PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7404, 12 August 1885, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

TKLKGIUfH.— SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]

Wellington, Tuesday.

RUMOURS

I heard to-day from one of the most observant members of the House that the Ministerial crisis whioh has appeared in the near distance for the last month has been carefully nursed by a particular Auokland member whose name haa been many times prominent in oonnoction with other political possibilities in this particular matter. Although a very fair man in many things, he chooses to keep very dark indeed; but he has been "shadowed," to ÜBe a phrase which I observe is frequently used in connection with detective expedients in another department of the public service. Here is the story that was propounded to me this morning The hon. member from Auckland withdrew his support from the Government in tho most conspicuous manner. Immediately after this announcement made by him, his uamo was connected with a {Middle party, and not a few thought him the Avatar of a new political dispensation. It is now alleged that he has tendered his support onco again to the Government, and the Middle party seems to huvo vanished into thin air. One thing only my informant was certain of, viz., that if there bo one or two more dark members holding out fair promises to all sides, the Ministerial crisis (if it exists or has over existed) may be indefinitely prolonged. HOWICK. The petition of Mr. Farley and others praying for the erection of a wharf at Howiek has been reported on by the Petitions Committee. The committoe are of opinion that it is a matter which the Government can best deal with, and they have referred it to the Government accordingly. MATRIMONIAL BUREAU. The petition of T. B. Hannaferd praying that the service he has rendered to tho country by the fact of his "being the means of bringing together a l*rge number of happy couples has been reported upon. The Petitions Committee make no recommendation. The service to the State was considered problematical, as no evidence was offered as to the possible unhappy couples that might have sealed themselves to each other in this gentleman's " bonds "of matrimony. No doubt it will be competent to Mr. Hanuaford to bring before the committee fresh evidence. GOLD MINING DUTIES ACT, 1873, AMENDMENT BILL. The Goldiields Committee, to which the Bill was referred, have reported in favour of the Bill being allowed to proceed. The purport of this amendment is to extend the operation of the Act so as to cover every description of mining for metals or minerals by the insertion of the following words after the word " gold " : " Or any other metal or mineral other than gold." LICENSING ACT. The Petitions Committee have reported on the petition of Mr. Wattie, Epsom-road, hotelkeepor, referring the subject matter of the petition to the Government. VACCINATION ACT AND HOMCEOPATHISTS. The report of the committee upon the petition of Mr. Saunders of Auckland, homceopathists, appears to Involve a matter of principle with which neither the public nor the medical profession have been familiar hitherto. The petitioner asked to be allowed to aot as a public vacoiuator. The following is the report of the committee :— "That as the petitioner appears to the confidence of the community as a homoeopathic medical practitioner, and it is in the power of the certifying medical officer to certify to the competency of other thau legally qualified practitioners for the office of public vaccinator, the committee would, therefore, recommend Mr. Saunders' case to favourable consideration.

RAILWAY REFORM.-A.BIG PETITION

Mr. J. B. Whyte laboured under the weight of the biggest, the heaviest, and perhaps, the most important petition that was presented this session. It contained no less than 5000 signatures. I was permitted to have it in my hands—or, rather, arms— after the adjournment. I should not like to be compelled to convey it any distance. It prayed that the House would appoint a local commission to enquire into the management of ISew Zealand railways, and also into the principles of the system recounted by Mr. Samuel Vaile, of Auckland, and the proposals for general management suggested by that gentleman. MAORI SIGNATURES. Mr. D. McGuire petitioned the House for relief under the following circumstances He had served for nine years in the Armed Constabulary Force; he was afterwards appointed to the office of attesting Maori signatures to deeds for dealing in native lands. He appears to have thought that he was at liberty to attest Maori signatures for private persons. When this became known to the Government he received notice that his services would be dispensed with.

A HARD CASE.—THE FORTY ACRE

SYSTEM.

