POLITICAL GOSSIP.

Evening Star, Issue 9774, 2 August 1895, Page 4

POLITICAL GOSSIP.

[Fhom Our Parliamentary Reporter.]

WELLINGTON, August 2, The Dunedin Drainage Bill.

In piloting the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Bill through committee in the Council yesterday, the Hon. Downie Stewart, had many difficulties to contend with, but ho displayed conspicuous ability in combating theopposition that was la’sed to it. Clause 13, which had been amended in the House at Air Millar’s instance, so as to require the oonsent of the ratepayers to the erection of any buildings in a borough outside the city, was so altered that the oonsent of such ratepayers was dispensed with, and compensation allowed for any injuries that might be sustained by the erection of buildings. Clause 26, enabling the adjoining boroughs to take advantage of city drainage (Mr Earnshaw’s clause), was struck out, as recommended by the Local Bills Committee of the Council. Other minor alterations were made in the Bill, which was reported as amended and its third reading fixed for Wednesday, so that if the Dunedin City Council consider that the amendments make it unworkable the measure may be recommitted. Tin- Kvcflon Minis. The Minister of Mines has received the f blowing telegram, which speaks for itself, from residents ot Reefton : undersigned residents of Reefton, desire to express our sincere thanks to you and your colleagues for getting Mr David Ziman to vi dt Reeftou. His coming here is likely to be of the greatest advantage to the community, and the foreign capital which Air Ziman is introducing will greatly develop the mining industry here and prove of permanent advantage to the field.” An Outsid** opinion. The Rev, Dr Joseph Cook, the celebrated Boston divine, at present in Wellington, is a x /rong opponent of government by party. Party independence would, he believes, be the salvation of the temperance cause, and he has great hopes of the growth of an indep indent vole that would not be bound by e.ther of the parties. It was party allegiance, hi explains, that kept the Americans so long trom the abolition of slavery, but the moral sense of the people at last revolted. Ihe Civil War was fought, and slavery was abolished. It would, he holds, be the same with the drink question. They would have t ) suffer more before they were able to get r.d of a mischievous system. Tin* Themis fast*. The measure which is so dear to the heart of Air C. H. Mills, the Criminal Code Amendment Bill (No. 2), providing that application may be made to the Appeal Court for leave to move for a new trial iu the case of Lewis Chemis, convicted of the Kaiwarra murder, was again under consideration last evening. The Bill has twice passed the elective branch ol the Legislature, but has each time been thrown out lay the Council. As soon as the House went into committee ou the Bill Sir R. Stout moved that the chairman do leave the chair. He contended that if it were proper to give any particular person convicted of an offence a new trial, equal facilities should be given to all convicts to bo retried. They had no right to introduce a measure which was retrospective in its provisions and designed for the benelit of one person only.—Air Mills appealed to members to reject the motion, and accused the senior member for Wellington of personal antagonism to Chemis. Mr Bell objected to the Rill because it was general in its provisions, but was designed to meet one ease only. He suggested that the Bill should be altered so that any person convicted before the Criminal Code came into force might have the benefit ol another trial. - The Premier said he was opposed to the Bill because it was laying down a dangerous precedent. Owing to the immense lapse of lime since Chemis s trial tick place the circumstances, from the Crown po'nt of view, could not be put before the jury with the same completeness as before. Though the minority were in the right iu this mailer, lie was satisfied that a majority of members v ere determined to carry this Bill, and ho recognised that the majority must rale. —A laugh was raised by Mr Tanner saying that, as one who wished to see justice done, he would take the opinion of half a dozen sensible men before that of all the lawyers in New Zealand.