PARLIAMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 133, 2 December 1910, Page 4

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL The Legislative Council continued its sitting after The Post went to press yesterday. TRAMWAYS CONTROL. The Tramways Amendment Bill .was further considered in committee. The Hon. H. F. Wigram objected to clause 7, which provides that plans and full details are to accompany every application for an Order-in- Council. He urged that the clause be struck out. The Attorney-General said the clause was necessary. * The Hon. J. E. Jenkinson moved that the words "full details" be struck out of the clause. The amendment was lost on the voices. The clause as a whole was adopted by 11 votes to 6. On clause 8, providing for a fine where a driver "fails to produce his certificate" when requested to do so, the Hon. J. "J£. Jenkinson moved to add the words ," without good and sufficient reason" after "certificate." The suggested addition was accepted by the Attorney-Gen-eral. All the other, clauses; were passed with minor amendments. The Hon. H. F. Wigram moved a new clause — "Nothing in thij^Act shall apply to any -tramway owned and managed by a local authority." The amendment was rejected on the voices, and the Bill was reported with amendments and passed. CROWN AMENDMENTS. The amendments" made by .His Excellency the Governor in the Thermal Springs Bill and the Hospital and Charitable -Institutions Bill were agreed to. The Council rose shortly before 5 p.m. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. • The House continued its sitting after : The Post -went to press yesterday. ! THERMAL SPRINGS. ' b Technical amendments to the Thermal Springs^ Bill were brought down by Governor's Message, and were apt proved. LAND SETTLEMENT. The managers appointed to confer with representatives of the Legislative Council on the Land Settlement Finance Bill submitted a report indicating that the Bill, in its present form, contained provisions to prevent the aggregation of estates, as desired by the House of Representatives. PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT. Answering an enquiry by Mr. Massey, the Hon. R. M'Kenzie said that the debate on the Public Works Statement would begin at 2.30 or 7.30 p.m. today. RAILWAYS AMENDMENT. In committee on the Government Railways Amendment Bill, the Minister (the Hon. J. A. Millar} said he was prepared to drop sections 2, 4, 7, and 8. These sections, affecting the status and rights of employees, have been keenly opposed by the railway workers. These alterations were agreed to, and the Bill was reported with amendments. MINING LAW. When the House again went into committee on the Mining Act Amendment Bill, Mr. Poland urged that the clause dealing with gold-stejaling should be struck out. Mr. Wilford : Hear, hear. Mr. Witty: It is an insult* to the miners. The Hon. R. M'Kenzie said that as a private member Jie had always op* posed this clause, and he was willing to accept the decision of the House. It was decided, on the voices, that the clause should be struck out. Mr. Poland further moved that the> existing law, which compelled working men's inspectors not employed in the mine concerned -to go before a magistrate and make a sworn declaration, be struck out. Mr. Herries said the danger was that if ths amendment was carried, facilities might be afforded for obtaining information which might be used for manipulating the Stock Exchange. A rich patch might be unearthed, and the information might easily be given out before the shareholders had time to act. Mi*. Glover had recently stated that a Stock Exchange existed in Auckland where "gambling flourished in all its natural splendour." If an outsider had permission to goi into a mine, and use the information he obtained to suit himself, the^ position would not be satisfactory. The Minister said he foresaw the difficulty outlined by Mr. Herries, but he was willing to leave it to the House to say what should be done. Mr. Reed moved that sub-clause 1 of. clause 16 be struck out. This clause provided that, in addition to' the duty payable under the Gold Duty Act on the export of gold, there shall henceforth be payable a tax of 3d per ounce for the p.urposes of a gold minera' -relief fund. Mr, Reed said he wanted to see v&jigy? provision added to the clause to provide that the sum of 3d per ounce be paid out of the gold duty, and not in addition to it. Othefwis"e, he contended, many of the smaller mining propositions would be seriously affected. The Minister announced that he was going to have the clause redrafted, so as to apply to quartz mining only in the North Island. Further consideration of the clause was accordingly postponed. ' Clause 19 provided that in every working shaft which exceeds 200 ft in length or depth there shall be provided a' cage for the purpose of raising and lowering persons employed in the mine; this provision to come into operation on Ist January, 1912. Mr. Poland said that in the Talisman mine there was a shaft nearly 450 ft deep, and he urged that in view of the hardship on the men the provision bhould come into force at once. Hb was told that a skip to raise and lower the men could be provided foi:-.£Boo. A strike lasting a month' would cost far more than that. He had known strong young men go down into that mine, and after working half a shift refuse to go- on. The Minister said that his information from his department was that the company -was using every diligent effort to sink a' "shaft to provide a cage, and he thought it was only fair to give the company reasonable time to carry out the work. He moved' to amend the clause so aa to make the time limit 60th October, 1911. Tnis was agreed to on the, voice?, and the clause passed. Asked by Mr. 'Herries what he intended to do about clause 16, relating to the gold duty, the Minister replied that he thought it would be as well to stick to the clause as it existed in the Bill. The Hon. A R. Guinness said he trusted' that tbe House would confirm the principle of the Bill, and make the gold miners' relief fund a colonial fund, Mr. Herries said he thought that if the quartz mines were to fiud the nucleus of the fund, it would be necessary to create two districts— possibly a Hauraki district and a Reefton district. The Minister: I am going to stick to the clause as it is. Mr. Vernon Reed : .That means that you refuse to accept my amendment to make the present gold "duty suffice to meet the requirements of a relief fund. The Minister: Yea. :