The case of William and J, Phillips, of HokiaDga, is a hard one. They petitioned the House to clay under the following circumstances : They came to Auckland with their father and his family in 1865. They obtained land orders from Messrs. Shaw, Savill, and Co. for themselves, their father, and sisters—in all, six persons. They took up land by purchase, tendering the land orders which were represented to be value per acre to the extent of 10*, in part payment of the purchase, and paying the balance of the purchase money in cash. The family have become separated, the father and one or two other members of the family having gone to England. They have asked for their Crown grant of the land several times, but no Crown grant has been issued. They applied to the Auck land Crown Land Board, but that body could not help them. Therefore they come to Parliament for relief.

HOSPITAL AND CHARITABLE INSTI-

TUTIONS BILL,

The House has been the whole of the afternoon in committee on the above Bill. The discussions on the clauses were vary animated. The question as to separate hospitals appeared to be a bone of contention, not that there was any special inclination to provide for the "poor sick" or "the sick poor," whatever distinction may be implied by the presence of the noun or adjective, but it was found in the course of the discussion that what might apply to a "separate" hospital in one district did not apply to it in another. Town and country, country and tewn, had their claims, and the notions which members had of such claims were very various. The notions of economical and extravagant management were quite as numerous and diverse. Mr. Fulton said it could not be disguised that this was a " poor law." This brought Sir G. Grey to his feet. If this were a poor law it should be remembered that * poor law was a cruel law. He hoped the House would deal with such a matter in a most liberal manner. If this was a poor law Bill, then the larger the district the more neglect fell to the share of the poor. While the great town hospitals should be amply provided for, there should be small hospitals in country districts so situated as to meet nearly as possible the contingencies of each district. This speech had a good effect, and is sure to influence the general result, TELEGRAPH OFFICES. Mr. W. F. Buckland asked if the Post-master-General will take into consideration the advisability of closing between the hours of seven and eight p.m. those post and telegraph offices throughout the colony in which there is no business transacted during the aforesaid hour. Sir J. Vogel said that arrangements were being made for closing the offices that were not required to be opon during those hours. MUSKETRY INSTRUCTION. Mr. Moss asked if the Minister of Defence iB aware that no provision is made by Government in the provincial district of Auckland for teaching the principles of musketry instruction, and whether he has enquired into the system proposed by Mr. Soall, and to the satisfactory results alleged to have been obtained from Mr. Soall's action in that direotion ? Mr. Ballance said the sub* ject of musketry instruction was under consideration of the Government, but from information received from Government it appeared to be . ltogether in favour ot the present system.

[BT TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Tuesday. THE POLITICAL POSITION. The political atmosphere has cleared ft little to-day. Ido not mean to say that the Government are in any better position than they were, or that there is much preseut probability of the present political deadlock being • overcome. In that respect things are as much mixed as ever, but the clouds have lifted a little temporarily. You have heard a good deal lately about the Middle party. That party is apparently still pretty strong, and no doubt would have taken somo definite adverse action ere this had it been possessed of a competent leader. That has been the trouble. The party have been angling for Mr. Ormond, Vut he docs not seem inclined to accept the position unless he can be sure of th» attitude Major Atkinson would take up towards any administration he might form, Some days ago these two prominent men were reported to be conferring together with a view to the settlement of their political differences, and it was even said that they had overcome these difficulties and had agreed to act in concert. Major Atkinson however, almost immediately left for Taranaki, and it wa? thought that the sudden doparture was due to a desire to escape from tho importunities of his friends, who were urging him to give his assistance to turn the Government out of office, a course to which he is known to bo adverse. Since Major Atkinson's departure a more definite attempt has been made to get Mr. Ormond to take the lead. I am in a position to state that members of the Midcle Party have asked Mr. Ormond to take the losition they are anxious he should occupy, lut that he refused to give a definite reply until ho had consulted Major Atkinion. The latter being absent, Mr. Ormonl, it iB said, has consulted prominont umbers of the Atkinson party, viz., Rolleston, Bryoo, aud others. What passed at this iiterview has not transpired, but 1 understand the result is, that Major Atkinson has been telegraphed for, and is expected to r;tnrn to Wellington some days sooner than In would otherwiso have done. This may disclose a way out of the difficulty.

