PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. WAYS AND MEANS.—GENERAL GOVERNMENT SALARIES PROVINCIALLY CHARGED.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3514, 20 October 1868, Page 7

PARLIAMENTARY PRO C EEDINGS. WAYS AND MEANS. — GENERAL GOVERNMENT SALARIES PROVINCIALLY CHARGED.

On RoingMto oommitteo (on the Bfch) undeV the head Auckland Collector, also Licensing Officer under Arms Aot^SSO, 1 ( '. Mr. Maoffaßlanh wished to bring under the notioo of tho Commissioner of Customs the oireumatanou that the merchants of Auckland hud, when ho>wni in Aucklftqd,' preferred pert on conjpjaiuts ia respect to the niopV™ which] the feiiHines^.waS) carrioU on. Thtf Hon. Mr. JRiohihond promised' that the grievances which, had! been oomnlafried of would beiiedreHsed. The hon. geutlauuu left tha province and came to Wellington. The At»b«mbly had met, but nothing had been done. The Hou. Mr. Richmond said the version given by; the lwn. member w«s not quite correct. At that meeting he asked the merchants of Auckland to put th«ir c >mp!aints iv writing ; thut was a per.eotly reasonable request. Mr. ."-wan thought there was some difficulty m Kitting at the prtcise grounds <>f complaint If the minngmg cl rlts of firms had been consulted, there woul.l h*ve been a better chauce of gettiug at the real grievances. Mr. M > off arlane begged to remind the Hon. 1-he Commissioner of Customs that it was pn posed that there should be a meeting and at that meeting, at which the Collector was to be present, tnat the "CustW clerk* of the firms should be examined, but nothing of that kind was (lone. The Hon. Mr. Kiohmond dissented from the hon. member in the view he t-ok of tbe circurns auces. Mr. MaCFFARLaSE did u»t like to touch salaries but would d> all in his-power- to x effect reductions ia public expenditure. v - ' ' .~. ~ . Mr. O'Kobke would propose a reduction in the amount of the vote, for a reason which he conceived would he regarded ai particularly forcible in the present condition of affinrj. The t »rofinca of Auckland had been obliged to reduce her s+laries to the very lowest poiot, the salary of th« principal officers of the Executive n>t exceeding £300 each. As the I»rovinc3B were obliged to pay the salaries of those General Government officers, it appeared inco«sutent that they should be compelled to pay officers appointed by the Geueral Govemnienc more thai they could afford 111 1 pay their own highest officers. He moved that the item be reduced by £150. The Hon. Mr. BIOHMOND thought it by no means followed that because the province could only afford to give its officers a certain sum, the General Government were obliged to follow such a scale. The cases were wholly dissimilar. In the present case the Collector was Licensing Officer under the Arms Act, and had two sets of duties. Besides, he had to be unremitting in his vigilance to arrest smu^ling. Mr. Ball thought the salary not excessive con■idering tho duty was very responsible. Mr. Williamson would be very sorry to deal unnecessarily with the salaries of officers. The Provincial Council of the province of Auckland had passed a resolution' ijeguestiag faini tb^nake an effort to get those charges deduced. Tbe province had been obliged to reduce its expenditure to the very lowest point. > The, Provincial f Secretary's salary bad been^ ; reduced to £3bO ; i£ never befftro hid been so low a* that. Well, if the province was compelled to practise Buch economy, nob being in condition to pay higher salaries, it was not unreasonab'e to ask the General Government that a similar economy should be'pracdaed. He w,ould prefer always that a salary should 'be ' ample to support- the" BerVonts of the" Government in a position of respectability according to their station. • r } , *, f^," / ','■■.' x. Major Atkinson did not think 'the salaries too high, but he thought the reasons adduced by the hon. member l(Mr. JD-'ftorke)- were' well worthy the!' attention of the House. He thought that the capacity of a province to pay was a very serious ingredient in the considerat on of the amount of the salary. He would therefore vote for the reduction. The Hou Mr. /Stafford said that ,tbe salaries of officers could only be regulated by their value, and when they moved from one place to another they must carry their salaries with them. There was, therefore, no possibility of regulating their salaries according to the capacities of produces to pay,. agd,w • it there were, ifc v co"uldVo£ be done without great injury to the public service. , , ,<-,.[•. - The motion for a reduction was negatived. NATIVE LANDS ACT AMENDMENT BILL. This bill was cj>tosids!red,in.Qom:anttee_:onrthß Qfclu Mr. Brandon smd this bill gave an arbitrary po* er which English Courts had not. The Hon. Mr. Eiohmond fenitnded the hon. member that the Court bad to deal with custom, and that Maori customs were x*i erable to ppjjuUvjHnusiage of legal practice. J " \*" / " L " Mi\ Brandon said the bill dispensed with what was necessary in every case investigated in acouttof law ithat all parties interested shouli h*v« notice. Iff-tlMfW«[/thß , interests ,of ,^uropef ns^ight-be concerneli/ and there w.'uld be no 'appeal or redress in the event of error being commititedC > 1 Mr. Main said ihe fourth clause wai mo^t despotic He would o pose the itrpg'jsas of the bill. It was to be regretted there was no Minister of Justice or kw;officerto advise fi\# 4<?ute upa 11 V^f^S* *W' Mr. llißA*¥P8 1 5' Ba>4 r th^ypriociple/jfttdjyed yrni] so impoitant that he must divide .tue. House against the bill. .l-M-l-i. ' On the motion of Mr. Brandon, the House divided on^sectiJn 3,' which in>r<.lv«!d r trle lpn\L-> ciple,of the bill, with the following result: Ayes, 18 ; noes, 9. _ . - . . .. , Mr. Main objected to clause 4, because it overrode altogether the authority of the Supreme Court, and gave to persous untrained' to^eigb: jud^ially tbe value of evidence an enormous^ amount of power, 'those remarks did not apply to Judge Eenton, but they might to others. Mr Brandon said the bill would take away a well-known', piinciple.of Eoglish/'law, . namely, : the rights of usancs, haviag been i enjoyed for a given number of ye^rs. The principle of law was well known. To take away to important a legal rights »nd iherewere many cases in which it existed -was aiyery serious «ror. , '1 he Hon. Mr. 1 KIOHMOND pointed out -that-where the European suffered he had a remedy. It was m M de-irable that tbe 'native should not be led into the Briti'ihV. 'Courts wfiieh could not deal with. his casei The legal; position or relation of the native to the European wa* different from that of Englishman to Englishman. >yThe» bill -wis intended to meet a. difficulty which 'was well knowD, fend could- not be otherwise approached. l>l * . Mr^FoxJsiiidt'he clause took away alii right of appeal. i^That wtC unconstitutional, and he doubted Whether the bill wouldfbe. allowed by I the Imperial Government. Thw Court was bound by no decision, by 'njo rules of evidence; - • - '"•>•> i' • Mr.. Brandon r^Take a road. or right of> way-over < propferty^hioh might come within^the operation oftHislAct wdioini '> r ' * x ' ''-iM i iio<) ( . r ) 7 -!The .^Hton. Mri-'ElCHivr6kD said in > that case the Supreme .Court would .have power, not" upon »n appeU, but by an original proceeding taken m the Supttme Court.' '"• -" ► ' '- . -• „/."' Mf. Williamson would vote against the clause. Ho Knew a eafce which had recently come under his Snotice. The natives denied that they hadnever 'afw ated the island of "Tititiri Matangi, upon which a 'licrhthouse was buift.' ■ A (deoiiion.waa, well nigh Dein'e given in favour of themativej. -The provincul iWthbrities could not obtainjbhe oldjmap upon whic»i the ltnd alienated was marked. If the present bill were' in operation the Provincial Governmeot-wouW-have 1 had no appeal, and^seripna. injury and inconvenience would ha»e.be>f,dan ! e:,evep'to the,danger A Shipping comirig into' the pttrt of Auckland. „ . '- iMr.^ox^ndurred'whether.the^prdeujt bill Would mot affect the paytneiit U duties; ariting out of, jeaip If the Intereit' bf ' a'^iu'ropSan^wKs « concerned, was he to have no appeal ? Tfa9 eIAUJtwAs (struck out.

