PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9436, 6 August 1889, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

[BY TELEGRAPH.— SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Monday. THE BOROUGH PARTY.

A meeting* of the borongh party was held this afternoon, at 3.30, when there were present Measrs. Guinness, Samuel, Dobson, Harkness, Gritnmond, J. C. Brown, Fraser, and Joyce. After considerable discussion, the following new clause was agreed to as the embodiment of the views of the party : —"There shall be four city electoral districts, to be called respectively Auckland, Wellington, ChrLstchnrch, and Danedin, and there shall be assigned to Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin four members each, and to Wellington three members; the extent of each of the city electoral districts shall be such that the population of Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin shall not exceed or fall shortby more than 7.50 of 40,000, and that of Wellington shall not exceed ir fall short by more than 750 of 30,000; thero shall be five borough electoral districts to be called respectively Napier, Nelson, Timaru, Oamaru, and Invercargill, and there shall be assigned to each one member; the extent of each of the said borough electoral districts shall be such that the population shall not exceed, or fall short by more than 750 of 9000 ; the remainder of the colony shall be divided into 50 electoral districts, to each of which shall bo assigned one member, and the quota of which shall be 7570." A deputation, consisting of Messrs. Guinness, Samuel, Dobson, Grimmond, and Joyce, subsequently waited on the Premier, who received the proposals favourably, but did not give them any hope of Government support. In the evening Mr. Samuel read the clause in the House, but nothing further was done with it, and it will probably be dropped, as tho borough party have now virtually collapsed. 91. Those who are in favour of a return to 91 members have had their ardour considerably damped by the result of a canvass of the Upper House, which shows, so rumour says, that if the Lower House passed an Act to repeal the Act of 1887 it would be thrown out by the Council. It is believed by some that the members in favour of repeal are strong enough to obtain a reversal of the Reduction of Members Act even if it were made a Ministerial question, but whether any steps will now be taken in view of the probable attitude of the Upper House is very doubtful.

CLAIMS OF OLD SOLDIERS. I am informed that Mr. T. Thompson is again interesting himself in the claims of old soldiers and volunteers, and he has suggested that the vast amount of work which must devolve on the Investigation Committee would be materially lessened, and the investigation be more thorough and complete if the claims were dealt with by the Land Boards in the respective districts, and in this view Mr. Whyte and others concur. Mr. Bruce, who is a member of the committee, informs me that he believes this course might be adopted after the claims had been considered by the committee and duly classified.

THE COPYRIGHT BILL. The Copyright Bill, introduced in the Upper House by Sir F. Whitaker, is intended to consolidate the law on the subject. It deals with copyright in books, newspapers, lectures, dramatic and musical compositions, paintings, sculptures, engravings, and photographs. Provision is made for reciprocity in copyright protection with the other colonies.

THE REPRESENTATION BILL. The first clause of the Representation Bill was passed at 5.30 this evening, having been introduced for the second reading on Wednesday week. There was loud applause when it passed on the voices. The Government have pledged themselves to hold to the Bill as now brought in, with one change only, namely, that the commissioners shall have a discretionary margin of 100 in city electorates. There was loud and derisive laughter this evening, when Mr. Fish advised them if there was further obstruction to "drop the Bill." There was further laughter when he advised them to put their foot down and carry the Bill.

WOMEN SUFFRAGE. Sir J. Hall has given notice to move in committee on the Representation Bill the following new clause:—"For all purposes connected with, and having reference to the rights of voting in the election of members of the House of Representatives, the words in the Acb providing for the representation of the people importing the masculine gender, shall include women." THE AMALGAMATION OP ELECTORATES.

