PARLIAMENT

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume L, Issue 8911, 27 October 1905, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

WELT. IN GTO \ . October 26. The t~-ou.ucil met at 2.30. RAILWAYS. In the course of _ the debate on the Aid to Public Works- and Land Settlement Bill the lions. Bolt, Marshal) and Cam- j «toss said they desired to see the halfcompleted railway lines finished before any new lines were undertaken, because they would then lie rendered reproductive to I the colony. Replying to criticism, the AttorneyGeneral said the Government was pushing forward with every expedition such lines as the Midland, * Xi>rthr Island - Trunk, and Otago Central. - ._ — The Bill was put through, committee without amendment, and passed its final stages. _ - - -- MAOHI LAND SETTLEMENT BILL. The Hon. Pitt moved tlie second read-, ing of the Maori "Land for Settlement bui. The Hon. Mahuta said he appreciated the measure as one which would greatly benefit his people. _ - The Hon. J. D. Ormond said he .regarded the Bill as a goodr and " hetrusted the next Parliament would yet further improve the legislation -in the direction of dealing with tlie native lands in a- similar fashion to -that Taeing done with the lands of Europeans. The provisions as to leasing or selling native lands might nlso be improved "by bringing the native lands under the Native Lands- for Settlement x\ct. Perhaps the- best part of the Bill was contained in-clause 16, •: which xemoved the restrictions against alienation. by lease, and whilst holding that the waste native lands might have been dealt with similar to those -under European control, yet he agreed to accept the present Bill without amendment. The Hon. T. Kennedy Macdonald strongly condemned the Bill as one quite unfair to Europeans, and condemned the Government for bringing such an important measure down in the dying hours of the session. _ . " -