PARLIAMENTARY NEWS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1544, 2 October 1901, Page 46

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS

CYCLE BOARDS BILL. There has been some agitation amongst the Auckland members- that the Government should take up the Cycle Boards Bill of Mr Fowlds. Mr Seddon, however, does not. see his wayclear to do so, judging from a statement' made in the House last week. There are, he pointed out, several country members who object to the Bill. He agrees that the bicycle is a great public convenience, .but with such legislation, as with legislation on every other subject, they must .be very careful lest they cause injury. He added that he would be very happy to have the notes of Mr Fowlds, so as to inquire into the matter. "" THE AGENT GENERAL. Mr Monk brought a hornet’s nest about his ears last week by a here© at tack on the Agent-General, whom he accused of being disloyal at heart, for the reason apparently that he had sent cut cable messages giving certain figures as to the number of Boer troops in the field. He objected to the increase in the salary of Mr Reeves. This speech seemed to act upon Canterbury members much in the way that a red rag acts upon a bull. One after another they rose to protest against the statements of the member for Waitemata. Mr G. J. Smith said that Mr Reeves was kindness itself to people visiting London, from this colony ; and he was representing New Zealand in a manner not at all inferior to that of any previous occupant of the office. Messrs Eli and Bliddo spoke in like strain, and when Mr Monk returned to the charge with another vigorous speech, and incidentally mentioned the member for Masteron, he brought Mjr Hogg to . his feet. The member for Masterton expressed toe opinion that if Mr Reeves had been still in the House, Mr Monk would not have so attacked him. Mr Thomas Mackenzie, Mr Witheford, and Mr Collins also spoke in defence of Mr Reeves. Mr Fisher attacked Mr Reeves, for having expressed democratic views, and then ta ken a lucrative billet, and fervently hoped that he would not come back to he Premier of ,this colony. It was explained by Mr Seddon that the increase of salary to the Agent-General had been granted twelve months ago. Mr Reeves had not asked for" any increase at all. The Premier added his tribute to the character of the work done by Mr Reeves.

ELECTION EXPENSES. A return furnished to the House last week, on the motion of Mr McLachlan, shows the expenses of all candidates at the last election. Amongst the highest were Messrs W. J. Napier (AucLl Viand) £159 4s 6d, J. J. Holland (Auck land) £155 12s, J. H. Witheford (Auckland) £l' >. Hon J. McGowan (Thames) ..£lB6 2s, J. Hosking (Waikato) £lB9 8s 3d, G. A. Fitzroy (Waiapu) £162 5s lid, J. Hornsby (Wairarapa) £l5O, and C. ;. R. Chapman (Dunedin) £199 11s. The joint expenses of Messrs J. Hutcheson, . A. R. Atkinson and T. W. Hislop (Wellington), amounted to £129 8s 3d. Mr Fisher’s expenses were the smallest on the list, being, only 9s. Mr E, G. JejU licoe’s amounted to £125 9s 6d, Mr Carmichael’s to £4l 9s 6d, and Mr D. B. Duncan’s to £l2 2s 6d. No returns > were transmitted to the Returning Offi cer by Messrs Earnshaw, C. M. Luke : and T. K. Macdonald. In the case of the Premier the return of expenses had been mislaid. . . THE TRADE COMMISSIONER. Asked last week what instructions had been given by the Government to Mr Gow, the Trade Gommisioner, Sir J. G. Ward stated that he had been asked first of ail to go to all the important towns in New Zealand and make his ex - V istence known lo the mercantile comV munity, so as to obtain from them representative 'samples of their .goods. • This he had done, and as a result he had taken away with him a large quan•tity of samples of all classes of the pro ducts of this colony. After his examination of matters in South Africa, he was to report as to the proposal to establish State freezing works. This was a matter concerning which the Government could not be prepared to act ex cept upon sound advice. Mr Gow, in his investigations concerning the markets of Great Britain, will inquire as to the feasibleness of -establishing cold storage , in London. Sir J. G. Ward described Mr Gow as a brainy man, with commercial experience at his command.

THE SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE. -According to a return asked for by Mr Millar, there were 3081 passengers and 31,383 tons of cargo carried from San Francisco to Auckland by the mail steamers between the years 1891 and 1900. During the same period the traffic from Auckland to San Francisco com prised 3940 passengers and 8331 tons of cargo. The inward passengers in 1891 numbered 298, and the cargo carried was 1069 tons, while in 1900 the pasl\ sengers were 319 and the cargo was 5141 tons ; - The outward passengers m prised 601: tons, as. compared with 533 piassengers and 1395 tons of-.cargo.'-in 1900. Between 1891 and.l9oo#>ew Zea land paid transit for mails to and from San; Francisco, £72,579, and other countries paid through New Zea land £108,840. For transit between

San .Francisco and England the sum of £54,017 was paid, for interprpvinciai services in connection with the San Francisco mails?'the amount paid was £31,974. Mail agents and agents in San Franoisco cost £6526. The total expenditure amounted to £273,944.

LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S DE BATE. The proceedings of the House took o n considerable humour last night in the discussion of the “Review of Reviews” vote. Members got- off the track of the ! Estimates very quickly, and proceeded ! to discuss the Boer war—a subject which 1 led members t 0 lash themselves into a state of great excitement. Whatever hope there was of amicably getting rid of the question fell with a dull thud when Mr Barclay roge and mildly quoted some opinions of Dr Conan Doyle and Winston Churchill regarding certain fighting in South Africa, and arguing that these opinions told against the British, claimed, therefore, that Mr W. T. Stead ought not to be called “a trait_ or” and “a scoundrel”—epithets which had been appliea to him that evening. Mr Barclay denied that he was a proBoer, but admitted that he was an antijingo. He proceeded to review the position of the Liberal party in England,and when he announced that Mr Asquith had had to go before his party at a recent meeting and ask to be allowed to oppose the war, this was hailed by a shout of “Noes” from all sides of the House. Mr Barclay shouted out above the din that he was right, while members repeatedly stormed out their “Noes.” When Mr Barclay’s time was up, the Premier, sitting on the adjoining bench, tried to convince him. that he was wrong about Mr Asquith. As Mr Seddon and the member for Dunedin sat facing each otner, both enforcing their arguments with excited gesture of forefingers and nodding heads, the members all round the House roared with laughter, whilst Mr Thomas Mackenzie, the next speaker, stood waiting to be heard. f rom this cut the various phases of the Boer war were discussed with renewed vigour. An unusual incident occurred whilst Mr Fowlds, one of the members for Auckland, was speaking. The lights in the Chamber gradually faded and went out, House and galleries being left in complete darkness. Amid laughter and loud conversation, members struck matches, whilst Mr Fowlds, observing that he did not wonder that darkness had fallen upon the scene after some of the speeches they had heard that evening, went on* with his own speech, only to be interrupted with loud laughter as the messengers carried in candles to the chairman’s table. Suddenly the electric light sprang into being again. The debate continued till after midnight. It wag relieved from monotony by some duels between the Premier and Mr Fisher. Mr Graham contributed to the gaiety of Parliament by a vivid description, accompanied by dramatic gesture, of what he did when lie received his copy of the “Review of Reviews” containing this article. Copies were sent to all members of Parliament by the Government, and his reached him while he was sitting at breakfast one morning, two months after he had read his own copy, “Hello! what’s this ?” he exclaimed. Then discovering what it was, he took it up and threw it in the fire. He would not, he announced, repeat iii the House what he had said when so throwing it upon the fire.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ADJOURN- ' MENTS.

When the Legislative Council at Thursday’s sitting had dealt with the Charitable Gifts, Trustee Amendment, Exportation of Arms and Promissory Oaths Bills, the Hon. W. C. Walker moved the adjournment It was then 3.15 p.m., and there still remained the Shops and Offices, Property Law Amendment, and. School Attendance Bilis on the order paper. The H6n. S. E. Shrimski entered an emphatic protest against the Minister’s practice of . moving tiie adjournment at such an early hour. The reason for the adjournment was apparrent. The Shops and Offices Bill came next on the order paper, and the Council evidently did not desire to deal with this measure at. present. In connection with this Bill there is an amendment to the effect that the third reading should be deferred for three months.

MR HUTCHESON AND MR WILFORD. \ Mr John Hutcheson and Mr Wiiford gave a sparring exhibition on Friday night, wsich entertained the House while it lasted. In speaking of the railway superannuation scheme, Mr Hutcneson pointed out that four members had put questions cn the order paper on' this subject. From this, he went on to say that Mr Wiiford—-who had just made a speech on the subject, in which he in. formed members that Cabinet was dealing with the question—had obtained this knowledge by back stairs influence, and did not work in the light of day. Mr Hutcheson proceeded to admit that Mr Wiiford was to be found in the House when there was a late train to the Hutt or when his constituents were in the galleries, or when he was able to spare time from Court work and Dix’s. Mr Wiiford was of course “drawn” at once. He retorted that he was frequently at Dix’s, and had seen many a farce played there and many a cornerman, and ’ ho could state that Mr Hutcheson would make a good cornerman without blackening his

