PARLIAMENTARY

Auckland Star, Volume IX, Issue 2605, 23 August 1878, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY

FROM O UR SPECIAL REPORTER.

{BY STAR SPECIAL WIRE). ,

! WELLINGTON, this day. X THE HOUSE IN GOOD HUMOUR ; The House appeared to be in . excellent <|. humour when it met this afternoon.-; It '•' was noticed that the "wire net work, which < had been stretched across the Chamber on ,;, a level with the floor of the galleries had beeu removed, and the hearing' .was con- £ siderably improved. . Dr. HodgMnsoii ws giving notice of motion, when Mr -Barff, who sits two seats behind, called out I |' cannot hear you," to which Dr. Hodgkin- ■ son quietly replied, " Never mind;" At a!;-■ subsequent stage, Mr Barff himself was . giving notice of motion in atone clearly audible all over the House,-when some one called out sarcastically, "Speak ? out," which caused Mr Barff to _ turn mw momentarily from the subject in hand in j order to give members a well-merited re- j buke on their indolent style of speaking. He said it appeared to be a matter of arrangement that one member of the; House could speak out when others were~too-4aay to make themselves heard. It was purely a matter of taste. COLONEL GORTON. There was a long discu ssibu in tfie House over the motion by Mr Bowenfor 'the production of correspondence in connection with the abolition of Colonel Gorton ana his branding-iron.—Mr Barff related s«ni« of the horrible depredations committeiDy .. Col". Gorton in fits of zeal, out at Knag** he asserted most positively that Col. t»on»» had saved tens of thousands of pounQs , from being wasted or made away mtn, anu he defended the Colonel's branding-iron to being a most useful as well as ornament , tool, and challenged the . Government w hold a Committee of Inquiryasto Qofoii Gorton's long career of branding;.,■,>■»« after this panegyric, Mr Shnmski-rose w his feet, and flourishing a» ebony; nil"1" his right hand after the mannerof a pw«* man's baton, eloquently expatiatedon ■*» evidences of destrnctiveness borne on ' ruler, and the irregularity caused'"ij« ffE lines owing to the brand.-Mr Barff shojw how Mr Stout, and a legal friend;<}*»£: -f$ the West Coast, came to gn%tr°L- «■ incontinently sitting upon a cnair, stability of which had been wojjjmcl undermined by the brand or . { Gorton, mere terrible in its effects tnan f'tpiedo novalis.' —Mr Manders,, Who fw, of the hon. member for Kakapoi.supP"' the] motion, dwelling on the careless".^ and want of sorupulousness/esifliius,^ regard to the injury or destruction oi-p property, from which even members oi liament were not free.-Mr Bichuda^ fended the'usefulness of the branding-^ and affirmed that he had knowri;a/f.^ quantity of Government pr»g,er^' L jp. .•Had not received Colonel ?«« primatur, to mysteriously vamsh »J "^ . j. !ttf be traced.—Mrßowen; inn^S"^J Mr Stout for treating matters 01 l^ coB i. in a debating society sortofiray. t wij3 mentod strongly on the statement W papers existetl, showing the reason »t ]% pensingwith the store departoen {oB was quite possible that Colonel w ■

was over-zealous. He knew it "was a common joke that clerks in the Government offices used to rush away in terror when the Hon. Colonel Gorton appeared on the horizon in order to save themselves from the dreadful fate of being branded in some tender part of their person. The motion was agreed to.

LICENSING BILL,

Mr Wakefield asked the Government when the Licensing Bill will be brought down, and whether they will make it a Government question ? Mr Sheehan replied that he hoped to be able to place the Licensing Bill as first on the second order of the day for Tuesday next. He did not think this was the kind of question on which the Government should desire to go out of office. (Laughter.)

THE ELECTORAL. BILL.—ROMAN CATHOLIC PETITION.

Dr Hodgkinson gave notice to move, in Committee on the Electoral Bill, an amendment, limiting the property qualification to one vote only in each electoral district. The report on the petition of Bishop Moran and 320 Roman Catholics was ordered to be printed.

GOLD MINES ACT,

The debate was then resumed on the question amending appendices to the Gold Mines Act. During the discussion Mr Barff made some observations which caused Mr Manders to shake his head in a deprecatory manner, which elicited the following rebuff from Mr Barff : " The hon. member may shake his head, I have seeu him shake it before, but I never saw anything come out of it." It being within teu minutes oit half-past five, Mr Barff proceeded to speak against time with the object of shelving the motion until another day, in "which he succeeded.

