PARLIAMENTARY NOTES

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7963, 10 September 1891, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES

CBt Tmjkhup&l

(raou ora smoui. QOKuranroßsv.) WELLINGTON, September &

The House eat till half-past three o'clock thia morning discussing the Estimates, Mc Fish appeared ac an advocate of retrench* ment, and vigorously pleaded for the cutting down of salaries) condemning the Government for having increased the amount! paid to several officer*. He moved for reductions without success, and then throwing up hie hands in despair, Raid he recognised that there would be no redaction on the Estimates this session. The member for Dunedin was euoceeded by MrT. Mackenzie, who complained of the action of the Government in uacreas* ing the salaries of the gaolers at the prison* of the four chief cities. The Minister of Justice replied to the critics that mosey had been saved by an amalgamation of offices, and that the salaries of the gaolers had been raised according to eland* fication, the maximum being £400. Th« vote submitted passed without reduction* The salary of Commissioner Hume mi attacked this morning by a small economist party, of whom Mr Fish appeared to be the leader. The item is £700, and it was moved that it be reduced by £200, but thia mm lost. The Bankruptcy Bill is one measure which the Government hope to carry through before the session closes. ;The Premier says that the Bill has been carefully dealt with by the Select Committee,Vand that h* has been assured that it can »be passed in three hours. A return, showing for the last four months the dates and'hours of arrival of the inward San Francisco mail steamers at Auckland, the names of the steamer* employed carrying the mails from the Manukas South, and the dates and hours of their arrival in Wellington, will be moved for t* morrow by Mr Duthie, with the view of showing that much time is wasted between Auckland and the South after the arrival of the mails at Auckland. < Attention is being drawn to Mr Spawn , * proposals to establish fruit fauns and a college in New Zealand, and to the fact that a similar scheme initiated by Mr Spawn has been adopted by the Victorian Government, who have instructed him to proceed to England and America to bring out settlers and experts suited for the est*» blishment of fruit coionlee or settlement*. The Minister of Lands, it is .urged, should keep up communication with lit Spawn with a view to his procuring in England and America such information at may be useful in the establishment of fruit farms or settlements, and also for the formation of a National College of Orchard!? for New Zealand. I hear indirectly that when the Workmen's Lien Bill comes out of the Legislative Council Committee its own father will not recognise it, so vast and numerous an tM alterations it has undergone.