PARLIAMENT.

North Otago Times, 3 December 1910, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

—4 Per Press Association. Welltegfcon, Dec,

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The' Council met at 2.30, —Municipal Corporations.— The Municipal Corporations Bill was recommitted in order to consider certain new clauses proposed by the! Attorney-General. These provided that) heavy traffic licenses shall ba, extended to any district within five miles of the boundary, of a city for financial adjustment >on the alteration of boundaries for the appointment 'by. municipalities of special constables, The new provisions were agreed to, and the Bill passed. -BUls.Thc l Government Railways Act Amendment (No. 2), the Mining Act Amendment, and the Coal Mines Amendment Bills passed all their final stages unamended. -Libel Bill.— Dr Findlay moved the second reading oi the Libel Bill. The Discussion which followed indicated general approval of the measure, together with a; new clause which the Attorney-General proposed to introduce, providing for a libel being dealt with summarily by a magistrate. In committee the new clause was adopted as follows: (1) The indictable offence of publishing a defamatory libel or criminal defamation within the meaning of the Crimes Act, 1908, shall also be an offence •punishable on summary conviction before a magistrate by a fine of £IOO or, by imprisonment for three months. (2) In any such summary proceedings it shall be a good defence that the defamatory matter published by the ddxndant was true and that'the publication, thereof was for the P'ublic benefit, but no evidence of the truth of such matter shall be admissible until and unless the defendant proves that assuming the matter so published to-be true the publication thereof was for the public benefit. (3) An information for any offence punishable on summary conviction under this section shall be taken ; and heard before a magistrate only, and no such prosecution shall be commenced without an order of a magistrate, and notice of intention to apply for such order shall he given to the defendant,, who shall hav& the opportunity of being beard against the application.

The Legislative Council last night Passed the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill through all its stages. This includes the Government guarantee of the Oamaru Hart'or Board's loans in connection with its consolidation scheme,

HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES.

-Fruit Farms.—' Mr T.-Mackenzie said aggregation was not intended, (is the Bill provided -that the allotments should not esceed 75) acres. The land was practically worthless, (but would allow people'witu < a , knowledge of gardening to make a living on small holdings'. Regarding tha coal deposit he said he would sooner see the people working on the surface tnan in the bowels of the earth. The Bill was committed. At cjause 2, proviidiiigi that land may be set apart for fruit farms and leased or otherwise disposed of, Mr Hogg moved to delete the latter words,,, the object being to prevent alienation, ■ The amendment was rejected by 43 to 12. Mr Hogg said if the freehold were given to fpiUarm settlers it could no longer be withheld from Crown tenants. The Government had shown its hand freely in this Bill, and he had no further confidence in their land policy. The Bill wag reported and.pa^efl a !! vfow, , -Conservation of Water Power..-' On the motion to go into Committee of Supply, Mr Massey denounced the mw departure in the scheme for electrical supply fl 9 reckless and extravagant in the extreme. The 'House had agreed to the proposals without sufficient information on the subject. Waipori, was . the.

only system in the Dominion on • which ■ an opinion could be based, and that was not successful, although there were indications that it might be. The prospects of the Waihi scheme were, he considered, better than any of the Government's proposals. He quoted figures for authorities he had been reading, up 'from which he concluded the schemes, were not payable unless local bodies were prepared to take'' their power from the State. The Government should not not 6° on with the enterprise. He,threw doubt en the Kaituna scheme paying in fact of Auckland's steam-developed supply. s The Hoii.se met at 11 o'clock, -Fruit Farms.The second reading of the Fruit Farms Settlement Bill, the object of which is to eca'lfle the Government to lease farms of '2O to 30 acres at.Wairangia which are now ready for bebg thrown open. If the Bill is not ' i; passed this session the GovernmerA t >«| would have to maintain the farn^i-- "~< 1 Mr Massey said the iarms mn nbk- "\| likely to pay settlers. e|nd,«fs there <•• were indications that there were coal deposits there he hoped the Government would 'have surveys made. Mr Hogg said the Bill was freehold and contained no provision against, aggregation. Messrs Duncan, Poole and' Lawry supported the Bill, the latter predicting that fruit farms settlements

would, be an unqualified success. The House met. at 2.30. -Public Works Statement.Mr Massey resumed bis speech on the ' Public Works Statement. He

laid stress on-the necessity for constructing the East Coast Railway, especially the connecting" link between Pararoa and the main line. Sir. Joseph Ward replied to Mr Massey's strictures on the water power schemes. He recognised that the undertaking.,was important, calling for the exercise of caution. Though the population af the Dominion was small, it was commercially active, and he ventured to say. that as the result of putting the water scheme into operation the country would : insist on all the proposed systems (Bering carried out. Sir. Joseph Ward went on to refer to the five million loan, which had been floated on favorable terms. He denied the suggestion of Mr Massey that the Bank of New Zealand had underwritten the loan. The. great financial houses of England considered the Dominion so satisfactory that they had underwritten at 8£ per cent, when the Bank of England rate was 5 per cent, The loan was a good thing for thei Dominion. The Premier read out the returns of the revenue lor the period of eight months' [ended the 30th November, .1910, showing that the increases in the various departments are as follow: Customs £24(7,773, stamps £158,289, Post 'and Telegraph £10,869, land and income 1 tax £12,387 bear duty £1606, railways £184,976, marine £2017, 'tentorial £31,468. The decreases \are: Registration and other, fees £798, miscellaneous £2658. The net increase for the seven,' months ended 31st October, ■ 1910, Is £117,171, and the total in- ■ crease for the eight months is £,G45,930. He predicted that a t lower rate of interest would prevail In the near future than had been the case, for the last seven or eight years. This would lead to increased i Industrial aotl'vity. Oojncludfng; 'Sir

Joseph' referred to. railway construction, and condemned the suggestion that the lines! should be oarried out in a piecemeal fashion. Th<j system now being followed was -a, sensibU one. Thirty miles of the Stratford-Ongarue line would be ton. structed in 2£ years. The House, resumod at 7,30. The debate on the Public " Works Statement was resumed. Mr R. M'Kenzie, replying, contended that the sanitary arrangerangcmcnts at-the Runanga mine were as 'good as any In the Da-. minion. The result of the clause inserted in: the Cosl,Min:a Aei relating to sanitation would joroUaWy be the closing of the mine altogether or an increase in the cost of coal. —Amendments.— Amendments to the Land Settlement Finance Bill and the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Bills were; introduced by Governor's message. In the former Bill clause 8 (provldiivg for an assurance, fund) was struck out, and in the latter Bill amendments were made making Mr Justice Sim a Judge of the Supreme Court, and to enable the Court to go on with the hearing of any dispute notwithstanding any irregularities in the framing of the dispute.