General Assembly of New Zealand.

New Zealander, Volume 11, Issue 981, 8 September 1855, Page 3

General Assembly of New Zealand.

OP REPRESENTATIVES. Twebdat, August 98. The following was omitted in our iait report. EXCLUSIVE TAXATION. Mr. PORTER rose to move—- . "For leave to bring in a Bill to prevent one porhon of the community imposing taxes or levying rates from which they are themselves exempt.” He would direct the attention of the House to this ■°hon. J he Provincial Council had empowered a certain portion of the community to levy rates from which they themselves were exempt —lie allude I to the Auckland Harbour Commissioners, many of whom * ere hot shipowners or connected with shipping. He thought the House would agree with him in asserting P principle that rates should be levied, ei her by those "‘ 0 paid them, or by the whole community. Mr. iIACOT seconded the motion. Mr. SEWELL opposed the motion. He had no “ ea that the House was called upon to discuss any Hterin connexion with the Harbour of Auckland; *>s quite foreign to the House. What the hon. ® e ®ber said might be very good and sound, and no °ubt would answer w hen it could be applied ; but according to the suggestions of the hon. mover no must tax a dog he did not keep himself. Not ®itg able to perceive that any practic'd result would he could not support the motion. Mr. O’NEILL observed that it had not been his innatlon ’o have addressed the house on the motion 2w under consideration, but as the hon. member had v ; ° en at some length on the question, and as his . tM T' verc not exactly correct, lie felt it to be his duty | ,° ur a few remarks. The hou. member was the thr tr tbe bl4l, all( * lle car * ,ull y nursed it ° u / h fhe Provincial Council for four months; he ji U ral her he had strangled the thing in its infancy the!! l ° abow 11 to rea °h maturity and usefulness, and 111/ aUe i. lt P t t0 'brow it overboard, As to the pccu- . constituency spoken of, he might be allowed to j B tln e house that it was the member’s own choosaVo* 0 ■ a^lou f>h h* now objects to any one having i» th C V n Barbour matters, unless importers, lie * first instance selected many persons who Vver« 6erit° f 1 el * S3 ’ ancl wll ° * ia< * 00 interest in the prosket * °‘ the Province. The house ought to know the ihe j tlu! boE ‘ member also took a very a live part in •j,, ar W movements of the Harbour Commissioners, c*at! Wl * a PP 0!llt cd Chairman of the Board by hie own (juj »?te, and after a few meetings it was found he ot display that calmness bo necessary in a chais-

