PARLIAMENT. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Yesterday's Sitting.

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1898, Page 2

PARLIAMENT. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Yesterday's Sitting.

KAILWAY TRAVELLING. j The lion. Mr. Bolt asked the Minister of ; Education whether, with the view of increasing the comfort and convenience of the travelling public, the Minister for Railways would consider the propriety of introducing some system of dealing with passengers' hiffgaga as would give, either by registration or otherwise, less trouble and anxiety to passengers, would eusure greater safety and certainty in delivery, and more expeditious handling, than is found under the system now iv vogue. The Minister for Education, in reply, stated that regulations were being drafted for the introduction of a permissive check system, but the Department was of opinion that the present method was best for short distances. HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS. The Hon. Mr. Feldwick asked whether, seeing that the valuable and historical photographic " shields " of the members of former Parliaments in the General Assembly Library (1860, 1861, 1874, 1878, J879, 1882) were fading away fast, would the Government take immediate steps to have them renovated by some competent photographic artist, and preserved as records of the past ? j The Minister for Education admitted tbe fading, , and thought the question one for j reference to the Library Committee. He had no doubt the Government would help any suggestion that Committee might make. | • FIKST HEADINGS. The following Bills were i-ead a first time, the first two being introduced by the Minister for Education, and the third by the Hon. Mr. Pinkerton : — The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Bill, the Clutha River Board Empowering Bill, and the Gaining and Lotteries Acts Amendment Bill. IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION. The Minister for Education moved the third reading of this Bill. The Hon. Mr. M'Lean remarked that he was unavoidably absent on the consideration of the Bill in Committee, and after criticising some portions of the measure, especially those dealing with shipping, moved its recommittal to consider clauses 3, 4, 8, and 13. Tlhe Minister for Education thought if Mr. M'Lean had been present he would have seen that the Council discussed those clauses carefully. He looked at the Bill from the shipmasters 3 point of view, and hence his objections to portions of it. The colony was justified in protecting itself from evasion of the immigration regulations by imposing penalties on shipmasters. He saw no reason for the recommittal of the Bill. The Hon. Mr. Bonar supported the recommittal, taking special exception to the clause that practically forced a shipmaster to learn whether an immigrant passenger had incurred the conviction disqualification. He also objected to other provisions not contained in the Natal Act. The Hon. Mr. Oliver had understood the Bill was the outcome of a conference between the Colonial Premiers about a measure intended to be virtually uniform in all the colonies. If, as has been alleged, the Bill before tho Council contained more stringent provisions than the Natal Act, a case for recommittal had been made out. The Hon. Mr. Rigg pointed out that the law in America was far more stringent than the Act proposed here. To amend the Bill simply in the interests of the shipping companies would be to destroy its utility. He would oppose its being recommitted for that purpose. The Hon. Mr. Bolt considered the shipping interests sufficiently safeguarded in the Bill. The Hon. Mr. Scotland thought the Bill a peual one .and a bad piece of legislation. The motion for recommittal was lost by 17 to 15, and the Bill was then read a third time and passed. NATIVE INTERPRETERS. The Native Interpreters Classification Bill, dividing native interpreters into two classes, was read a second time on the motion of the Minister for Education, and referred to the Native Affairs Committee. workers' compensation bill. The second reading debate on this Bill was postponed till Tuesday at the request of the Hon. Mr. M'Lean, who said he had devoted two hours the previous night to comparing it with the English Act, but felt that he required more time to get the matter up. The Council adjourned at 3.20 p.m.