PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 31, 31 July 1902, Page 15

PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

On Tuesday evening the House went into Committee of Supply for consideration of the Estimates. Th 6 first item was a sum of £1879 for the Legislative Council and this gave an opportunity to members to speak on a variety of subjects, that to the ordinary mind seemed to have no connection whatever with the matter, such as land settlement in the North Island, Government debentures, centralisation of education, the purchase of Maori antiquities, the Royal visit expenses, and the volunteer force. The discussion lasted until 2 a m. on Wednesday when the vote was passed on the voioes. The House was in an unamiable mood on Wednesday when it threw out nearly every bill that wad introduced. The measures that met with this sad fate were School Attendance Bill, School Inspectors Bill, and the Wellington Harbor Board Bill. Immediately after the House meeting on Thursday afternoon Sir J. G. Ward announced that the Governor had received official intimation that the Coronation would take place on August 9, and he proposed to adjourn Parliament from the previous Thursday night till the afternoon of the following Tuesday. It was intended to have one public holiday throughout the Colony — namely, on Saturday, August 9. A request had been made to have the holiday on Monday inst«ad of Saturday. The Government had fully considered the request, and had come to the conclusion that it was not desirable to change the date. The whole of the demonstrations would take place on the Saturday. If perseverance would win success Mr Vaile, of Auckland, should long ago have secured a trial for his proposed stage system on the Government Railway?. This system. I believe, has been adopted in some Continental country, notably Switzerland, with considerable success, but it is advanced by those opposed to its introduction here that our population is too sparse to secure similar results. There have been few sessions, if any, in which Mr Vaile has not been heard of in connection with this scheme, and the Railways Committee on Thursday afternoon recommended the Government to consider the matter. Sir J. G. Ward said he recognised Mr Vaile's whole-souled interest in the system he had advocated for so many years, and he (Sir J. G. Ward) had repeatedly stated he would like to see it given a trial on the New Zealand railways. But the difficulty was to face the enormously increased expenditure that would be necessitated to provide fresh railway stock to cope with the enormously increased traffic that must take place under Mr Vaile's stage system. On the 3rd October. 1900, the Government made a reasonable offer to give the system a trial on the Auckland section for 12 months, the stipulation being that a guarantee must be given against lo?s that was certain to occur, seeing that there would be an enormous reduction in rates under the system. The Government contended it was only fair and just to the rest of the Colony that the people who would obtain the benefits of this reduction should be required to recoup part of the loss at any rate. The Government were still prepared to give effect to the terms of that offer. If the Houee was prepared to authorise the Minister of Railways to make up the loss out of the consolidated revenue he would act on that authority, but members muat take the responsibility for the reduction that would have to be made in other voteß. When the Christchurch Tramways Bill was under discussion, Sir J. G. Ward gave it as his opinion that the tramways in the principal cities ought to be under the control of the State. There were

two strong arguments in support of this proposal. The nationalisaSSSfJS? J ramwa yy 88 K W °S d en *rely annihilate the rating K £, and the State would be able to obtain money at a lower rate of interest than municipalities. Municipal bodies were rijhto deserving of consideration, and the State could set apart 20 per cent of The 'net earnings of tramways to reimburse municipalities for the use of the streets through which the trams would pass F ri f^ B rr z: '^nw B JL'r « P V°