PARLIAMENTRY GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 183, 1 August 1908, Page 9

PARLIAMENTRY GOSSIP.

my ■ Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, Friday. CONSOLIDATED STATUTES. • ' The Consolidated Statutes Enactment I BiU was put through all its stages in the . House of Representatives, and passed. 'The Prime Minister stated that the consolidation of the Statutes, which had 'been, the work of 12 years, comprised five n-olumes, and could be purchased for 12 guineas a set. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The Society of Accountants BiU was cut through its final stages in the Legislative Council this afternoon. The Coroners Art Amendment Bill was also read a first time. The Council then adjourned until the first Wednesday after fleet week. PROTECTING STOCKOWNERS. W\ Aladdison, of Gisborne, i≤ making /.application that the Government should investigate and bring into us-e for the benefit°of stockowners in the Dominion > ,an improved system of earmarking live stock, of which he is in possession. The '"svetem in question, it is asserted, has been favourably recommended by the Gisborne branch of the Farmers' Union. EAST COAST RAILWAY. ij» - H. J. Gill and others are petitioning ' Ihrong-h 3lr Herries, for railway communication between Maimaku, Tepuke, I and Tauranga. It is claimed that this j is not a branch line, but part of the i scheme of railway construction on the I i East Coast. HIGH OFFICE. In the House of Representatives this afternoon the Hon. T. Iv. Mac Donald, in accordance with notice of motion, asked the Attorney-Gen-eral whether there was any reason why full information of all business matters connected with the - work of the High Commissioner's Ofliee should not be submitted to Parliament each session, due care being exercised that confidential Communications regarding loans and finance should not be disclosed. The HoB. Dr. Findlay said the ques'iioner appeared to proceed on a wrong assumption. The High Commissioner was not an administrative oHicer; he . was a Parliamentary one. Considerable portions of his reports were confidential. To delete these portions and publish the remainder would be useless. The Government could not see its way to accede to the suggestion. COST OF LIVING. The Hon. Mr Barr moved in the Legislative Council that the Government take into immediate consideration the devising of some further practical measures Whereby the heavy COSt of liring at present borne by married workers, as compared with the unmarried, may be lessened, and parenthood thereby encouraged. In speaking to his motion, Mr Barr said that as a country became educated the birthrate decreased. The only way to assist a natural birthrate was for the • Government to devise some scheme of assistance for the married. Consideration • ,pi the motion was deferred. AWAY WITH POMP. Parliament has many forms and ceremonies. When the House assembles each afternoon members rise from their seats " when the Sergeant-at-Arms marches into the Chamber with the mace upon his shoulder, and announces, "'Mr. Speaker." It is only in turbulent times that-the officer in question is called upon to do anything of a strenuous nature, and this afternoon Mr. Gray raised the question, i- Has the desirability of doing away with the Sergeant-at-Arms been considered?" The member for Christchurch ■went on to say that lie looked upon the position as unnecessary. "There are a _ lot of things about this House that should be abolished," he said, "and the bauble lying on the table thzi-e (indicating the mace) is a survival of old times.' . The Prime Minister: "Very well; give notice to change the Constitution." • Mr. Gray: "I should certainly vote for the abolition of this position. I don't know what the officer does for his money. He carries the mace in on his shoulder, shouts 'Mr. Speaker, , and then sits still and does notning for the rest of the day. . For seven months of the year he does nothing." The Prime Minister remarked that it was a mistake to consider the Sergeant-at-Arms an ornamental office. He did a lot of work during the session, and might be required at any timvj to remove an offending member. COMPLICATED NATIVE LAWS. In referring to the Consolidated Statutes Enactment Bill, Mr. Massey said that the work was not completed, mas•- --• much as it did not include the native land laws. The reason of this omission ■was because the native laws were so . numerous, so contradictory, and- so complicated that it was impossible to consolidate them in the Statutes. \- • The Hon. ,Mr. Carroll said that cir- ' xumstances varied and different forms of administration were required for native lands, owing to the different titles of . ownership. Dnring the last two years the work of the Native Land Courts had been more than dorfbled. He realised m that there was need for simplification, -'and he thought it might be.as well if the. consolidation of Native Land Acts became the work of a special commission. Mr. Herrieo said there had never been bo much vacillation on the part of members as in the matter of native land legislation. The Prime Minister said that the Commission had given its reason for not going on with the consolidation of the native land laws, which was because of the various forms of ownership. He thought this a wise decision of the commission, and considered it desirable that the question should be allowed to stand in abeyance until the Government was ready to bring about the consolidation of the laws affecting native lands. STRONG LANGUAGE. Very considerable feeling was shown in both Houses this afternoon in regard to a clause of the report of the Statutes Consolidation Commissioners. The clause in question stated that the work of the Commission had been much entangled owing to the suggestion of the Government that the printed volume