face. Objection wag taken to this remark, and the chairman (Major Steward) asked Mr Wilford to withdraw it. Mr Wilford: “Well. I will say—■” The chair., man, interrupting : “The hon. gentleman must withdraw the remark unreservedly.” Mr Wilford: “Sir, I will unreservedly withdraw the remark that he will make a corner man without blackening his face.” Mr W. Fraser protested against this style of withdrawal as an insult to the chair, but there was no further withdrawal, as Mr Hutcheson leaped to his feet and sought to implicate the Premier in the matter, whereat Mr Seddon denied the statement of the member for Wellington that he had given Mr Wilford his cue. Later on, Mr Atkinson inquired of Mr Wilford whether he and Mr Fisher, wh'en they attended Dix’s entertainment on the previous evening, were attending to the interests of their constituents- The reply of Mr Wilford was that he had been searching at Dix’s for a billet for Mr Atkinson similar to that which he had recommended for Mr Hutcheson. From this the House went on to business.

PRIVATE MEMBERS’ DAY. When the Premier proposed on the 24th ult. that Government business should take precedence on "Wednesdays, there was much protest from those members who have Bills on the order paper. Mr Hornsby pleaded on behalf of his Limitation of Profits and Prevention of Rings Bill, saying that be bad letters from various other parts of the colony regarding the milling trust, and the question of tied bouses. Mr Thomas Mackenzie expressed the hope that the Government would take Wednesdays, and attacked Mr Hornsby’s Bill as utterly unworkable. If, he said, industry was to be threatened in the manner proposed by this Bill, they would soon find that no industries would come to the colony. Mr Fowlds blandly assured the Government that there was a general desire on the part of members for the Cycle Boards Bill, which stands next on the order paper. Mr G. J. Smith put in a word for the Libel Bill, whilst Mr Pirani reminded the Government that his School Attendance Bill had almost passed its final stages. After a reply from the Premier, tine motion was carried by 37 votes to 13. JOTTINGS. “The member for Napier (Mr A. Aj. D. Fraser) is most eloquent when he knows nothing about a subject.”—Mr Hutcheson.

Mr Hutcheson, complaining that he could not obtain an explanation about some item on the Estimates, resignedly observed that to seek for information in this way was like searching “the ledger of a fan-tan shop.” A question on the order paper of the House of Representatives in Mr Hutcheson’s name asks the Postmaster-General whether his attention has been called to an article in the “ New Zealand Times” of the 26th instant, being an extract from the Auckland “Star,” and entitled “Auckland v. Wellington: The American Mail Service’’Y-aud, so, will ho give the House his views thereon? Mr A. L. D. Fraser, during the discussion in the House last Friday regarding troopers’ horses, brought a retort upon himself through implying that Mr G. Fisher, who had spoken previously, had disparaged the horses from the Napier district. Mr Fisher, in reply, said, “The hon member is quite wrong. I never the horses. on the East Coast ‘were no good, for I never spoke about the horses on the East Coast. “ Besides,” continued Mr Fisher, " it is well understood that the East Coast district produces better horses than men. The House immediately went into a lauohing fit, and the hilarity was resumed when Mr Pirani rose, and remarked that “the member for Napier (Mr Fra-, ser), when he rose to defend his party, was as fierce as a canary.” Mr Atkinson presented a petition on Friday from the executive of the New Zealand Alliance asking for inquiry into certain allegations by Mr Robert Had don, Hawera, Wesleyan Maori missionary, with regard to drunkenness amongst the Maoris of Taranaki, air Haddon asserts that heavy drinking is practised at Maori tangis. A petition from barmaids in Dannevirke objecting to any interference with the hours and conditions of employment under the Shops and Offices Bill was presented by Mr Hall on Friday. A similar petition was presented by Mr Millar. “Of all the farces we have gone through in this colony, one of the most ridiculous and most expensive farces was the setting up of the Federation Commission.”—Mr Massey. # The Hon. Colonel Pitt, in moving his amendment to the Education Boards Election Bill, in the Legislative Coun cil last week, providing that no one should he eligible as a candidate for election who had a blood relation oil the Board’s staff, enumerated as prohibitive “mother-in-law, father-m.law, son-in-law or daughter-in-law.” “What about the step-mother and the stepfather and the step-uncle and stepaunt ?” queried a member, i return provided to the House, on the motion of Mr Fowlds, shows that 107 of the foreign companies trading in New Zealand have paid the stamp tax 1 of Is per £IOO of their capital, as provided in the Stamp Act, 1882. The petition of Twinhura Paraone and Kingi Ngatuere, laid on the table of

the House last week by Mr T. Parata, asks for compensation from the Government, alleging that 1944 acres of the block vested in them near the Ruamahanga river had unlawfully been taken from them by the Crown without purchase or payment, leaving them a remnant of 1056 acres.

