18'Jl. As to the Kstimates, e the Opposition would have a light, of :i course, to eriticiso them, but an undere standing had been arrived at that tl.ey e should curtail their speeches. It had also - been urged that the federation proposals - should be proceeded with before the House 1 prorogued, and arrangements had been li made for the passage of certain Kills. lie y hoped the arrangements made would tend s to facilitate the course of business for tho 0 rest of the session. [1 Mr Ballance said if the House admitted that it was desirable the session should close 1 as speedily as possible, some arrangement t of the kind referred to by Mr Mitchelson was necessary. The lion, gentleman had ii just informed the House —not, however, - us fully as lie had expected—of the arrangei ments that hud been concluded between i- Mr Bryco and himself (Mr Ballaneo). Mr (i Mitchelson hud stated that the Government had all along intended to ask for / Supplies to the 31st M'uch, but that- was e the first time he (Mr Ballance) had heard > of it. ITis impression was that the <ios vernmont hud contended for full Supplies, e As to Mr Mitchelson's statement that the * Opposition would bo at liberty to criticise e the Intimates he wished to state that they s never for a moment contemplated that they e should not have that liberty, but the only s stipulation was that the members should [ curtail their speeches. He thought the r House would admit that it was desirable t the federation resolutions should be proe ceeded with this session. As to the Labour - Bills he hoped the whole of those measures i would bo passed before the House rose. b He wished to remind the House that als though the arrangement Referred to had 1 been made, it in no way deprived members e of their rights, and there was nothing imj constitutional in what had been done. i A discussion lasting over two hours s followed, and a large number of members r expressed their opinions on the arrangement that had been come to. Replying to Mr Kish, Captain kussell stated that the Government would, during the consider fully the question of r establishing a I'olicQ Superannuation Fund. * Sir John llall introduced a Kill to confer J the electoral franchise on women.

The 1 louse rose at 0.00. The I louse resumed at 7.30. (In the motion for going into Coinmitteo of Supply, Mr Izard moved, as an amendment, '■That in the opinion of this House it is undesirable that Sir .Julius Vogel should be precluded from proceeding with his petition of rights, on the ground that his petition was not tiled within twelve months after his claim or demand arose, or on the ground of any statute of limitations." Alter a short discussion, the amendment was lost on the voices.

The House went into Committee of Supply for the consideration of the Estimates.

Minister of Education (head ottice), £207">, passed.