of Consolidated Statutes, prepared by Mr. Jolliffe, law draftsman, should be adopted. It was further stated that Mr. Jolliffe had giveh nimself a latitude far in excess of anything authorised by the Act. and in departing from the Statute he departed from the law, and the Commission had to spend much time in revising and restoring the text. The signatures to the report were those of Sir Robert Stout, F. Fitchett and W. S. Reid. In the House of Representatives Sir J. Ward and Mr Massey both spokestrongly in eulogy of the work done by Mr Jollift, and regretted that the clause had found its way into the report, in view of the fact that Mr Jolliff had' spent years in preparing the consolidation. The House generally also evinced some indignation. In the Legislative Council there was a good deal of very strong comment on the same matter. The Hon. J. Rigg referred to the statement as slander. A suggestion was made by the Hon. Mr Loughnan that the report should be referred back to the Commissioners. The Attorney-General, while agreeing that Mr Jolliff was a painstaking, courteous, and industrious man, said no person in this country had the right to say the Chief Justice had committed a slander. Mr Rigg had charged those who drew up the report with professional jealousy and slander. The Council would not allow that. Mr Rigg persisted that that statement were false, and said. "I do not care who made those statements, or what their pt.indinij is. I say they are false, and it is "he meanest statement that over appeared in a public document." THE PJVERHEAD BRIDGE. Mr Alison intends asking the Minister for Public Works, whether it is the intention of the Government to place i a sufficient sum on the estimates to enable a suitable bridge to be erected at an early date across the head of the Waitemata at Riverhead, and thereby secure to a large body of highly-deserv-ing settlers direct and convenient means of communication in place cf the existing inconvenient and circuitous line of road which they are forced to travel over for general purposes, and for the delivery of their produce and stock to the Auckland markets. The erection of this bridge, Mr Alison points out, has been advocated for many years, both by the Waitemata County Council and a large number of settlers, who have forwarded several petitions to Parliament praying for its construction. The estimated cost of the bridge is £400, the interest on which, computed at 5 per cent., has been paid for several years by the Auckland Education Board for the ferrying to and fro of school children. AUCKLAND TELEPHONES. Referring to the question of country telephones, Sir Joseph Ward to-night stated that the Government was pursuing a most progressive policy in this matter. Complaint had been made that the north was very much neglected in this respect. The fact remained, however, that in the Auckland province 355 miles of wires had been established last year, and over ]5O miles of telephone posts had also been erected, so that there could be no real cause of complaint that the Government was not doing its duty. JOTTINGS. Karaka Rutene and. 120 others are applying for a sitting of the Native Land Coiirtr for the purpose of investigating the right of ownership to certain land called Manukau in the Herekino district. A petition has been presented asking a reduction of the sentence of six years' imprisonment passed on Huru Mateara for a criminal assault at Dargaville, on the ground that the prisoner is innocent. Members of the Aupouri tribe are asking the permanent establishment of equitable rights to 46,151 acres of land at Te Kao. "I know a man resident in New Zealand representing a Sheffield cutlery firm who gets a thousand pounds per year and travelling expenses. Yet here we have members of the House objecting to New Zealand's Trade Commissioner being paid a paltry £450 per year. I say you cannot {ret a first-class man for any sum so ridiculous"—Mr Laurenson.