PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 274, 25 November 1897, Page 9

PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

NOTES FROM THE GALLERY.'

(By Telegraph-Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, Wednesday.

A LIVELY ENCOUNTER.

A lively, if not altogether creditable, scene occurred ia the House this afternoon on a discussion raised by the Minister for Lands in relation to his alleged statement that Judge Kettle was under the thumb of the Bank of New Zealand. The Minister was anxious the House should understand that he never intended to say anything of an offensive character, and 'as for certain condemnatory resolutions passed by "The Mutual Admiration Society" of Dunedin, which dignified itself with the high sounding title of Chamber of Commerce, that body had never done any good to the community, but only cared for the bawbees.

Mr Rolieston, in commenting upon the Minister's disclaimer, denounced the references to Judge Kettle as foully libellous and false.

The Speakers attention having been called, to this decidedly unparliamentary language, Mr Rolieston, who is seldom moved to real anger, seemed obstinately bent on refusing to withdraw, regardless of the severe reminder of Sir Maurice O'Rorke, but at length lie yielded with bad grace, and substituted the words " It was absolutely untrue," another polite way ,of saying -the same thing-, but this was, iitji , accepted as satisfactory, and he fell back on the phrase " an absolutely incorrect statement."

The Minister for Lands ■ protested against any statement being laid at his door which had appeared in an Opposition paper, .supplied by the Press Association. Did the lion, member for Riccarton think he was made of such stuft that he would make no reply to slanders ? No !He would defend himself from charges made to judges on the bench.

Mr Scobie McKenzie: Under shelter of the House. . ; •

The Minister: Under shelter of the House or anywhere. ■ ;

.. Mr Scobie McKenzie : You would not say it about Sir Walter Buller. • The-Minister': The honourable gentleman had better take care or I shall say something about him outside which will give him ample op}iort unity of taking action. ' ■■■■■■ Mr S. Mackenzie : I invite yon to do it. The Minister • If the honourable gentleman doubts me let him come upstairs and 1. will satisfy him in two minutes. (Laughter.) 1 will give my word as a member of this House I will not do the honourable member any harm. CATTLE YARDS AT MERCER. In the House this afternoon Mr Lang (Waikato) asked the Minister for Railways if he will cause sheep and cattle yards to be erected at the Mercer nail way station. Mr Lang said everyone who understood anything about fanning would know it is impossible to put sheep and cattle into trucks without suitable yard. Previous replies given to this question were useless. The Government stud, it was willing to erect yards on condition that the settlers contributed a certain amount, but it w-'is not likely the settlers would put tlu ir I hands in; their pockets for the benefit, of the department, especially when thfi [ stations, not far away, of less important . had been provided with stations. The Premier in reply, said this was a case in which all things come to him wiio waits. He admitted the importance of the question to Mercer, but said there .was not suiiieient traffic to warrant the granting of ! the request. In six months only £S0 had i'besa received from cattle, and £15 from sheep trucked from Mercer. The Government could not be expected to spend money on unproductive work. Of course, in the lion, gentleman's district, no objection would be raised to this, but if it applied to another district, the Government Mould be accused of favouring people of the right colour. He regretted that the Government could not erect yards at present, but other proposals might be possible. WAIKATO-TARANAKI ROAD. Mr Lang asked the Minister for Lands when the road connecting Waikato and Taranaki via Awakino will be open for wheel traffic. The Minister replied that the Department had been proceeding with the work ias quickly as funds would allow. The I road from Te Kuiti to Auckland would be open for wheeled traffic this summer, and he hoped other portions of the road would be open in the following summer. ; ADMIRALTY HOUSE, AUCKLAND. in the House to-day Mr Holland asked I the Minister for Works if he had received any communication from Auckland in reference to the new Admiralty House, and, if so, what steps he intends to take. The Minister replied that the Harbour Board, on behalf of themselves and the City Council, had represented that the building was unsuitable, and that a new House should be erected, and offered a! new site belonging to the Board and the ! Council respectively for the new building. I It was suggested that the old site be sold, j the estimated value of which will be £2,000 with the grant from the Government, which would pay for furniture and a suitable building. What the Govern-j ment proposes to do is to oiler the Board j the old building and grant them or.o j thousand pounds with which they can cither put up a building there or sell the ground or let it as they choose. This concession has been granted subject to ftp- j proval of the House, mainly on i; i re-] presentations of Mr Holland. PETITION. Mr Massey asked what steps the Government intend to take in regard to the | petition of William Hall, who petitioned \ Parliament in 1898 praying compensation j for damage to his property by fire caused | by sparks* from a railway engine. The Minister in reply said it had not been proved to the satisfaction of the Government that the lire had been caused in the way alleged, and that in any case the Department was not legally responsible. OLD AGE PENSIONS. When the House met at 7.30 to-night it resumed consideration of the Old Age Pensions Bill in committee. A long and desultory discussion took place on an amendment proposed by Mr Smith to strike out subsection D, clause 8, making the limit of income £36, and to insert a new subsection making pensions universal irrespective of other income. Sir R. Stout deprecated exhaustive criticism of the measure being stigmatised as obstruction, and gravely declared that even if the Committee devoted a week to the consideration of clause 8 the tiim* would be profitably spent: in fact, he thought it would be wise to postpone the Bill until next session, or even for two or three years. The Premier remarked that up to the present time 360 speeches had been made on the measure. Mr Rody MacKenzie, referring to the clause of the Bill defining convictions for offences disqualifying claims to pensions, said many members of the House would not care to risk having their careers subjected to investigation and would rather not claim pensions than face such an

The' Committee divided on Mr Smith's amendment, which was lost by 36 to 21.