In reply to a reminder from Mr G. J. Smith relative to the Libel Bill, Mr Seddon stated last week that he believed a Libel Bill should be passed. Mr Fisher here inquired whether the Premier referred to the Bill of Mr Carncross? The Premier replied that after what he had heard the other day from Mr Fisher, he, had been almost ed to taking up and supporting the Bill of Mr Carncross. He explained, how r ever, that after the decision of the Su. preme Court there was now practically no such ,thing as criminal libel, and a law ouglit to be passed to remedy this defect. He hoped there would be no objection to that. “I believe the Public Health Department of New Zealand has already saved many hundreds of thousands of pounds to the colony.” —Sir J. G. Ward. “There is not a mere unwholesome atmosphere in the world than that we breathe every day and night in this House.” —Mr Witheford.,^ The Premier to Mr Fisher: “You please yourself and you will please me.” Mr Fisher: “The feeling is mutual. I may say that I have, known the time when the hon. gentleman asked for my assistance.” The Premier: “I have known the time when you needed mine.” Mr Fisher: “I am satisfied, s° long as we understand each other. We are both old birds ” (Laughter, and a voice, “Not to be caught with chaff ?”) “I am quite certain that the Premier would not allow me to put any salt on his tail, and I undertake to say that he will not put any on mine.” On the vote for Hanmer Sanatorium, “houses, grounds and amusements,” Mj Massey wished to be informed of tho character of the amusements. Mr Symea suggested fan tan c r “under and over.” “Ping-pong,” ventured several members. When Mr Millar objected last week to the increase of Mr T. E. Donne’s salary to £SOO, Sir J. G. Ward replied that Mr Donne could have got the increased salary as easy as he could walk across the street. “Well, if the s e men can get these increased salaries else* where, let them take them,” was Mr Millar's comment. “Yes, but we want them,” retorted the Minister. Mr Millar remarked that they could get men to take these positions at lower salaries. “Well,” observed Sir J. G. Ward, "‘you could get members of Parliament for £2O a year.” - “I s u PPort the Liberal party, but I won’t be whipped into line to vote aa the Premier desires every time, if it comes to a question of putting the hon. gentleman (the Premier) off the bench in favour of someone else, I will choose the lesser of two evils,” said Mr Graham; “Am I an evil ?” queried the Premier. Amotion on the order paper a s xs for a return showing the amount voted for and the amount spent in each electorate in class IV. of the Public Works appropriations in 1899 and 1900. Mr Buddo desires an increase of Is an hour in the wages of railway ballast hands, on account of the heavy work and the lost time.

Mr Flatman is moving for a return showing the total quantity and cost of alcoholic liquor's supplied to The Hermitage for sale to tourists and others for the years ended March 31st, 1900 and 1901, the amount credited by sales of liquor and the net profit, also the quantity and value of liquor in stock on March 31st.

Four extensively signed petitions were presented to the House yesterday, praying for the passing of the Bill promoted by the Timaru Harbour Beard, to provide for the inclusion of tho Borough of Waimate in the Timaru Harbour district. .

A petition presented to the House yesterday by Mr Fowlds from the Auckland Christian Endeavour Union prays for legislation prohibiting the importation of opium into this colony. In connection with the petition of Mr R. Hursthouse and others, praying that Motueka harbour and wharf should be removed from the control of the Nelson Harbour Board and vested in the Motueka Borough Council, the Public Petitions Committee has recommended the Government that the borough ot Motueka and portion of Waimca county, for which Motueka harbour is the natural outlet, should be withdrawn from the control of the Nelson Harbour Board and the harbour and wharf vested in the representatives of the Waimea County Council and the borough of Motueka. The Government has been requested by tlie Public Petitions Committee to give consideration to the petition of Alexander McMillan and 697 others ot Wellington, praying for the prohibition -

of the publication by newspapers of winners of sweepstakes and the prevention of “tote’' and street betting. A petition presented to the. House of Representatives from William Thomas, of Kamo, states that the petitioner owns a piece of land which contains several mineral springs and which the Public Trustee desires to take over, he believed at the instance of people who desired to establish a monopoly over the springs. He desires that -there should bo an inquiry made into the matter.