man, and rules were framed so as to keep him under proper control, which so displeased the lion, member that he abruptly rose from the chair, hurried out of the Board room, ami never made his appearance there since. It was true that he and a (e.v others separated themselves from the Committee, hut that circumstance had noi been much tell. lie wished tlie house lo understand that the Provincial Council considered the harbour a Hairs us puioly of > Provincial character, and that it should not be c nlined to the merchants alone, hut that all classes of the coloni-ts should be represented, and therefore it was that they found among the Commissioners merchants, farmers, slockholdeis, and even natives. He denied the assertion that the Queen-street Pier was not useful. Lei any person who wished to make use of his eyes go do* it to lh& wharl, and they would find that it afforded a latgt amount ot accommodation to all sorts of shipping, and were it not that the operations of the Committee had hern interfered with by the Superintendent, by this time the largest steamers could run alongside, land their passengers and dis charge their cargo with the greatest facility. He could not tell whether it was envy or disappointment which had caused the lion, member to introduce this question. hut lie earnestly asked the Southern members not to intermeddle in local affairs ; let every Province siowni itself in its own way, lot it the house came into collision with Provincial Councils, a great deal of unpleasantness was sure to arise. Mr. FORSAITH was at a loss to understand what was meant by the introduction of that moiton. They could not, nor was it expedient to interfere with Provincial mallets, unless, indeed, in some very important affair. He was no lawyer, and therefore would not like to cxpiess a dogma, which, though perhaps not serious, would be estab islung a precedent, and one not of a correct principle. He would wish to hear the opinion of some legal gentleman upon the mailer as to how far it was in accordance with tho Constitution Act, ami how far the House could interfere with the proceedings of a local Council Mr. HART, who had a professional reputation at stake (laughter), had some diffidence in giving his opinion on the. moment upon an important point of law With the impression that the House could not entertain it, he opposed the motion. Mr. PORTER, would not nta e any reply to the bon. member for Auckland. If the sense of the House was against the mol’on ho would ask leave to withdraw it. Leave granted. NATORALIZATION BILL. A deputation from the Legislative Council was announced, which handed to lire Speaker u copy of the Naturalization B 11, which upon the motion of Mr. TRAVERS was read a hist time, and the seooml reading ordered for Thursday next. DEBATE RESUMED. Mr, H ART resumed—He would without doubt recommend a temporising policy, had they strung i to force opinion but he considered that had a vigorous policy been pursued, the Province of New Plymouth would i. ve [resented a very different app .ranee. He would support ihe motion. i\tr. FORSAI 1 11 would vote (or the Address although he could not agree with a certain lion, member that the speech delivered by tho lion, tnomher who moved it was the ablest cvei delivered in that House. If its ability depended upon the length ot it he certainly would bow to ihe opinffi i, but it it was to It judged b\ its consistency, he could not agree with him. He s rongly condemned the language of the 1.0 ■. mover towards t e conduct of Mr. Cooper —such a peile. t tornado ot invective and accusations he could not agree ith, where un individual le d no oppor.unity of del tiding himself, an error of judgment may have been committed, by the treatment of these disturbances in too light a manner. ' lie would support the motion upon the broad principle, t hat it is iiuonsi tent to be called upon to m 3 main an army to suppress ‘ disturbances which took their rise in circuinnances so remote us to be entirely unconnected with that House. M-. 1 RAVERS io reply sain, the lion, member objected to the seventy of his remarks touching th conduct of Air. Cooper, he aid not ledieve n ibe extension of sympathy towards men who are so indi-creet and incapable of attending properly to their business, such men ought not to be employed, let those be ret ined ve bo know their duty. The hot), member entered into some stiictuies upon the policy of Sir G. Grey during his administration, Mr. F. suggested that the word “ withheld” in the third paragnpbbe withdrawn, and another form of e:;p ession sun.sti-tu-ed, he would propose as an aim nilutent tuat in place of “ the control of thr Executive” in the (bird paragraph, “all power of exercising constitutional cmiro! over the Executive’’ be substituted, and in place of “is still w tbbeld” *• has no yet been conceded to’ be inserted He observed that the control over the Executive b-d not been withheld from the hou-e, but circumstances rtf their own creating had impeded the excercise of it. lie did not w sh it to go tor th to the colonists that the majority of the house agreed to such an assertion. Mr. SEWELL would vote for the original motion, it was both expressive and correct. Mr. CARLETON Was anticipated in his rein rks by the 'aat speaker, the control of the Executive was withheld from lb in. Thu address as amended was put and carried. ENGLISH ACTS BILL. Mr. TRAVERS moved that the Bill be read a second time. Agreed to and read. LAND CLAIMANTS ORDINANCE BILL. On the motion of Mr. Travers the Bill was read a third time, passed, and transmitted to the Legislative Council. SALARY OF THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND. Mr. FORSAITH tose to move—- “ That while fully recognising the zeal and energy of his Lordship the Bishop of New Zealand, and acknowledging the valuable services rendered by him on various occasions to the colony, the Mouse cannot adopt the recommends ion of tlie Secretary of Stale, communicated in a message from ins Excellency the Offi er administering the Government No. 24, of voting a salary to his Lordship without departing from a principle ot perfect civil equality of all the denominations a principle which tins house has already alhrrnei, and to the maintenance of which it stands pledged.” In introducing tliis notice be would not inflict upon hon. members a long speech, he fully believed that the majority of the house were m favour of it. At the same time it is due to bis Lordship that the House should record tlnir unanimous appreciation of his high character, ability, and zeal, and ol the satislactoiy manner in which lie has always discharged his duties. Mi. PORTER seconded the motion, and sai l th.i were the Lonl Bishop present in the hou e he would say he did not require the salary, lie wanted nothing but a fair ‘ield and no favour. Mr. MERRLMAN would not object lo a salary of £6OO per annum. With regard to the refusal of the sal try by the Bshop he did not consider that his Lordship would so far compromise his successors—provision had lie believed already been made lo endow the diocese. .Mr. O’NEILL believed that the- IPshop thougha poor man was indifferent about money matters, and all the praise bestowed upon him by honorable members can add nothing to his greatness; 1) - wool I vote against the salary, the Church of England requir s no aid from Government, and whi e he was going to vote for the principle of the motion he could not congr tulate the honourable member on bis consistency ; because while be wa- anxious to secure a pension lor an elder ol hj is ok n Church lie refuses a salary to the Bishop ol ,mother. Mr. FUR-AITH could not m >ke any alteration in the wording ot the motion. Mr. SEWELL was glad to hear that some steps had been taken to provide for the Endowment ol the Bishopric. He was taken hv surprise, and trusted that it would be dune in a liberal manner, Ids Lordship bad so many calls upon him, that however indifferent he might be to the possession ot money, yet lie ought to he provided with means to meet them, lie would vote fur the motion. Agreed to. WIDOWS, Ac., OF OFFICERS IN CIVIL SERVICE. Mr. MERRIMAN rose pursuant to natice, to move. “ For leave to bring.ill » Bill to provide for the retirement of officers it. the civil service of Government, and for granting assistance to the widows and children ot officers dying whilst in such service. He would briefly introduce the Bill, and hoped that honorable meiubeis would not throw any impediment in its way, not even the coming of the Steamer. The Rill was brought up and read a first tim-, ordered to he read a second time and primed. GIVING DEEDS OF GRANT A RETROSPECTIVE OPERATION. Mr. HART pursuant to notice, rose to move, — “Thai the Message of his Excellency the Officer Administering ihe'Goverameiit, No. 38, be taken into consideration with a view to address bis Excellency, praying that u'bill fu.iy ho sent down to remedy the evil mentioned in the corn spoudence referred lo in that Message,’* - Toe hou. member explaine 1 theohjiflt of the bill referred to—that of giving a retrospective operation to deeds of grant by making a certain fomi of endorsement

Hi. reauirks wn.. a u-pi'iition ot those In- ma le on tli■ introi)iiciion of ih inassaao. I\lr. MERCIAN molt occasion to oh;;<-rv<» Hat "bun a •nil was I), nuipit in I>v a Southern mendicr lliuie was not 1 lag sail! Lout ti c steamer. Mr. II \ll I' ox |>restu*il surprise at this retua'lt. lit" Mill had as nan hj iclal on to the Norther.i as to tl»o Southoiii provinces. Agreed lu. Thu 11 use thou adjourned ii'l Wednesday.