The General Assembly.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 820, 18 July 1876, Page 5

The General Assembly.

HOUSE OF REPPJESENTATIVES. '.. WekstesdAy, July 12. On Wednesday evening the Coroner's Act, 1876, Amendment Bill was committed. No material alterations were agreed to. U •;=-•. ■■'•■ Thursday, Juxy 13. OnTkur^daj, Mr D. Iteid asked if there waS a clause in the contract for the conveyance of itamigraiits, making it imperative that vessels should 4 be fitted" with Clifford's Bpat-lowering Apparatus ; and if so, to ask' if^fii will be prepared iio alter'the conditions in future, so that vessels- fitted with boatlowering apparatus r Known as Douglas's patent may be used, to carry immigrants under ' Government cpntract.rr.jSLe^^ explained that Douglas's invention was far superior to any yet uiyented for rlowering boats, and was getting; into general use Rapidly, He thbuglit thVittypntpr plight to' : be^ allowed ,'a] If W.Q& * Qprrectly ; inf priiied, ; siich , v?as.' no^t ' the caSe^^ -t^br 'he^^was led [to believe some oHlie immigrant vessels leaving Home this

Colony, and that were fitted up with Douglas's patent,, had to have them removed and ffeplaced' by Clifford's; -■ JaJ7Z^ " ; '; ' ' * j. '

The Hon. Major Atkinson was not awarb of any. .case ,of ; the .kind, referred to. The Groyerninent lVad ; full power to 1 J ask for the fitting up of any apparatus they liked. There -jwaa nonpar agraph 4n the. contract- fixing what apparatus they should use, but 'there was in the charter party. He would, however, underMkeKtb'KaveC^nquiries^Siiade, to see what could be done in the matter. Mr Reynolds asked whether the Govjern^ ment intended institif6nig*^.n official enquiry , as to the allegations stated to have been ] made by the- .captain T pf the City of Sari Francisco, that' the steamer touched ground on entering and leaving Port Chalmers 1 \ Mr Gr. M'Lean said there was no reason whatever for supposing the steamer touched in going out of the harbor. He had the authority of .the Harbor } Masterj and [others' -for 'stating the vessel did not touch. isShe honorable gentlema^ . intiniated, however, that he would cause an 1 enquiry to be made into the allegations.

The Local Elections^Bill, ; was passed in; Committee with a few amendments. \

The Naseby Waterworks EmpoAvering ! Bill was passed. , =. v <,-^ i ■ • ''Mi- R; 'Stout moved the ! iecbnd reading of j .the;.Lt>cal;optibn;Licensuijg'{BiU: i l' -* ? j .., A- long,. debate. -fqllqw ; ed, f u; a fl.umber of; •honbraljle members speaking to jfche question, j The : member^f orgßfuce "supported the ; Bill. In the course of his remairks -he" said it had; .he believed, i truly,' .that the' people of England drank enough in five; years to pay off their national debt ; and if: the people of New Zealand abolished intern- ■; perance. it wpuld.be the, means. ,of .immensely increasing the revenue.' ' If 'it was' inter-: fering with the liberty of the subject to re- i fuse licenses, was it not a greater interference with the liberty of the subject to grant licenses indiscriminately, and make the sober i j and industrious bear the heavy burdens oast : upon them by the intemperance and impro- , vidence of their neighbors ? . .He had, no hope ■ line Bill'vbiildefieqt'the'gobcl that was anti'eipated by its mbveiy^A', better plan,, .he thought, would be to reduce, the' nuitiber' of =pu"blic-houses One-half , arid effect every r imprpyement. possible in. them, and. by all means try to destroy the trade in those ; yillairious cpncoctibns sold as. liquor. He Avould ypte for the secon<jL reading., s■ ( y .. , ■

" The Premier, then announced that a telegram, .placed, in his hands, by Opt. Holt, informed him of the death of Dr Featherston pn the 21st.. ;He thought-he would: ibeVconsulting the wishes, of the House if he moved £he adjournment of the debate as a mark of respect to; one "who formerly occupied, a distinguished position in the [Colony. ' • ; '- The debate- was adjourned. : : Friday, July 14. Mr Waaon introduced a Bill to regulate the leasing and disposal of the waste lands- of j the Crown in. Canterbury after the expiration [of the present; leases in 1880. "' '' '■ •> ; ■

The Premier (upon voting for t.he Bill being' committed) explained that it had been represented • to ; the Government that the exemption of mining property from taxation was very unfair, and as the Government found.' that the representations were ' well grounded they intended to make an .alteration in the clause whereby mining property would be subject to assessment. As to rating pastoral property, when the present leases fall in, first, in respect .to the. proviso for rating pastoral property, it was proposed to introduce a clause in section 22, .i to the effect that pastoral 'property be subject to rating on one-half its annual : value, according to the terms arrived at in 1871, in the Highways Bill. In the case of ; Canterbury, the tenure was different to that of Otago. It had been represented to Government that, owing to the element of uncertainty in dealing with Canterbury niiis after the leasing falls in, a great deal of anxiety was felt. He wished to inform the House of what the Government proposed to do. It rested with them whether or not it should be adopted. They considered, after a careful examination of the whole question, judging by previous practice and by the laws which existed from time to time over a long series of years, that if the existing holders are willing io pay such rentals as from time to time may be considered fail*, they shall have preference to continue in possession of the whole of the property ; and, in reference to Canterbury, such a valuation should be as to their carrying capacities, and such assessment made as the House considered 'fail' ; and if the runholders be willing to pay such increased assessment, they should have the preference. As to Otago, he considered the case entirely different from Canterbury. In the latter Province the tenure depended upon anyone purchasing the land, which he is able to get by law in any quantity. Any person in possession of a leasehold run in Canterbury might at any moment find liiinsejf divested of it, or of any portion pf it. In Otago it required rather a tortuous process (which was not alwajis successful), to divest rimholders of their land. Their land could not be purchased over their heads, as in Canterbury. In Otago the Waste Lands Board always decided, before the leases expired, whether a renewal should be granted, or the land be cut up into smaller runs, or leased at all. He would move a clause to this effect in Committee

The debate was interrupted by the adjournment at 5.30.

At 7.30 the House resumed in Committee on the Plating Bill, and considerable discussien ensued on the question of rating land, there being great diversity of opinion. The Bill was passed up to clause 10, without any material alteration.

The Provincial Abolition Financial Arrangements Bill was then introduced. (A sketch of the provisions of the Bill will be found elsewhere). The Premier explained two points in it, saying, first, that Abolition would come into force on the 29th of September instead of the Ist of October — in conseque»ce of the Ist of October falling oh a' Sunday, and the 30th of September being a holiday ; second, provision would be made for the Superintendents, but out of the re venues of the Provinces, instead of out of the Colonial revenue. ; The Bill was read a first time, and the House adjourned at 1.45 a.m.