PARLIAMENTARY SUMMARY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 880, 1 October 1867, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY SUMMARY.

(From the Wellington " Evening Post.") Dubing a nine hours' sitting last night, (Monday, Sept. 23,) the House of Representatives got through a large batch of <most important work. Mr. [Reynolds, with unaccustomed judgment, withdrew his motion, relative to offensive language within the precincts of the House, and thus made way for matter of greater public interest. Mr. Yogel carried a very useful resolution, for allowing the Sinking Fund of the 1856 Loan to be invested in New Zealand securities ; and another for securing the joint action of the Australian colonies in negociating loans with the Mother Country. Both these were seconded by and received the cordial support of the Colonial Treasurer. Leave wasgiventoMr. J. Hall and Mr. J. C. Richmond to bring in bills for consolidating the juries law. and augmenting the powers of Government in dealing with confiscated lands. The bill for raising £260,000 by loan was brought down from the Governor, and read a first time. Mr. Murison carried his motion in favor of the introduction of salmon after some slight show of opposition. The principle of continuing the present system of an annual session of the Legislature was unanimously affirmed on a motion of Mr. Beeves. Rather an animated debate ensued on the attempt to get the sanction of the House to a loan of £6000 for building a bridge over the Wairau, in Marlborough. Although receiving a qualified support from the Premier, Mr. Eyes' bridge was unable to stem the weight of the stream of opposition brought against it, and gave way to a majority of seven. The Timaru and Gladstone Local Board Bill then went through a final struggle, although, owing to the illness of Mr. Moorhouse, it was not nearly so severe as the previous fights. The eyes of the Superintendent of Canterbury had either been opened to the uselessness of the obstructive . opposition he had adopted on former occasions, or the state of his health prevented him displaying, the same vigour in his attack. He therefore yielded gracefully, expressing his determination, if the bill became law, to do his duty in administering it honestly and justly, at the same time recording his unalterable opinion that its operation would be mischievous.' He 1 then called for a division, and the result was thirty-six members voted for the bill, and seventeen against it, thus carrying it through a third reading by a majority of nineteen. This is, no doubt, a triumph for the so-called Colonial party, but it by no means follows that Provincialism is effete, because this insidious attempt to stab it in the dark has, for the time succeeded. The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bill was read a second time, after a division of 22 against 17. The debate brought up a great many speakers, among them Mr. Haughton, who opposed it bitterly, and Mr. G. Graham, who, in supporting it, gave some harrowing details of domestic misery arising from ill-assorted unions, so as to make us believe that married couples in Auckland live universally a most eat-and-dog life. Several bills were read a third time, and at two this morning the House rose to sit again at two this afternoon. In the House of Representatives, yesterday, (Tuesday, September 24) an Act constituting the County of Westland, and providing for its better government, was Drought down from the Governor by message. It was read a first time, and will be read a second time to-morrow. This may be looked upon as the oflicial reply to the Westland Petition, and as the first out-crop of the so-called Local, but really Centralising policy, portended by the success of the Timaru and Gladstone Bill. It is very unlikely, however, that at this advanced period of the session any serious effort wiil be mad„ by either the House or the Ministry to deal with so large a measure, involving such important interests, and which must be submitted to the most lengthened discussion. Another measure, deeply affecting the welfare of the same district, the Hokitika, Greymouth, and Okarita Town Lands Bill, was referred to the Waste Land Committee — about equivalent at this time of the session to shoving it into the waste paper basket. Then came the Committee of Supply, in which Mr. Hall made some propositions for a sweeping retrenchment in postal expenses — at the cost, however, he candidly stated, of postal efficiency. The four services connected with the English Mails to be reduced to two or two and . a half, so that steamers would arrive at and depart from each port twice a month. This would save about £12,000 a year. A further saving of £3,500 might be made in the inland mail service. While proposing these changes, he did not advocate them, as he believed an efficient postal service to be of more advantage to the colony than the mere money saying. The motion for reducing the cost of sea-borne mails by £7000 was lost by the Chairman's casting vote, the ayes and noes being each 27. The House then resuming, the Loan Allocation Bill came on for discussion on the second reading. The Colonial Treasurer inaugurated the debate with a short speech, simply explaining that its object was to relieve the North of a quarter of million of debt, and to suspend for three years the payment of £30,000. Mr. Stevens made a vigorous onslaught on the measure, which the Auckland members as vigorously resisted, Mr. Williamson naively remarking that it didn't much matter whether they passed the bill or not, as his unfortunate province wouldn't bo able to pay. After a protracted debate, the bill Avas passed at two o'clock this morning by a majority of 26 fco 13. The House sat last night, (Thursday, Sept. 26) with the pertinacity that has distinguished it this session, from five o'clock in the evening until past one this morning. During these eight hours, a very large per-centage of business that encumbered the Order Paper was cleared off. Although it did not— and probably was not expected — lead to anything practical, Mr. Carleton's motion for limiting our New Zealand Congress to a simple half-hundred members elicited some expressions of opinion that were worth lis r tening to ; the Premier almost fearing that a move in this direction would be necessary some day, as the colony would not be able to find able men to devote themselves to the task of legislation in proportion to its rapid advance in population and material wealth. Mr. H. A. Atkinson, on the contrary, exhibited.much jealousy of such a measure, as showing a tendency to government by a Venetian Oligarchy, and said that it would take three times the number proposed to do the Avork before them properly. A motion for training all our , youth as soldiers was approved of, although nobody was able to explain where the money was to come from. The dying struggles of the anti-divorce party, when the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bill was going into Committee, were fierce and protracted, . but in vain. Mr. Haughton, the bill's arch-enemy, announced the wonderful discovery, that all the voters in the majority were married men, which imputation one of them indignantly denied, saying he wasn't married, never had been, and never meant to be. Then Mr. Haughton, with a piteous upward glance at the gallery above him, whence "ladies' eyes rained influence," made a final appeal to the House to pro. tect the women of New Zealand against

the base.eoncocters of this ihiquiteusin-a-:^' sure, which Mr. BuDny characterised "asj* y contrivance for taking a wife on a renew-, able lease, for three, six, or nine years. The House, however, thought it more imperative to protect- the women of New Zealand against the tyranny of a brute 7of ' husband who chose to consider that all; conjugal duties were comprised in castigation. Accordingly, Mr. Carletpn, somewhat embarrassed by the fair presence in which he stood, slurred over the clauses so as least to offend the delicate ears that listened to them, and at eight o'clock last night the Divorce Bill virtually became . the law of the land,. A good deal of routine business was then disposed of, and Auckland put in one of her beggar's petitions for a Railway Loan, which she assuredly won't get, although, as members wanted to get to bed, they let it pass a second reading.