PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1695, 24 August 1904, Page 61

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

DUTY ON BREADSTUFFS. The Government was asked by Mr Hogg last week if it will afford the House, at an early date, an opportunity oi discussing in all its bearings the policy of continuing the present duty on breadstuffs ? The Hon G. H. Mills replied that the matter is now receiving the consideration of the Government, but no promise could be given at present in the direction indicated by the hon member. Mr Hogg, speaking to the question, said the community was at tibe present time paying £1 7s per ton more for flour than it ought to pay. When he brought up this question before, the Premier had asked whether the fanners would approve of the remission of the duty on flour, but he (Mr Hogg) asserted that the farmers had no interest whatever in maintaining the duty. Money was now being extracted from the pockets of the people in this direction that ought to’ be going to the maintenance of their families. The few flourmills in the colony were employing 515 hands, whose wages totalled £9364, and he did not think that the industry should be protected to the detriment of the people. It was not right, in his opinion, that tho duty on flour should be continued. The remission of the duty would mean a difference of from Id to lid on the 41b loaf. He read the following letter he had received from a baker: —“ I beg to inform you* that I can get Sydney flour put in my bakehouse at £9 2s 6d, after paying £1 duty and 4s Gd freight. New Zealand flour is £9 5s in the bakehouse. Wheat, in New Zealand and Sydney is about the same. The Flour Trust can give the fanner what they like, and they take the balance.” Mr Flatman maintained that the member for Master ton could not point to a flourmill in New Zealand that was paying 5 per'cent, on its outlay. He thought the calculations of Mr Hogg were made on an erroneous basis./ He thought the member for Masterton should take a more liberal view of tliis question. THE LANGDALE ESTATE. In reply to a petition from a large number of settlers on the Langdale estate, Castlepoint county, urging a modification of tho cropping regulations in force under the Land for Settlements Act, the Minister of Lands informs Mr Hbgg, M..H.R., that he intends to consult the various Commissioners of Clown Lands during the recess, with a view to some alteration being made in tho regulations if generally found'to be necessary. THE FREEHOLD. Mr Ell, who inquired whether the Government will, in the event of Crown tenants being granted the right of acquiring the freehold of their holdings, provide that the tenant electing to take advantage of the power to purchase the freehold shall pay the full market value of his holding, less the value of all improvements at the time of taking advantage of the option, has been assured that, as stated in tho Governor’s Speech, full inquiries will be made into the several matters pertaining to this question. The Premier did not understand from the question that Crown tenants should have the right to acquire the freehold by paying the full market value of the holding, less the value of all improvements, at the time of taking advantage of the option. FREIGHT CHARGES. Mr Millar is asking the Minister of Industries and Commerce if he is aware that on the last trip of the s.s. Essex, one of the vessels of the subsidised Federal line, shippers in New Zealand were charged £2 10s per ton for carriage of frozen rabbits, whilst the same vessel on the sanio trip carried the same class of cargo from Tasmania and Australia for £2 per ton, or 6d per oase less; and, if so, will lie take steps to either cease the subsidy or see that our shippers are placed on at least as favourable terms as those in Australia? STATE NURSERIES. During last year 6,644,259 trees were raised 'in the State nurseries and plantations, as compared with 4,000,000 for the preceding year.. Since the inauguration of the Forestry Branch in 1896, 18,293,682 trees have been raised, the value being £25,873. Of the trees raised last year, 2,392,939 were planted out in different plantations over an area of 1040 acres. The number of trees supplied to local bodies was 19,693, valued at £194. Tlie outlay in the Forestry Branch was £18,196, bringing the total expenditure up to £55,886. The nurseries and plantations are valued at £31,641. COST OF POLICE. A return attached to the annual police report shows that in New Zealand there is one policeman to every 1393 of population, the cost per head being 2s 10R1. The number of police is 626, and tho net expenditure £125,152, tor a populaton of 875,648 (including Maoris). The cost in this colony per head is lower than in any oif the other colon ie». In Victoria the expenditure is 4s <-.,d p?” ho#cl, Now Soutli Waloa 5s 11 «♦; (1, Son tl i Australia 4s lijd, Queensland 0s West Australia 11s 4Jd, Tasmania 4:; ljd. NEW ZEALAND LIGHTHOUSES. r PKa firvef. nf rwfA-lvk XUmr

