PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 39, 14 August 1895, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

818 JOHN HAIL'S GIFT. Here ia Sir John Hall's letter with his gift of the great portrait of Her Majesty :— " I have tha honour to request that you will submit to Parliament my respeotfal applioation that it will be pleaeed to accept from me a portrait of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, as a slight token of regard for the Legislature of whioh, for nearly 40 years, it waa an honour and a pleasure for me to be a member." THI BANK PBOPOSUiS. The annual meeting of the Bank of New Zealand must be held before the end of the present month. Ten days' notice is required, and as the proposed speoial Committee of the two Honses is required to report within a week from Thursday, it is the evident intention to bring down the report before the directors report. There will probably be some attempt made in the House to prevent this. There are fonr Ministers on the proposed Committees. The Attorney-General is excluded, as he is solicitor for the Bank. A good deal of dissatisfaction is expressed aa to the constitution of the Lower House Committee, with its three Ministers, and probably an amendment will be moved tomorrow to increase the number of this committee to nine. JOTTINQ3. Mr. Millar bo strongly disapproves of the tariff that he says he would vote for Captain Kussell's motion against it but for the Treasurer's promise to receive suggestions of amendment. Mr. Saundera considers the model speech of the debate has been that of the Minister for Lands. Mr. W. Hntohison also commended it. It was generally appreciated in the House, and it was characterised by argument instead of reorimiriation. Mr. Crowtber, speaking as an expert, gays it is absurd to talk of our sending horses to South Australia, as if we could land a horse there for .£lO, New South Wales could for £5, and New South Wales last year landed 1000 horses on the Auckland wharf. The Minister for Labour has given notice of the Chattels Transfer Act Amendment Bill. " The Budget is good enongh as Bndgets go, barring its bad grammar and other eccentricities (laughter)"— Mr. W. Hutchison. The Hon. Mr. Steward wants a reduoed railway rate for the carriage of trout and game sent by sportsmen to their friends. " We must have twine duty free." — Mr. M'Laohlan. Mr. G. J. Smith is trying to discover whether barmaids are getting the halfholiday provided for them under the Shops and Shop Assistants Act. - " The Premier's ancient history has not the least bearing upon our position at the present It is only the schoolboy wno, when he quarrels with his ohum, points his finger[at him and says ' You're another.' " —Mr. W. Hntohißon on the Premier's Budget speech. Mr. M'Lachlan says if Government persists in its "iniquitous tariff" it will be defeated. " Some members on this side appear to consider it their duty to utter weak and meaningless paregorics of all Government proposals."— Mr. W. Hntchison. Mr. K. Thompson oonsiders that the Village Settlements are failures. Mr. O'fiegan fails to see how any Liberal can support a Protective tariff. Samuel Morrell, a Wellington bricklayer, is petitioning for extension of time in whioh he can protect a patent sash fastener. " After perusing Gulliver's Travels, a conntryman was asked what he thought of the book, and he said, ' Well, there was an air of improbability abont it,' " said Mr. W. Hutchison last night, and he added, " There were some 'peculiarities' abont the paragraphs of this Budget." The Petitions Committee reports that John King, of Auckland, has " no claim on the colony" for compensation for loss in attending a Boyal Commission. " Public economy is a lost art."— Mr. W. Hutchison. Mr. O'Began says there was no need to ¦addle the colony with the .£I2OO of the Tariff Commiseon. The heads of departments oould have done the work muoh better. " The Treasurer talks of establishing a Sinking Fund — let him first pay up the Sinking Fund that was established." — Mr. Blunders. Mr. B. Thompson thinks the sooner the Estates Company goes into liquidation the better for the country. Here are some of the speakers still to be heard on the Budget— Messrs. Tanner, Stevens, Mills, Larnaoh, M'Nab, M'Guire, Lawry, J. W. Kelly, W Kelly, Maalin, Hall-Jones, Earnshaw, Collins, Graham. Dr. Newman has presented a petition from 73 Waimarino settlers, dissenting from the claim of Mr. Willis that "the Wang&nui River is opening up 500,000 acres of the Waimarino," and stating that their outlets should be (1) the Main Trunk Bailway, (2) a road to Wanganui via Parapara, and (3) the Wanganui Hirer. Mr. O'Regan says that land valued at .£13,000,000 escapes taxation under the Land Tax exemptions. To abolish these would bring in .£54,000. Boading Pomahaka coat .£1852, surveys .£486, management £160. During the past three years the railway employe's at the Hilhide workshops have only had 43, M, and 41 hours' work per week respectively. Mr. O'Began believes the prosperity of New South Wales under Freetrade will be so great that the other colonies mnßt follow. There had been 20 convictions and eight withdrawals of aotions under the Faotoriei Ant, and four convictions, three dismissals, and two withdrawals under the Shops and Shop Assistants Aot, up to 30th June last. Mr. E. Thompson hopes members will not bo oanght in a trap with regard to the Ban! of New Zealand, as he says they were las! year. Mr. Flatman considers that the Advances to Settlers Aot enslaves, instead of helping, settlers. Both Mr. E. Thompson and Mr. Flatman objeot to Wellington " getting the oream" of the money advanced under the Advances to Settlers Act. The Wellington Provincial District got the largest proportion of ad* vanoes. Mr. Saunders last night trenchantly condemned the proposal to put England, which took all our prodnots free, at a disadvantage as compared with Canada and South Australia, with whom we had no trade. Mr. Crowther Bays that as wages are now loner than ever, the time is inopportune for the raising of the tariff. Leave of absence from the Legislative Council has been granted to the Hon. L. Walker from the 17th August to the end of the session, on account of urgent private affairs. In moving for leave, the Hon. L. Walker said that he did so solely on account of the depression and the bad winter, whioh compelled him to look after his private affairs. In spite of the words put into the Governor's month, the depression, at least in hiß part of the country, was aa dismal, and dull, and dark as ever it waa. j As a result of the delay for upwards of a fortnight in the publication of No. 8 of Hansard, we now have a most oarefnllyedited version of the speeohes delivered on 12th July by the Colonial Treasurer, the Premier, and the Minister 'for Labour regarding Mr. Ward's statements in London. The revised edition given in Hansard seems to bear only a faint resemblance to the speeches as delivered, and great ingenuity h*B had to be exerciEed in trying to reconcile the several Ministerial speeches with each other. It would be interesting if the original Hansard proofs could be obtained for comparison with the correoted revises.