The following is the result of the division on the question of amalgamating city electorates, which was carried, Mr. Fish's amendment being lost by 48 to 13. Ayes, 48 : Allen, Atkinson, Barron, Blake, Brown, Buchanan, Buxton, Cowan, Dodson, Fergus, Fisher, Fitchett, Fraser, Fulton, Grey, Grimmond, Guinness, Hall, ( Harknoss, Hislop, Hobbs, Hodgkinson, Humphreys, Kelly, Lance, McKenzie (Clutha), Marchant, McGregor, Mills, Moss, Newman, O'Conor, Ormond, Perceval, W. P. Reeves (St. Albans), G. F. Richardson (Mataura), Ross, Saunders, Seddon, Seymour, W. J. Steward (Waimate), W. D. Stewart (Dunedin West), Sfcuart-Menteath, Tanner, R. Thompson (Marsden), Valentine, Walker, Whyte. Noes, 13: Cadman, Carroll, Feldwick, Fish, Lawry, Moat, Parata E. Richardson (Kaiapoi), Taiwhanga, Taylor, T. Thompson (Auckland North), Turnbnll, Verrall. Pairs ; For — Rhodes and Graham; against—Jones and 'Withy.

ABOLITION OF PLURAL VOTING.

The following is Sir George Grey's proposed clause to abolish plural voting :— (1) From and after the passing of this Act no elector shall ab any election of members for the House of Representatives vote in respect of more than one electorate, und any person voting in respect of more than one electorate shall be guilty of an offence under this Act; (2) the returning officer, or deputy returning officer may, and if so required by any scrutineer shall, at any election, before allowing any person to vote, put to such person the follewing question : " Have you already voted ab the present election in any electoral districb ?" and unless such person answer such question in the negative he shall not be permitted to vote, any person giving a false answer to such question shall be guilty of an offence under this Act; (3) any person guilty of an offence under this Act eh all be liable, on conviction before a Resident Magistrate, to imprisonment for a term nob exceeding one month. The amendmenb, after discussion, was carried by a large majority, the following being the division list :—

AYES, 55 : Allen, Anderson, Ballance, Barron, Brown, Bruce, Buchanan, Buxbon, Cadman, Carrol, Dodson, Feldwick, Fergus, Fish, Fitchetb, Fraser, Goldie, Grey, Grimmond, Guinness, Harkness, Hislopj Hobbs, Humphreys, Hutchison, Jackson, Joyce, Kelly, Kerr, Lawry, Mackenzie (Mount Ida), McGregor, Mitchelson, Moat, Monk (teller), Moss, O'Conor, Parata, Perceval, Reeves (Inangahua), Saunders, Seddon (teller), Seymour, Stewart (Waimate), Stewart (Dunedin West), SbuartMenteath, Taiwhanga, Tanner, Taylor, Thompson (Marsden), Thompson (Auckland North), Turnbnll, Valentine. Verrall, Walker.

Noes, 18 : Cowan, Fulton, Hall, Hodgkinson, Izard, Jones, Lance, Larnach, Macarthur, McKenzie (Clutha, teller), Oniond, Rhodes, Richardson (Matura), Ross, Russell (teller), Samuel, Taipua, Whyte. JOTTINGS.

Many members have had applications from teachers for copies of the Education report, but it has not yet been circulated. A conference of town and country party was held to-day, when the new clauses in the Bill were reviewed and finally agreed to. It is thought that the Financial debate will be either" very short or will be merged into the discussion on the Public Works Statement.

Applications have been received for copies of the Army List, but this is not now published by the Department, and no copy can be obtained in Wellington. During the recent stonewall Mr. Mitcholson did not leave the House for 60 hours, and obtained what sleep he could on the Government benches.

It is stated that Mr. Hislop, the Colonial Secretary, has directed the Government

printer to send a copy of the Ward-Christie-Hislop correspondence to every solicitor in the colony. When the consideration of the Representation Bill was reached this evening in committee there was a general expression of mystification on the faces of members, and one af bor another rose to enquire whab was going on. " I want to know where we are, sir," said the member ior Wallace, amid a roar of laughter from around him. Then Mr. Buchanan rose gravely to ask " Have we more than one Bill before the House, sir?" At lasfc members seemed to get the hang of things, and business progressed rapidly.