Zealand lighthouses is £14,534 per annum, of which salaries for the year ending March last absorbed £9273; oil £1654, and stores and contingencies £3607. The working expenses of the Hinemoa (lighthouse repairing steamer) are £8954. The sum of £190,63G has been expended in the erection of the New Zealand coastal lighthouses, of which Pencarrow Head is responsible for £0422, Cape Campbell £5019, Portland Island £6554, Cape Paliker £6243, East Cape £7594, and Dog Island (off Stewart Island) £10,480. The light duds collected during the ended March last amounted to £29,116. MAORI LANDS ADMINISTRATION. ~ Parliament was occupied for a considerable time on Friday in a discussiorcai on the Maori lands administration of the Go vern merit. The attack was, naturally, started by tire Opposition. The leader -of that party, after - a prolonged debate, moved to reduce the item for tins department by £1 as an indication that reform was needed. This was lost. The Native Minister made an appeal to members to give the Maori Councils a proper opportunity of proving their usefulness. The following di-vision-list does nob altogether indicate the way in which all the members spoke on the question, for several of th® Government’s keenest critics, when it came to a division, stuck to their own l party:— For Mr Massey’s motion (24). —Aitken, Alison. Barber, Bollard, Fowlds, Hardy, Hawkins, Herdman, Kaihau, Kirkibride, Lang, Lethbridge, Lewis. Mander. Massey, Moss, Remington, Rhodes, Russell. Rutherford, J* W. Thomson, Vile, Witty. Against the motion (30). E. G. Allen, Arnold, Bonnet, Carroll. Cohan, Davey, Duncan, Ell, Flatman. A. L. D. Fraser, Graham, Hall-Jones, Hogg, Houston, Jennings, Kidd, Laurenson, Lawry McGowan. R. M erven zie MeLachlan, McNab, Mills, Parata, Sidey* Smith, Byrnes, Ward, vvilford, Willis. Paii-s.—For—T. Mackenzie, Duthi®* Buchanan,, Reid, W. Fraser, J. Alien. Against—Hall, Wood, Buddo, Majoi\ Seddon, Witheford. LICENSED TOHUNGAS. During the discussion of the Estimates for Maori Councils on Friday, Mr Herries expressed astonishment that the Government “ Gazette ” of recent date contained notification of the licensing of Maori tohungas, the very class of men whom it was the duty of the Government to suppress. Mr A. L. D. Fraser also complained of the action of the Maori Councils. In do part of New Zealand were the tohungas so dangerous and aggressive as on the Elast Coast of the North Island. Yet they found the chairman of the Council bringing down by-laws whereby “ these v infamous scoundrels ” were licensed at a pound a year to carry on their iniquitous practices. He regretted 1 that anything stamped with the seal of Government approval should allow such procedure. Replying to these remarks, the Native Minister (Mr Carroll) said the tohungas were frauds, travelling round the country professing healing arts and sciences and unsettling the Maori communities wherever they went. “ But how are you going to deal with them ? Suppose you do not frame regulations, what do you propose? You cannot interfere with them any more than you can with Dowie cr some of those charlatans that go around professing different religions. The law protects them. How can you interfere with them? Rather than have regulations which are repugnant to your minds, you are quite willing that these tohungas should go on practising their baneful arts.” At a later stage the Minister said it was necessary to bring the tohungas under the power of the Councils, and the only way to- do that was to have regulations, under which the tohungas had to apply to the Councils for licenses. The regulations were uoa\; being given to all the Couucils in the colony. If the regulations could bring tohungaism to a practical end, then they should not be condemned. If they did not succeed they could be repealed. THE VANCOUVER SERVICE. The Postmaster-General, replying to questions in the House on Friday as to what the Government was doing in regard to the establishment of a Vancouver steamer service to New-Zealand, said the matter had not in any way been overlooked. He had laid a proposed agreement on the table of the House in 1895, signed by him as Post-master-General, for a Vancouver service for three years, hut the House did not ratify the agreement, and the service was lost to tho colony. The Government was not to blame in the matter, and it was contrary to fact to say that there had been any neglect on the part oi the Government in arranging for this service- Strong representations had recently been made to the Queensland Government, and representations had also been made to Canada, which • required to be a consenting party, but tho Canadian Government objected to Brisbane being relinquished in favour of a New Zealand port, on the ground that it would lengthen the service via Auckland. Nothing more coukl lie.dene, . for if the Vancouver service was to come to this colony, both Queensland and Canada, would have to.be consenting varties. Queensland now paid Elft.QM f.A- saa.rv; ntx• Nmv Z/MiEnd

had offered £20,000, so what more could be done? He thought it would be a very good thing for this colony if we could get the Vancouver service, but it was not possible to do more than had bqen done in the matter by the Government. LOOAL INDUSTRIES. The Commissioner of Customs is.being asked by Mr Field whether the Government will save the paint-manufacturing industry of the colony from extinction by imposing such additional duty on the manufactured article as will render such duty at least equal to the present duty on the raw products forming the constituent parts of paint, the latter duty being now in excess of the former; or whether they will take other steps, by means' of bonus, or rebate of duty, or otherwise, as will enable paint-manu-facturers in the colony to continue their business? Whether, similarly, steps wll be taken, by alteration of Customs tariff, to encourage the glass, paper, and woollen manufacturing industries of the colony ?