THE NEW RAIIVVAY PROPOSALS

The latest story about the railway proposal is that representatives of the districts interested have obtiined a promise from the Government of £150,000 for the East and West Coast Railway under the District Board arrangement and it is further stated, on what appears to ke pretty good authority, that the Governmeit have a comprehensive scheme for the whole colony in the construction of public works, by which all are to be sweetened. Isujpose, if this turns out to be true, that a featao of the scheme will be local responsibility. FINANCI AI STATEMENT. Sir J. Vogel will make a supplementary Financial Statementto morrow. This is to be done in consequence of the buffeting the Government financialproposals have received, and in conscqucuce »f the falling off in the revenue during the jast two quarters.

LATER,

It is now tolerably well known that Major Atkinson has been telegraphed for, and that the situation is deened very serious. The j latest secwasious {ran the Ministerial ranks have taken place on grounds so very damaging to the Governmont that they can j hardly be regarded as retrievable losses. ! Ministers have bem explicitly charged by the seceders with acts tantamount to bad faith and duplicity, or, at any rate, deceptive concealment of matters which the House had a right to know before being called on to vote. This makes the position very awkward, beeause while the censure is ostensibly aimed at Sir J. Vogel, it unavoidably embraces also his consenting colleagues. Thus tie Ministry, as a whole, and Ministers individually, stand openly accused of wilfully loceiving and misleading the House and country, and such a charge made by erstwhile staunch friends, who have been reluctantly driven into enmity by their conduct, must of necessity have a very damaging effect. l\ieu, again, the condition of the revenue is looked on as exceedingly alarming. The first four mouths of the current year are known to have resulted in a deficiency on the o>tim\te at the rate of two hundred thousand pounds per anuuin on three items alone, viz., customs, railways, and stamps, the remainiig items of the revenue make up the deficiency to the annual rate of fully a quarter of i. • million, even if no further falling off otcars. but this is by no means improbable. In view of this formidable condition of affairs, Sir J. Vogel's promised statement, t# be delivered tomorrow, is looked fonvard to with the keenest interest. Nobody seems to have any very clear idea as to wlat will be proposed beyond a tolerable certainty that the property tax will be incieased to a penny. Some think also that the beer duty will be raised. Even that, however, would not □early meet the additional deficit created by tho large failure of revenue, and curiosity is excited to the utmost as to what cnurso Sir J. Vogcl will propose. Strenuous efforts are being made to-night to bring up the Opposition leaders to the pitch of undertaking adverse action. If this it definitely resolved on, the Government would probably abide the result of a vote which would release Ministers from their present bonds without involving a break up from within. But should the menaced vote not come off, then it is believed that Mr. Stout, at any rate, would insist in resigning on the ground of failure to carry his measures, A report was circulated this evening that the Government would ask for a dissolution should this be so. I have reason to believe it would not be refused. THE RAILWAY SCHEME. It is now deemed that Meiggo is on the way out, but I have some grounds for suspecting that somebody will shortly appear out here on behalf of the famous firm. In order to set all doubts at rest as to whether or not the Government were in possession of full information of Meiggs proposals when the motion for a select committee was before the House, Mr. G. F. Richardson has asked that all correspondence since tho signing of the railway contract be laid on the table, in order that the dates may traspire. 1 understand Sir George Grey has abandoned the intention he once entertained of writing a letter in reply to a memorial from certain districts Interested in the scheme, begging he should support it, and has resolved to content himself with circulating his speech on the subject, which, it will be remembered, was a very reversive one.

SIR GEORGE GREY AND MRS. MARCUS

CLARKE

I hear Sir George has advised Mrs. Marcus Clarke (widow of the deceased Australian author, and formerly a Dunedin girl), to apply for the Queen's pension available for the widows of literary men. I believe Sir George suggested it would be a graceful and appropriate act if this pension wore conferred on the widow of an Australian writer, now that a movement is in progress to bind the whole of the Empire together in the bond of federation. It is expected that Mrs. Clarke will forward Sir George's letter to his old friend, the present English Premier, with whom would rest the recommendation for the granting of the pension. THE ESTIMATES.

Parliament has been inieision two calendar months to-day, but the Estimates have not been dealt with.