—The motion that the chairman do leave the chair having been negatived by 40 to 13, Mr G. -J. Smith moved to amend the Bill in the direction of giving the right ol appeal to any person convicted of any crime before the coming into operation of the criminal code.—ln supporting this amendment, Messrs O’Regan and M'Kenzie (Bullet) instanced two other cases, in which they declared that the men convicted of murder were as i mccout of their respective crimes as they themselves were. The amendment was rejected by 42 to 12, and the Bill reported without amendment. I iielaiineil Moneys. When the Unclaimed Aloneys Bill was reached in committee last evening the Treasurer asked the member in charge to agree to report progress, saying that it was unworkable in its present form. He proposed to adopt it as a Government measure, and to have some of the clauses redrafted. Mr Joyce readily consented to the course suggested, though Messrs T. Mackenzie and Duthie objected to his being robbed of what credit might attacli to the passage of the Bill. Our Tool .Measures, The Goal Mines Act Amendment Bill ( Mr Millar) passed through committee of the House as amended by the Goldfields Committee. Thereupon Mr G. W. Russell movedanew clause author.aing the Governor-m-Council to declare any Crown land known to contain coal a coal reserve, with power to make regulations to work the same as a State coal mine, and to use its coal on the railways of the colony. This was opposed by the Premier, who challenged Mr Russell with being an advanced theorist, and told him that when he was entrusted with Ministerial responsibilities be could have an opportunity of carrying into effect his fads. This sally was received with roars ol laughter, it being lobby gossip that the member for Riccarton has aspirations in the direction of the portfolio of Railways. The second reading of the clause was refused by IS to 14, and the Bill passed as amended. Kills Passed. The Commissioners’Powers Bill and Cemeteries Act (Cremation) Amendment Bill have passed their final stages in the Council. Local Kills occupied the attention of the House yesterday afternoon. Among those that passed their final stages were the Hawksbury Borough Council Reserve Vesting Bill (Mr Green), the Otago Dock Amendment Bill (Mr Millar), the Threshing Machine Owners’ Lien Bill (Major Steward). Adulteration Prevention. When the Adulteration Prevention Amendment Bill was before the Legislative Council new clauses relating to margarine wore inserted, and yesterday the AttorneyGeneral stated that'they had been objected to by the House of Representatives as being foreign to the Bill. He therefore moved that they be struck out, promising to shortly introduce another measure embodying the excised clauses. The motion was agreed to. JottingsAir G. W. Russell accused the Premier last night, apropos of a national coal mine, of blocking every advanced Liberal proposal. Mr Carnell wants to see boots and shoes made in England to individual order bear a 4d per cent, duty, such as is proposed for English-made clothing. Purely Personal Opposition. Directly Sir R. Stout took his seat at the committee table in charge of the Defamation Bill it became evident that a lively time was in store, and with the title the fun actually begun. The title states that the object of the Bill is to amend the law relating to defamation, and the Treasurer moved to amend it so as to read “The D Lunation of Public Men Bill.” The Bill, iu- contended, would give unprincipled journalists an opportunity of defaming _ the characters of public men which such jourludists should not possess. There were only a few such journalists in the colony, and the House should place on record its opinion of them. He admired men whocriti-

