Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1870. .

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 812, 11 August 1870, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1870. .

Indications of the of the present session of the New Zealand Parliament are abundant in the reports of proceedings received by the Ranffatira vesierdav. The estimates are being rapidly pushed off, item bv item, in many cases almost with out discussion- in fact, opposition seems to be almost at an end,' At times, however, (.here are incidents of a character sufficiently exciting, and which keep up the interest of parties during days, Of this nature was a little passage of arms between Mr Ormond on the one hand, and Mr Gillies and Mr RoU leston on the other ; and for which a contemporary says " ' The Battle of the Superintendents ' would not be an inappropriate title." The "battle"' was opened by Mr Ormond, who, in criticising a recent speech of Mr Gillies (in which he said he would rather have the present Government there, than that of the member for Timaru) remarked that " it was the speech of the ultra-pro-vincial Superintendent of Auckland, who would rather keep under the reign which might allow him the greatest grandeur in his kingdom," who said, " * Perish the Colony—leave me king of Auckland,' but who will find, when the house has adopted the proposals of the Government, that the days of his Bumbledom are numbered." A day or two afterwards Mr Gillies and Mr Rolleston had an opportunity of retaliating when the item " Clerks to Resident Agent of Government at Hawke's Bay " came on for discussion. The " battle " became " fast and furious," but after rnuch discussion, the item was passed.

Mr M'Lean has introduced a bill for the purpose of preventing the sale of .spirits in native districts. In moving its second reading he remarked that he had recently at'-ended a meeting of 3,000 natives, at which not % single bottle of spirits, was used. The chief of that district fined any of hU tribe who became intoxicated, A discussion ensued, in. which Messrs Qa.rleton ?

and the two Maori members sup-

ported the bill, and Mr Bunny objected (though he would not oppose the bill) to all special legislation for the natives. Mr Collins remarked that lie would like its provisions extended to the whole Colony. The bill was read a second time. We cannot see the utility of this new bill. There is a already in existence;, making it penal to sell drink to a native—which law the Government will not enforce, If they resolved to enforce the existing law, the evil complained of would be at an end, and it is not clear to us that any good is to be done by the mere multiplication of laws. The present proposal is to repeal the existing but unenforced law, and pass a kind of compromise, which will allow natives to get as much drink as they please in European districts, even up to the boundary line; but prevent Europeans from selling the article in strictly native districts. We confess that we do not see any reason to expect that the proposed law will prove more effectual than that which it is to supersede.

I By the Ran«atira, which arrived last a\ ening, we have received loose files of Wellington and Canterbury papers. The news is aot of very great importance. A few extracts appear in other columns. The Late Fire,—An official in quiry was held on Monday afternoon last, into the cause of the late fire which destroyed Mr Palmer's stables. Several witnesses were examined, but no light was thrown upon the cause of the lire. Mr Palmer, in his evidence, stated that a watch and chain, too much burnt to be identified, were found among the ruins ) but their presence there cannot be accounted for. The following verdict was returned by the jury :—"There is no evidence as to the origin of the fire."

Immigration Defaulters. Jn to-day's paper appears a portion, of the. list of immigrants and sureties who have not paid their dues. The complete list will most probably ap pear on Mondav, the Immigration Agent having been unable to prepare it in time for our issue of to-day. Appointment.—We see by the Wellington Independent iha T j J. N, Wilson, Esq., of Napier, has been appointed Crown Prosecutor for the district of Hawke's Bay, under the iusu-ict Courts Act, 1858.

Our attention has been directed to a typographical error in the correspondence column of our last issue, by which the tight at Omaranui is represented as ba\ Ing taken place in 1860 instead of 1866. The context, however, will have shown the error.