PARLIAMENTARY NEWS AND GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11713, 24 July 1901, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS AND GOSSIP.

[BY telegraph.— correspondent.] Wellington, Tuesday. THE VALUATION DEPARTMENT. The Valuation Department came in for some hard knocks in Parliament to-day. Mr. Hornsby said the working of it was a scandal. Either tbf< Department itself, he added, was not pvoperly officered, or the officers, before they went out, were told they must not give a certain value to land so that the owner might not get an advance that he was asking ; for. He knew that in his own and ■; other districts there were men who had asked for loans for which they had any amount of security, but because they were pool, struggling settlers, the} were not permitted to get those loans. (Mr. T. Mackenzie : " That's nonsense.") Mr. Hornsby replied that it was not nonsense, and that he was able, if challenged, to produce documents to show, that what he had said was absolutely true. COST OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. A return was presented to the House this morning showing the number of civil servants, railway servants, and other persons employed by the Government and the amounts paid to them, in each of Ore fi.ur provneial districts during the year ended March 31 last. In the Auckland district, the number was 2218,' and the amount paid £265,936 15s 8d ; in the Wellington a:strict the figures are 3885, and i4s lOd; Canterbury, 2192, . and £300,315 19s Id; Otago, 2940, and £328,172 16s 9d. The total numbei employed was 11,555, and the amount paid, £1,391,929 6s 4d. THE CANNED FISH INDUSTRY. The total amount of bonus paid curing the year ended .March 31, 1901, under the • Fisheries Encouragement Act, 1885, on recount of cured fish exported from the CO ony since the passing of the Act is £10,981 15s 4d, distributed over the various ; provincial districts as follows:—Auckland, £4536 13s 6d ; Wellington, £238 0s 5d ; Marlborough, £61 18s 6d,- Westland, £529 2s; Canterbury, £82; Otago, £5475 3s 9d; Southland, £60 17s 2d. CONSTABLE McDONNELL'S WIDOW. The Auckland members met, at the invitation of Mr. George Fowlds. this evening, to consider the case of the late Constable Luke McDonnell's widow. The opinion was unanimous that in view of the special circumstances of the case, and the services that had been rendered by Constable McDonnell, the Government should make some special provision for the widow. The members subsequently saw the Minister for Justice, who expressed himself in sympathy with the suggestion. It was agreed that Mrs. McDonnell should petition the Government, and the Auckland members pledged themselves to support it. v THE MINISTERIAL BLACK BOOK. Reference was recently made by Mr. G. W. Russell to the fact that the Government kept a " black book," in > which the utterances of members were recorded. The Premier referred to this to-day. He said such a book was a necessity to show how members were departing from the pledges they had given their constituents. That was why they had this black book, and it was not appreciated by the ' hon. member. He proceeded to read a paragraph from Mr. Russell's paper (the Spectator), referring to Mr. Russell's speech; in a debate in the House, when i the J ever-watchful Mr. ' Pirani objected to the reading of any newspaper comment on a debate that had taken place in the House this "session. : The Speaker ruled that the Premier's action was irregular. An hon. member interjected, " The Premier's; old -■ game." The Premier said he would not press the point, seeing that the hon. member, who had written the paragraph, objected. To this Mr. Russell retorted very truly that ; he had not objected in any way,"and the. brief passage at arms ended. !'.,. ; .'-N{v ' : THE COST OF KNIGHTHOOD. According to the Manawatu Standard, Sir Joseph '■ Ward and Sir John MoKenzie will have to pay about £100 1 foi fees, etc., in connection with their knighthood. The Crown Office gets ' fees * from ' each ; newlycreated knight, totalling £59 10s, the Home Office demands |* a modest £7. 13s 6d, the patent stamp cost £30, the warrant stamp costs 10s, and the docquet stamp two shillings, so that they axe not called Sir Joseph and Sir John for nothing. SIR JOSEPH WARD AND MR. PIRANI. The Lands for Settlement Act Amendment Bill led to a good deal of discussion in the House to-day. The land for settlement system in general, and the provisions oi the Bill in particular, were most persistently debated ; right through the day. After the dinner adjournment, the Minister for Railways made a; facetious ; speech, which set the members at - sixes • and : sevens, and for about two hours the House struggled ] with such points as who was responsible foi the penny postage, whether certain of the Opposition could blush, or whether they had got beyond that . stage. Sii Joseph Ward charged the Opposition with borrowing the ! clothes of the other side, and even wearing them. . -J" No honorable member on that side ot the House ) could wear my clothes anyhow,", remarked the Premier, with an air of satisfaction." "What about Mr. Bollard?" asked a doubting voice from the other end of the Chamber. Mr. Pirani subsequently charged Sir Joseph Ward with wasting the time of the House, and hinted that he had not paid any attention to what had taken place. He added, "The hon. member hardly knows what he says to-night, and his remarks are not worth taking •; notice of." These remarks brought Sir Joseph Ward again to his feet, with a castigation of Mr. Pirani, and for some time there was a good deal of sulphur in the ah. Finally, after a good deal of personal discussion, Sir Joseph rose, and said a base insinuation such as Mr. Pirani had -aade was deserving of being treated both in that Chamber and outside it with supreme and silent contempt. Sir Joseph said he exceedingly regretted the necessity for making this statement. Mr. Pirani replied that he did not mind what the Minister said; it did not trouble him a little bit. Sir Joseph Ward then threatened to tell the House something about the hon. member for Palmerston. . Mr. Pirani said he did not care what Sir Joseph said about him. Sir Joseph, just as the Chairman began to intervene, told Mr. Pirani he was not going to trifle with him. "Don't you make any ju'stake about that," he added, and the incident closed.