MAINTENANCE OF ROADS.

Mr Tole asked the Government if they will take steps to have the Great North Road, the ISiew North Road, and other main roads in the County of Eden put and maintained in a state of repair. He said the maintenance of main roads in Counties which was not adopted in the Counties Act was becoming a matter of serious concern. In the County of Eden and Counties similarly situated the roads are becoming in a dangerous state. Several meetings had been held in the County of Eden, and he had been telegraphed to to ask this question of the Government. Mr Sheehan said that in Counties where the Act yi as not in full operation the Government would avail themselves of the County funds to carry out the necessary repairs of the main roads so far as such funds would go, but they could not do more without a separate vote of the House.

TE AROHA BLOCK,

Mr Hobbs gave notice of motion to ask the Government if they will lay on the table any information respecting the South Sea Island trade. '.

Mr Rowe gave notice to ask the Minister of Public Works whether the Government have obtained any opinion as to the legality of the disposal of the Te Aroha Mock to Mr Broomhall; also, whether the Government will set aside any blocks of land now being requried in the Upper Thames District for special settlements, and,if so,what blocks 1

OHINEMURI

In the House to-day Mr Rowe presented a petition from the inhabitants of the Ohinemuri District praying the Government to take steps to acquire the freehold of the land which they at present occupy.

THE YELLOW AGONY,

The later part of the afternoon was taken up with a diccussion on what MiReeves terms the "Yellow Agony," i.e. the Chinese question. Many members inveighed in strong terms against the Heathen Mongol, but he was not without champions, Mr Rowe strongly advocating tihe Celestial's claim to rank as a man and as a brother, and to compete in mining with Europeans. Mr Joyce denounced Chinamen as animals of an effete race, and asserted that it takes three of them to do the work of one. Mr J. C. Brown, however, threw himself into the breach-as a friend of the Heathen Chinee whom he emphatically pronounced equal, if not superior, to Englishmen. Ultimately Mr Reeves withdrew his motion. QUESTIONS BY AUCKLAND MEMBERS.

It reply to Mr McMinn, Mr Stout said the establishment of an Irish emigration agent was under consideration, but Ireland had already contributed a greater share to the population proportionally than any other country. In reply to Mr O'Rorke, the Colonial Treasurer promised a return showing the operation of the Civil Service Acts.

THE SEPARATION POLICY. Notwithstanding the Premier's emphatic denial of the rumours respecting separation ■with a Federal central government, being the secret policy of Ministers, two notices of motion were given yesterday, which have caused considerable speculation mixed with amusement. First, Mr Fox gave, notice to ask the Minister of Public Works >yhether the following words were used by him. at a banquet at lmnedin in March last, as reported by a short-hand reporter for the local press :—" I confess that I am aot without hope that there is now a public opinion being engendered throughout New Zealand, which, I trust, may yet compel Parliament to restore to the people those privileges of which they have been deprived, not probably exactly as they were ; but institutions greatly improved and more adapted to the altered circumstances of the colony?" And, if he used those expressions, what he meant by them? ~ . , ~ Mr Johnston gave notice to ask the Premier whether he stated at Dunedin : "For years they enjoyed a free and liberal constitution. No disasters occurred in consequence ; but there was a development of the resources of the colony, and a growth of happiness and contentment, unprecedented in the history of the British Colonies. Those institutions were swept away, and he asked, whether the new one's were such as became free men ? and were they likely to conduce to peace and happiness ?" WELLINGTON COLLEGE. Mr Gisborne moved the second reading of the Wellington College Act Amendmefc BilJ, which proposes to endow the College out ot lands now reserved for the No. 2 University. A long lon debate ensued, and was ultimately adjourned till Wednesday.

PARNELL RESERVE. Mr Moss succeeded in getting his Parnell Reserve Bill through the second reading, an alteration!] having been made on the Bill vesting only a portion of . the reserve for Town Hall site, the balance being set apart for public school purposes.

