PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 228, 23 September 1908, Page 8

PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

1 (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, Tuesday. AUCKLAND TOMTf HALL. Messrs ButchJson and Farrell, members of the Auckland City Council, are at present in Wellington in connection with the building material to be used in the new Auckland Town Hall. Mt Bush, city engineer, also accompanied the councillors, and while in Wellington will attend to some matters in connection with the Auckland Drainage Bill. THE SEEDS BILL. Messrs George Sinclair and E. Yates, of Auckland, are at present in Wellington in connection with the Agricultural Produce Sale and Importation Bill now before the House. Both gentlemen will give evidence before the Stock and Agricultural Committee to-morrow. Other seed and produce merchants from variout parts of the Dominion are at present in Wellington for the same purpose. FOR FAVOURABLE CONSIDERATION. Petitions which have >been referred to the favourable consideration of the Government are as follows: A grant of £ 1000 for the completion of the Pa«roaTe Aroha road; request for the authorisation of a railway line from Waihi to Gisborne via Tauranga, Te Puke, Whakatane and Opotiki; a grant for the Man-gonui-Renari.i road, and a request for railway communication betwen Mamaku and Tauranga. GUMSORTERS , PETITION. Fifty-five Auckland gumsorters, through Mr Stall-worthy, are petitioning for an amendment of the Kauri Gum Industry A<?t of 1908. CARTERS AND THEIR TAXES. A petition was reported upon in the House of Representatives this afternoon, emanating from the carters of Christchurch, objecting to the present system under which they were taxed by local bodies. The Prime Minister, in reply, said the Hon. Mr McGowan was preparing a bill dealing with the matter under consideration, but he would not promise that the measure would be put through this session. Mr E. \V. Alison said that in Auckland there was a continual cause for complaint. Newmarket, Mt. Eden, and other local bodies persisted in levying fees, and some of the carter? had to pay as much as £20 or £30 per annum. Other members urged that legislation should be brought down this session, and the petition was referred to the favourable consideration of the Government. The application of W. Gunson and 51 others of Auckland, praying for the appointment of a Commission to consider . amendments in the bankruptcy laws of the Dominion has been referred by the Pnblic Petitions Committee to the favourable consideration of the Government. INSPECTION OF MINES. The Goldtields and Mines Committee have recommended that the Mining Amendment Bill be allowed to proceed with certain drastic amendments. Chief amongst the clauses struck out by the Committee was that which made provision for the inspection of mines by miners.