\ ;' ;.; \ ■■ c JOTTINGS. • " The Premier was not clear in explaining the clauses of the Bill, but perhaps it is his policy not to give the House more than.it demands," hazarded Mr. Graham (Nelson). "Not to give it more than it understands," corrected Mr. Seddon. The Cycle Boards Bill is to be committed to-morrow. ' Mi..Laurenson intends to introduce a Bill to repeal the CD. Act. And the lawyers in many cases," acquiesced Mr. Napiex, when a voice interjected " Lawyers" while he was explaining to the House that the freehold system was a curse to New Zealand, and enabled money-lenders and usurers to fatten on the settlers. "I can give you an instance where; a person iD 30 years paid £130 for deeds ' and procuration fees upon one section for one loan, but the Advances to Settlers has put. an end to all that." Mr. Wilford rather staggered the House this afternoon when he littered the table with 55 petitions from different parts of the colony protesting against the Shops and Offices Bill: .The petition of Adam Kelly and a number ; of others, presented by Mr. Massey, praying for telephonic communication ' between Auckland and Waiheke Island, vi- Motuihi Island, has been referred to Parliament for favourable consideration..: William Henry Conboy, of Waihi, formerly in the employ of the Cornnandel County Council, is petitioning Parliament, through Mr. Jackson Palmer, for compensation. . ' Mr. Massey has presented a petition from a number of Waiuku people, praying that ex-District Constable Henry Parker-, who was dismissed with nine days' notice, after ' 32 years' service, be granted compensation. .The petitions of A. J. McGusky, cx- ■ policeman and r warder, and W. G. Garrard, the former praying for compensation, and >] the latter that his wife be granted a pension, have been returned to the House, and • in each case the committee had no recom--1 mendation to make. - \- ''

; Mr. G. J. Smith, the newly-elected member for Christchurch City, took the oath this morning. His sponsors were * Major Steward and Mr. McNab. As the Government's motion to take the Land for Settlement Amendment Bill again to-morrow '■■ night was '. carried,' Mr. Fowlds' Cycle Boards Bill will not come r on as anticipated, but the Premier has promised to compensate private members by giving them one of the evenings set apart for Government business.' *-.',. Whether it is a fact that members of the public service have been informed that they are not to be allowed for the future to hold seats on public bodies, and if so, under what regulations or Act has this been done? is a question Mr. Laurenson is asking the Premier. ' ■ Mi. R. Thompson (Marsden) presented a petition from a number of settlers asking for a road from Red Hill to enable them to avail themselves of neighbouring markets. Mr. T. Mackenzie has given notice to ask the Premier whether he has in fulfilment of his promise of last session opened communication with the Governments of the various colonies, and also with the Secretary of State for the Colonies in England, with a view to promoting an Imperial trade zollverein, and if so, will he kindly inform the House what measure of success and support has attended his efforts? Mr. McGuire is anxious, like many more, to laiow when the Government will finally settle the naval and military land claims, so that equity may be done to those old and deserving soldiers and sailors of the Imperial and colonial forces who rendered valuable services in the early days of this country. Michael Quinn, of Auckland, an .old soldier, is asking the House (through" Mr. Monk) for a grant of land. Mr. Lawry wants to know from the Miuster for Lands if he will this session introduce a Bill to make Waste Lands Boards elective.. „ Mr. Massey is to ask the Government whether they will this session introduce an amendment of the Workers' Compensation fo. Accidents Act, so as to make it quite clear as to whether or not the said Act applies to agricultural operations. Mr. Monk intends moving for a return showing cases cited to appear before the Conciliation Board and Arbitration Court, giving details of the claims made by the unions and the result of the awards, the return being from the time, the Act was brought into operation until now. The Government is being asked by Mr. Graham if it intends finally dealing with the petitions from the shareholders and debentureholders of the Midland Railway Company. ' Mr. Barclay wants the Government to introduce legislation this session to prevent the natural beauties of our scenery being defaced by advertisements of patent medicines and other nauseous productions.' Petitions were presented to «he House this morning praying for a plebiscite on the question of Bible-reading in schools, also protesting against the sale of liquor in the King Country, and against the amendments in the licensing law proposed last session. Notice of two questions on the subject of the Railway Servants' Classification Act was given by Mr. G. W. Russell this morning. One was as to whether casual hands of three years' employment would be, olassed as permanent, and the other was whether casual hands would be allowed to vote on the question of bringing the service under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The Inspector of Machinery is having action taken in the country districts to enforce the provision for properly certificated persons being in charge of boilers. At an entertainment to the officers of the Argentine Republic warship, Presidents Sarmiento, at Bellamy's, a speech was made in- Maori by Mr. Hone Heko, M.H.R., interpreted into English by the member for Waitemata, and into Spanish by a local commercial gentleman. The work of fitting the Westinghouse brakes to the rolling-stock of the Manawatu Railway Company is proceeding, under the direction of an expert from America. The installation of the system will be completed about the end of the year.