Mr. Reed's amendment was then put, and declared lost on the voices. On the Minister's motion, clause 20 ■was amended so as to facilitate mining and prospecting upon native lands. A new clause was added providing that any person who has for 12 months been in charge of a mine, employing not less than six men, and does not hold a certificate of competency as a mine manager, shall be entitled to a certificate of service of the second class. The Hon. A. K. Guinness moved that a new clause be inserted to give a Saturday half holiday to miners and others employed about a mine. The amendment was lost on the voices, and the Bill was then reported with amendments. On the third reading Mr. Massey raised the point that- as the Bill provided for increase in the gold duty, it should have been considered in committee of Ways and Means. Another point was that the Bill would have to receive the Royal assent, in that it meant an increase of taxation of- royal metals. 1 The Speaker ruled that the point raised was sound. Probably the best way out of .the. difficulty would be to recommit the Bill, and strike out clause 16. The provisions of that clause could later be brought down in the. form of a separate Bill, The Minister said he would recommit the Bill,. and have the clause struck out. On the motion of the Hon. R. M'Kenzie the committee then went into committee pi ways and means, and put clause 16 through without amendment. The Bill was 'then read a third time and passed. A "WASHING-UP "BILL; With very few words, Sir Joseph Ward moved the 'second reading of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal and Public . Bodies Empowering Bill, a "washing-up" measure of 98 clauses. Mr. Massey recorded a protest against the introduction of such a large order in the last hours of the session, t Sir Joseph Ward, in reply, said that a measure of this kind must necessarily be held over till the end of the -session. He was in favour of separate legislation on every occasion, but there were cases, such as occurred occasionally, -when such a. .8i1l was necessary. Regarding Sydney-street the Bill only gave legislative force to the proposals he had already inade'pnblic,~except that instead of a iiigKt ''of' fiteps ftom, the ground up to the 5 fop 'of Hill-street, provision had been made for a' pathway on an easier grade from Sydney-street. Negotiations were 'going on for the disposal of the land at th^ corner of- Bowen -street. The Government would take only what was required, but the negotiations had not been quite completed. As to the Oamami Harbour 'Board loans the arrangement proponed was a perfectly safe one as fai as the Dominion was concerned. The second reading was agreed to on the voices. The Bill was then committed, and passed that stage with technical amendments, which were agreed to. The measure was then put through final stages. " NATIVE CLEARING-UP BILL." ' The Maori Land Claims Adjustment Bill was considered in. committee. The Bill is of a technical nature, and its progress was not very -keenly followed by most members. Eventually the Bill was reported from committee with amendments, which were agreed to, and it was read a third time and passed. LAWOFLIBEL, \ At 1.20 a.m. the House went into committee oh 'the Libel-Bill. J Exception was. taken by Mr., Herdmaa to the proposal -in* clause 2, that statements authorised by a-ny Minister of the Crown shall be privileged. Sir Joseph Ward explained that it was intended to .allow the publication under certain conditions of official reports and statements which could not otherwise be published. The clause passed without amendment. In clause 4 exception was taken to the provision that a person who takes action, against one paper for libel must proceed in respect of the same libel against other papers within ten days after the commencement of the first action. It was considered that ten days was fixing too short a period of limitation, as it might tend to prevent an aggrieved person taking action against newspapers repeating libels after the first publication. The ten days' limit was got rid of on. the voices, and thirty days was inserted instead. Sir Joseph Ward said be believed they would have to re-amend the Bill, as otherwise it might interfere with the provisions 'of the Bill regarding the consolidation of actions. Mr. Jennings moved an amendment to clause 7 to provide that any apology inserted in a newspaper after publishing defamatary matter shall be printed in the leading columns. Mr. Russell pointed out that a person might be libelled in a magazine or paper that had no leading article, and, therefore, tho proposal would not be workable. Sir Joseph Ward remarked that frequently the leading column of a paper was sometimes its most misleading feature. (Laughter.) The amendment moved by Mr. Jennings was negatived on the voices. Exception was taken by Mr. Fisher to clause B,' which he regarded as a proposal to enable certain, libelling newspapers to get out of paying damage because other papers had been successfully proceeded against for the same libel. It seemed to him that the Bill was designed entirely in the interests of the newspaper companies. Mr. Wilfprd said there seemed to be a. difference of opinion among members as to whether people who had been libelled should seek a profit or a recompense. Mr. Russell suggested the advisability of establishing a scale of liability on the part of libelling newspapers, so as to divide the liability on a reasonable basis. At present the first person aimed at would be the chief sufferer. Mr Fisher moved to amend the clause by providing that in an action for defamation the defendant may prove in mitigation of damages "that the plaintiff has already recovered damages." Mr. Davey urged that when a libel had been widely published, the complainant ought to state when laying his complaint that he intended to consolidate his action. Mr. Fisher insisted on the necessity of providing for the apportionment of damages among newspapers equally lia-ble. His proposal to amend tho clau*t> waa lost by 35 votes to 18. Some members objected to clause 10, which, it was considered, gave the magistrate too much power in deciding whether or not he should send the case to a jury. This, it was contended, was conferring a very large power on magistrates as against the person who considered he was libelled. The clause was retained by 26 votes to 25. The Bill was then reported with amendments, read ' a third time, and passed. COAL MINES. The Coal Mines Amendment Bill completed its progress through committee, and was reported with amendments. These were agreed to. and the Bill \\as put through final stages. ihe House at 3.30 a.m. adjourned until 11 a.m.