Tie bill passed through committee' with amendments. LOSSRS BT WAR AND NATIVE DISTURBANCES. Mr. T. MACFFARLANB asked the Hou. the Native Miniater when it was likely that the Government W>uld be in a portion to satisfy the claim* of holders of scrip given in pursuance of awards made by Mr. Commissioner Btck bain to persons who had •Bjiffertd by the war in the Waikato. t The r Hon.^Mr. Richmond (aid that Hy order of the Houie the awards Qi Mr. Beckham were ordered to be charged upon confiscated lands. Part of tb^ award was paid in cash. The Government did übt see its way to pay the remainder. But the lauds were open to those holding scrip. j Mr. Maoffarlane said he kuew a gentleman who held £10 000 worth of this scrip, and oould not realise upon it. i Major Atkinsons asked theiHon.? the Colonial Secretary what steps Hhe^oVerriment intended to take with regard to compensating the settlers whose property liad lately been destroyed in the Fatea distcict by the rebel natives. •The Hon. Mr. Stafford said the Government could do nothing with these cases until the House supplied the meaoSr All the Government oould do would be to institute an inquiry $o ascertain what losses were, and then to submit such report to the Jtlouae.

} GOLDFIBLDS ACT AMENDMENT BILL. (The Hon. Mr. .Richmond moved the second reading of this bill, which had reference to gold-mining on native lands. It wat desirable that all mining ou native lauds should be brought under one uniform •'law. The clausea were peculiarly for the conside<atioii of the committee it the second rea.ling were allowed. . There) wa» a clauue in the bill to enable the Government to deal with land below high-water mark, a great deal.of whioh was very likely,, to s be auriferous. ' The bill was read a second time.