PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Monday, 3rd December.

Evening Post, Volume XV, Issue 284, 4 December 1877, Page 2

PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Monday, 3rd December.

In the House yesterday afternoon, the Waste Lands Bill was read a second time by 30 votes to 26.— At the evening sitting, a message from the Governor was received. It covered a very lengthy correspondence between himself and the late and present Government relative to a visit from Sir William Jervois, to report upon the defences of the colony. The late Government requested his Excellency to arrange for a visit from Sir- William Jervois, but when the present Ministry came into power they asked him to indefinitely postpone such a visit, as the finances of the colony would not allow expenditure upon its internal defences, and they refused to send the Hinemoa to Hobart Town for him. In reply, his Excellency expressed great regret at the determination of the Government, which he did not think would raise New Zealand in the eyes of the world, and he poiuted out that in the event of war England could not possibly send sufficient ships to the Australian colonies to protect them. — The correspondence was ordered to be printed. — Sir George Grey moved the second reading of the Financial Arrangements Bill, describing its different provisions. The land revenue to the end of December would reach £900,000, and he thought it would not be an over-estimate to calculate on £550,000 being received in the next siv months, out of which £320,000 would have to be paid back to the provinces, if the figures of Major Atkinson were correct, besides which the 20 per cent would have to be paid, leaving the residue as colonial revenue. He thought it very desirable that the counties should be encouraged to open up main arterial roads, and the Government would next session introduce a measure having this object. The counties could then be assisted by the Government, but on the condition that this 20 per cent, was spent on arterial roads, bridges, and other local works of great importance. Sir George Grey then went at length into figures to show that the Government would be just able, with the aid of the land fund, to make both ends meet. — Major Atkinson said Sir George Grey's financial statement was utterly unintelligible to him. He then disputed the items one by one, and proved, just as conclusively as Sir George Grey had done, that there would be a deficit of £800,000 in the revenue. — The debate was carried on until 1.30 this morning, when the second reading of the bill was carried by 45 to 12. — Mr. Beetham, Mr. Walter Johnston, and a number of other Opposition members, supported the colonialisation of the land fund, while they objected to the land policy of the Government, and Mr. Montgomery voted against the bill.

The Taranaki Gold Prospecting Company has now been formed. The object is to prospect the ranges leading from Mount Egmont. The capital is £1000, in £10 shares, and it was originally proposed to allot 25 shares to Wellington; but in the report of Mr. Thomas, the projector, it is said that no one in Wellington would take the affair in hand. Mr. Thomas adds: — "As regards the formation of the country and the strata, it looks as likely to bear minerals as any ground I have seen on the Thames goldfieid/' It is proposed to establish a hospital at Masterton, and the Standard says the site has already been obtained.