After supper the Conimittee continued discussion on proviso D, section 8, " That his total income from all sources (exclusive of his personal earning and his pension) does not amount to the rate or £36 per year or upwards." The Premier moved to strike out " or Ins

personal earnings and," Ayes, 31; noes, 27.. ■ ■ ■.-".■■

The Premier moved to insert after " personal earnings " the words " in excess of £150." ...

Mr R. J. Thompson said if the Government meant to give pensions to men (earning £150 a year, the sooner they reported progress and members went home the better. He wasn't going to be made a fool of.

Mr Taylor, who denounced the Bill as a screaming farce, moved to reduce the sum of £150 to £50.

The Premier's amendment was negatived by 49 to 11 and Mr Taylor's amendment was lost by 43 to 15. Mr Morrison then moved to make the amount £34, which was carried by 40 to 20, and progress was reported, the Premier stating he was further ahead than he expected to be.

• The House rose at two a.m. THE ASSETS BOARD. In the Legislative Council to-day the , Hon. Stevens moved that a full ■ report of the Assets Board be presented to Parlia- , me.nt within fourteen days after the beginning of eacli session, showing the results of the transactions of the previous year, and giving the views of the Board as. to the probability^ expediency of an early realisation of the assets under their control. He said it was important and necessary to have annual reports of this Government Department, the magnitude of its affairs demanding the fullest information. The guarantee of the colony was practically offered for any deficiency which, might arise on, the " debenture account, and the debentures had only six years to run. The Assets Board had been.short in its statutory payments to the Bank of New Zealand during the | last two years by £14,292 and £10,604 re- ' spectively. ; The Minister for Education agreed that I Parliament should be fully informed of the operations of the Assets Board. The motion was agreed to. ELECTION OF EDUCATION BOARDS BILL. This was amended in Committee of the Council as follows: "In cas« of an inequality of votes given for two or more candidates the returning officer shall complete the election by lot in such manner as the Board may decide At the election of Chairman of the B»«"ci tne sceretar, shall not vote, suic] iv. ike event of an_ equality of votes, se.'il. doTijj-^iine the el> ..- tion by lot." • A proviso wns inserted thu*i the Returning Officer shall- open voji;-, papers in the presencr a scrutinee/ajhf pointed by the Board. JUDGES -.RE'CIKMENT. In Committee of thy. *mcil the Suprc* i'er" Court Act Amendment Bill was eonside ♦ d,, The age at which a y.vlf*s shall retire fad altered from C 5 to 7.5. A further amijlcU merit was inserted providing that the. ji§Governor should have tho concurrence of&«iej judges, or any two of tlicju, before c&K jjermig the proposed powjjrifron regisfcrflußi OLD SOLDIERS' CLAIMS. The Hon. 'Jennings moved in the Council Vi'-L afternoon that, in view, of the answer given by the Minister yesterday in connects A; with the claims made under the Military and Naval Claims Act, that the, Government take immediate steps fc. | satisfy all the claims recommended uatter Schedule 4- as printed in the appendix of tl; Journals of the House, 1894. The question is asked owing to the Minister , stating that many of the claims would have to be referred Home, and therefore the report of the commissioner would not be down for some months. PETITIONS. ' The.Petitions Committee report on the petition of J. G. Jones and others, praying tJl&isfiyerniuent to assume control Q^f.be Punakaitere settlement, that it has iio"recornmendation to make. Petitions have been received from Marion Smith, of Auckland, widow, praying for redress for injuries alleged to have been received from the police ; from residents and ratepayers at Otamatea praying for grant of £500 to open up the Maunga-turoto-Waikeikei North Road. The Petitions' Committee, on the peti. tion of Mr Jones of Auckland recommends that the report lie on the table. CHINESE LAUNDRIES. The Petitions Committee on the petition of Wigg and other laundry keepers praying that Chinese laundries may be brought under the eight hours system refer it to the consideration of the Government. CRIMINAL CODE BILL.. The Joint Statutes Committee on 'the Criminal Code Act 1893 Amendment Bill recommend that it be allowed to proceed with a proviso added to Clause 3 to make j persons committing incest liable to ini- | prisonment with hard labour for seven j years, that in a case in which the female is of full age and older than the male offender she shall be liable to the same penalty. THE WORKS STATEMENT. Owing to the nightly sittings of the House over the old age pensions scheme, I and the consequent difficulty of getting a j meeting of Cabinet for the purpose of put- j j ting the final touches to the Public Works i j Statement, its delivery before next week is j ! now improbable. j MINING ON SUNDAY. | Tho Goldlields Committee of the Legis- j i lativc Council recommend that, the Mining J ;on Sundays Prevention Bill be allowed to j pass without amendment. i JOTTINGS. . I In the House this afternoon the follow- | ing Hills were read a first time : —Water 1 i Hup;>!y Act Amendment Bill, Joseph Houston, Land Grant, Electoral Act Amendment Bill. An invitation was received from the Woodvillo Railway Committee to niom- | bers to attend the 'opening of the railway ; ceremony and banquet. I Mr Guinness this morning was elected ! Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. The Joint Statutes Revision Committee recommend that the Powers of Disposition by Will Kill, owing to the block of business, be postponed until next session, but that a measure be then introduced to prevent any man having power to dispose of his estate leaving Ins wife and family destitute.

Mr Orowtlicr desires to correct the statement that lie instigated dissatisfaction among the Auckland members re the 'Frisco service, resulting in the Speaker, instead of Mr Holland, undertaking the task of sending out invitations to the Caucus.