cised fairly and freely, bo long as they did it in a straightforward way, but not ■ men who would not come out into the open and who would go out of their way to stab a man’s character. Asked by the hon. member in charge what were the clauses he objected to, Mr Ward replied that he objected to the Bill from beginning to end, and was,going to do so. It would give further license to unprincipled journalists to malign and traduce public men who might be opposed to them. If this Bill were passed no member would be safe. The majority of journalists in New Zealand could be entrusted with the honor of public men with even a much wider libel law, but there were exceptions to this rule. Articles had been written of himself, in Wellington of a most untruthful description by a writer who held himself up as the pinnacle of truth. Were they going to give such unprincipled men greater latitude?— Sir R. Stout characterised the proceeding just witnessed as most extraordinary. If Mr Ward opposed the principle of the Bill he should have opposed it on the second reading. The things that the Treasurer objected to were done under the existing law, and the sections which he had quoted were the existing law, and were simply declaratory of the law. A law similar to this Bill had worked well for years in the colony of Queensland. The Chief Justice of that colony (Sir S, Griffith) had written to him privately that the Bill had worked excellently there. Another provision to which the Minister objected Was that privilege should extend to a fair report of a public meeting. Should not such reporting be allowed ? or had the democracy come to this: that the right of public meeting—the keystone of democracy—was Jo I” ds.’Hed '■ It should be borne in mind that last year the Government took away their advertising from the ‘Otago Witness,’ an eminently respectable paper, and gave it to the ‘ Otago Workman,’ perhaps the most scurrilous publication in the colony. The various clauses of the Bill were in accordance with English and New Zealand law. -The Press of this colony was fairer and better conducted than most of the newspapers in London. He was amazed that hon. gentlemen calling themselves Liberals should oppose the freedom of the Press, and in so doing showed that they did not even know the alphabet of a pure democracy.—Nest came the Minister of Lands with a defence of the ‘Otago Workman,’and he said that the ‘ Otago Witness,’ in publicly criticising him (Mr M'Kenzic), had said things quite as scurrilous as the ‘Workman had said concerning Sir R. Stout. It was merely a question of “ color,” and the ‘ Otago Witness,’ though well edited, and a good newspaper on the whole, could not be regarded as the pink of perfection which the hon. member iu charge of the Bill would have the House to believe. He did not believe in killing the Bill without discussing it. He therefore thought the merits of the Bill should ho fairly debated before it went to the slaughter.—(Laughter.) if the Press had not sufficient liberty it was because of their treatment of public men by certain editors. Let the newspapers treat public men fairly and further liberty would not long be denied to the Press.— Mr (Riccarton) Russell thought that the provisions in the Bill were so far ahead of the law at present in force that it would be unwise to put it hi the Statute Book. To allow legal proceedings to be subject to criticism was a new departure. Other clauses were quoted by the member for Riccarton as being new, ami when Sir K. Stout said that the hon. gentleman was citing the law now in force Mr Russell replied that placing it on the Statute Book, as proposed, would only show unscrupulous persons that they possessed an amount of power the}’ were not aware they had at the present time.—The Treasurer said he believed the Bill to be an extremely dangerousone, and he should therefore use every reasonable means to kill it. He took a stand against it because it gave unlimited license to uuscruplous men who, by accident or otherwise, might hold responsible positions in connection with the Press >f the colony. The respectable journalists of the country did not want such powers as the Bill gave them. —Mr Duthie, speaking in favor of the Bill, said it was evident that the iron had entered the souls jf Ministers very deeply in consequence of the Press criticisms to which they had Been subjected. That was the whole secret of their opposition to the Bill.- The Minister of Education said that while following the urofeasion of a journalist , and before becoming a Minisier of tiic Crown, he held that the law afforded sufficient protection to newspapers. Hewasstillofthatopinion.—Mr Collins charged the Treasurer (who had made four speeches against it) with stonewalling the Bill. He, too, objected to the Bill, which should be known as a Bill to facilitate defamation of character.—The Premier said chat there were no chances of the Bdl uassing, and he questioned the propriety of further wasting the time of the House. He condemned the measure, because it would enable any unscrupulous person to make blackguardly statements, which could tie published without responsibility on the part of the editor of a newspaper. At the present time newspapers had quite sufficient liberty. He moved that the chairman do leave the chair.—Mr W. Hutchison said that the Bill defined precisely what libel and defamation were. The Treasurer had stated chat the journalists of the colony were, as a whole, fair men, but because there were two or three unscrupulous individuals connected with the Press of the colony they were not to have the advantages which were extended to the Press in all English-speaking countries.—Mr M‘Nab pointed out that the Bill was only a codification of the existing laws, and urged that the Crown law officers should be instructed by Government to codify the law on the lines of English law.— Sir R. Stout reminded members that the Government were pledged two years ago to bring in a Libel Bill on the lines of the English law.—Before the question was put Mr Duncan raised a laugh by asking whether the author of the Bill would insert a clause providing that uo damages should be given against anyone horse-whipping an editor who published a libel —The Premier’s motion was carried by 31 to 20. The Bill was thus killed. The following was the division list

Ayes. —Messrs Cadnian, Carnell, Carroll, Collins, Crowther, Duncan, Flatman, Graham, Hall, HallJones, Harris} Horn, Houston, CL Hutchison, Jovee, J. W. Kelly, W. Kelly, M'Gowan, T. Al’Konzie, Meredith, Millar, Mills, Morrison, Paratu, Pinkerton, (L W. Knssell, Seddon, K. AI. Smith, Stevens, Tanner, Ward, T. Thompson. Noes.— Messrs Buchanan, Buddo, Oarneross, Duthie, Earnshaw, Green, Heke, IV. Hutchison, Lang, Massey, M'Guire, R. M'Kenzie, M'Nab, Mitchelson, *o’Regan, Pirani, Saunders, G. J. Smith, Steward, Stout. Pairs.— For : Messrs Maslin, Reeves, and'T. Mackenzie. Against: Messrs Button, Captain Russell, and Dr Newman.