Putlic Schools, £841,211. The vote passed without alteration. Native Schools, £15,11)0. Mi-(! oldie moved to reduce the vote by £3,700, as un indication that the capitation vote should be reduced to £1 "is, or lO.s more than that paid in respect of European schools. Mr llislop asked Mr (ioldie to withdraw his amendment. He should then agree to a reduction of £700 from the vote as an indication that a change ot transferring native schools to Education Boards should be gradually made. Mr (loldie agreed to this, and the vote as reduced by £700 was carried. Industrial schools, £10,100. Several attempts to reduce this vole were unsuccessful, and the vote passed without alteration. School for deaf mutes, £2,112i>. All attempt to reduce this vote resulted in failure, and it passed intact. l'ublic Libraries £1000. The only item in the vote (grant towards the Working Men's College and Technical Institute at Dunedin) £1000 was reduced to £050. , r , Mr Fish characterised the action of the House in reducing this vote as one of the narrowest exhibitions of provincial jealousy he had ever seen. Nothing had dictated it but jealousy of Dnnedin and her march in intellect and trade as against the supineas of other parts of the colony. Lunacy and Chntable Aid Department, £38.607. A motion to reduce this vote was also lost, whereupon Mr Fish remarked that the retrenchment battle of the Opposition had burst through the inconsistency of a certain section of members. The vote was then passed intact. Other charges, £1,30-1. Agreed to. Rotorua Sanatorium, £1,8-13. Agreed to. Progress was reported, and the House rose at 2.30 a.m. WEDNESDAY. The House met at 2.30 p.m. Leave of absence for the remainder of the session was granted to Mr J ones on account of ill health. In reply to Mr Brown, Mr Russell said he had given notice of a Bill to facilitate the holding of the general elections speedily, and they would be held as early as it was possible to do so. Mr Hislop desired to make a statement as to the intention of the Government in respect to the charges made against them by the member for Waitotara. He said he had informed the House sometime ago that ho whould s-tate what their intentions .vero as soon as tho Government had decided what course they should take. The Government had given the matter full consideration, and had now come to a decision. Tho House would lecolleet the nature of those charges, which were both of a public character and also of a personal nature. As to the charges against, the Government respecting the public accounts, he asked permission to lay oil the table a memo, from the Colonial Treasurer, dealing fullv with the state of the Public Account, since the present Government took office, and quoting the daily average kept at the bank, etc., during that period, and going fully into the whole question. The Government had also considered the personal aspect of the question, and the result was that the Attorney-General (Sir F. Whitaker) would bring an action in the Supreme Court, so as to give Air Hutchison opportunities of proving the charges he had made against him. Mr Ballance did not know how far Parliamentary privileges were effected by the statement made by the Government. I f a member were to be made amenable to a court of law for speeches he made in the Houso it might prove a very dangerous precedent. Ho now asked whether the Covurnuient intended taking any further actum in this matter in the House. Mr Hislop said nothing further than what might arise from tho report of the Printing and Debates Committee. Mr Ballance, continuing, said several speeches had been made on this subject by members on the other side of the House, and he contended Mr Hutchison should have the right to answer these speeches. In reply to Mr Taylor, the Speaker .said the House, ill his opinion, was strong enough to protect itself against any infringement of its privilege if any had taken , 1 Mr Hutchison said he had heard Air Ilis- , lop's statement with some satisfaction, as the Government had apparently decided ' that the public charges should be fought out in the House, and he thought properly so. He was perfectly ready to meet those charges, but had not yet had the opportunity of doing so. The three courses referred to by Mr Hislop had at last beeu explained. Tliu first course was a voyage of di-covery to the printing-ollice; the second was a volume of statistics, which were now laid on the table, and tin: third was an action in the Supreme Court. He was not at all disconcerted at those courses, nor was he dismayed at the prospect of an action in the Supremo Court. He had never sought to set up a. question of privilege, except in so far as it was proper that the dignity of the House should be maintained. Mr llislop said, as to the question as fc who would pay Sir Frederick's legal expenses, tho action would be simply as man against man, namely, Whitaker against Hutchison, and tho Government would take no advantage of their position over the action in any way. The action would have been laid independently of any action that may be taken by the Reporting and Debates Committee. The Treasurer's memo, was then allowed to lie on the table. Mr Fergus moved the second reading oi the Coal Mines Act Amendment Bill, U amend tho Coal Mines Act, 1880. Tlif Bill provided that mine managers shall pass an examination before obtaining f certificate of efficiency.

The motion was agreed to. Mr Hislop moved the second rsnding of the Electoral Acts Amendment Bill, and explained that it provided for written nominations at elections for the House of Representatives in the same way as in local bodies, and also doalt with seamen's franchise. The motion was agreed to, and House rose at 0.00 p.m. The House resumed at 7.30 p.m. In committee on the Kmployers Liability Act Amendment Bill, which passed without amendments. New clauses were inserted, providing that illegitimacy of a workman should not be a bar to compensa tion oil behalf of his father or mother ; that a workman might obtain satisfaction for injury even though he had been aware of the danger of tho machinery with which ho had been working; that a workman shall not be entitled to any compensation against an employer for injury in cases where the employer was ignorant of the defect which caused the injury : that representatives of a deceased employer may be sued for injuries received. The Shipping and Seameus Act Amendment Bill was committed, and tho Bill passed with verbal amendments. A new clause was added to the effect that an injured or sick seaman may require the owner, master or agent of the ship in which he is employed to provide him with a free passage to a port in Kew Zealand where he would be entitled to be discharged, and if such passage is provided the seaman shall, on his arrival at that port, bo deemed to be discharged from the ship. . The Educational Reserves Leasing Hill was committed and passed with slight amendments. The Tod mail Land Grant Bill was committed and passed without amendment. The Sheep Bill, as amended by the Joint Livestock Committee, was committed. The principal amendments made by the Stock Committee were that all sheep should be wool branded forthwith after shearing, and prohibiting use of any other instrument than a punch in earmarking. Clause ll> providing for crossbred or long-wool sheep to b-i dip|»ed once a year was struck out. Clause 7-'. Offences' prosecuted summarily. Mr Marchant protested against the power to imprison without option of a fine for offences under this Bill being placed in tho hands of two J.P's., and lie moved that the words K.M.' be inserted instead of "two Justices.

Lost by 38 to 15. Mi- Marchant tliun uppt'.uled to the nl»iiator "f Lands t.» recast the clause, in order tlisiL the more serious offences may bo dealt with by the K.M., and the lighter ones by .1 ' Mr Richardson said if the llill came back from the legislative Council, amended 111 that way he should ask the House to accept such amendment. (Left sitting,)