ELECTORAL BILL,

The debate on the Electoral Bill was continued. Mr Seaton strongly opposed the bill. Messrs McLean, Gibbs, Taiaroa, Montgomery, Carrington, Stevens, and Tawhiti followed, criticising some of the provisions, but stating that they would support the second reading. At half-past twelve the debate was adjourned, and the House rose.

JUDGE THOMAS,

Mr Sheehan to-day said the Government had been asked by the member for Eangitikei whether it was true that Judge ■ Thomas, while on a visit to Rewi . was followed about by the police. The statemsnt took him by surprise, and he made inquiry. He then read the following :— ■ "WAITAKA, August 21st.—The Acting Uhder-Secretary for Defence, Wellington. — , I have inquired into Mr C. E. G. Thomas's J.complaint that Sergeant Coffey went to "Rewi'spahoti Saturday, having heard,that 1 a European in a white waterproof had! just r .gqne.,up_to.distribute seditious pamphlets '■ • Onf finding out that it was Judge Thomas, -and that Rewi knew him, Sergeant Coffey ■ .took no farther steps, not believing the report. He has not been watching Mr Thomas at all."

Mr Fox said the papers circulated b ( y Judge Thomas were of no other character than strictly patriotic. j Referring to the question asked by Mr Fox,.respecting.the refusal of the Government to allow Mr Thomas, formerly Judge in Indin, to see Rewi, except in the presence of an aimed constable, the " Times " says : "At last, then, we have established peaceful relations with the Ngatiinaniapotch Rewi is under the'Bufveillance of the police inWaitara, and we ourselves have established an 'aukati' on the Taranaki side. Peaceful travellers'from India, who desire to interview the 'commissioner-chief must

get a pass f imn-Mr ; Sheehan, and talk to Rewi in the presence of a detective. How are the mighty fallen? . Rewi is getting old, and has no doubt suffered much of late from the male and female emissaries of the Government, and from Ministers themselves who have been sitting on him, and from the independent reports of subsidised public journals. .His. spirit may consequently be thoroughly broken, and he himself in process of being gradually reduced to imbecility, but it is impossible to contemplate without sorrow the picture we get of the old lion under the surveillance of a bobby, debarred from intercourse with suspicious characters like a travelling Indian Judge, tapped occasionally by a reporter, ■when the Native Minister requires a telegram to confute Mr Fox, in the House, and abandoned in the intervals to Joshua Jones, who wants to go to Mokau.' A bill has just been passed to prevent cruelty to animals, but the interpretation clause would not we fear include a ' Commissioner-Chief.' The Legislative Council is now,perhaps,the only refuge left for poor Rewi." The "Post" says: "A superannuated Indian Judge, with a string of letters after his name, is amusing himself in the evening of life by seeking to become the Saviour of New Zealand and the solver of the " Maori Land Question." Not content with his services on India's coral strand—for which he has been paid and liberally pensioned— he comes here, and is sowing discontent among the Maoris, and, interfering with what he does not understand. His pamphlet, termed "Ryotwarry: A Solution of the Maori Land Question," was some time ago printed in Auckland, in both the English and Maori languages, and has lately been circulated among the natives at Taranaki, causing some excitement and disquiet among the Maoris. He is forcing himself and his doctrines on the Chief Rewi, and generally making himself a meddling busybody." The "Post" criticises the principles laid down in the pamphlet, and adds, "It has been stated that Mr Thomas pretends- to have the sanction of the Government in the disseminating his views, when, in reality, the Native Minister finding disquietude had been created, has, we believe, written to Mr Thomas, cautioning him against interfering with the natives, other wis he would deem it necessary to communicate with the Home Government complaining that a pensioned officer of Her Majesty is threatening the policy of colonial administration, and disturbing the native mind while important affairs are being settled. The pamphlet, we consider, is very dangerous—one calculated to do damage among a sensitive race." FEMALES IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE. The following is a return of females in the employ of the New Zealand Telegraph .Department :— Wellington : 2 married ladies in clearing house; 7 single ditto; 1 away ill. Auckland : 4 ditto, ditto ; 2 ditto. Canterbury : 3 ditto, ■ ditto; 1 ditto. Uunedin : 4 ditto, ditto. Nelson, .1 ditto; total number employed 22—7 clearing house ; clerks, 2 ; abstract department, 2 ; distributing1 department, 11; operators,ditto. The number of the above ia nearly equal to 20 per cent of the whole.