LOBBY AND GALLERY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1746, 23 August 1905, Page 42

LOBBY AND GALLERY.

THE POLITEGAL WEEK. Another late night lias been put in on the Estimates. Progress has been very slew. Honrs are occupied with discussions on minor matters, and when the big votes come on, and Ministers want to get some genuine work done, the House is empty. It was 2 a.,m. on Saturday when the leader of the Opposition moved to report progress. Only „©ne department—Justice—'had been finished after a debate of nine hours. The Postmaster-General gave the Opposition the option of going on with Post and Telegraphs or Railways. The Opposition said those departments were too important to tackle at that hour. They avowed, through their leader, that they did not want to “sling muck” —one of the choice Parliamentary phrases developed within reoent times —but wished a full House to scrutiny such mg Estimates. “We’ve done nothing yet,” beseeched. the Minister. “What's the hurry?” used the member for Bruce, “sweet persuasion is much nicer. It's no use trying to coerce or drive.” Ultimately a. compromise was effected. The classified part of the Post and Telegraph Estimates was put through, and members retired at 3 a.m., with just a bare quorum present. The main discussion on the Justice vote was in regard to the increased salaries to Magistrates. There was no Objection to raising the salaries, but r the Opposition urged that the Magistrates should be placed on a permanent ' footing, just the same as Supreme Court Judges are. They did not want Magistrates subservient to the will of any Government of the day. To concede that, an important issue was raised —the termination of the tenure of office of all the Magistrates, and the review of their position. The Government view was that the colony had every reason to bo satisfied with the men who are administering justice in the lower Courts, and they were themselves content with the positions they occupied ; h d, in fact, expressed no desire for a change. The Uppo-si-sition commi-.-ion w_.s .hat the best men Would not be art acted to the Bench at ' the salaries onvdx.b,: and yet, the Pre- ' mier explained, when the salaries were increased, the old objections raised for many yeais.-pt-so-.on cnese Estimates were reiterated. The vote was passed unaltered*

Prisons and prison reform occupied a fair share of attention. Some members advocated the establishment of a kind of half-way house between gaol and asylum for men sent to prison for excessive drinking. They were not criminals, and should not be herded with them. Mr Laurenson came to light with a new proposal. Would the Minister for Justice allow some competent man, say, once in three months, to give addresses on selected subjects to men confined in gaols ? There were scientific men in Canterbury College who would be prepared to do this, and he feltsure the experiment would do no harm. The member for the Hutt humorously suggested that instead of prisoners getting a flogging, Mr McNab should be allowed to address them occasionally on the Absolute Majority Bill. The suggestion did not commend itself to the House. The leader of the Opposition drew attention to the cost of maintaining the criminals in this colony, and quoted some interesting figures from the prisons report of what it cost per head to maintain them in the chief

This gave a total average of £35 18s 3d per liead per annum. The cost, in the opinion of the leader of the Opposition, was far too much, and ought to he cut down. Men should, he held, he sent to the larger centres, and maintained at a much lower cost. “These useless bodies” was the term applied by the member for Napier to the Maori Baud Councils. Auckland members had criticised the administration of the Councils. Mr Fraser did not wonder at it, for the settlement of hundreds, of thousands of acres had been retarded by the action or inaction of the Councils. There was the great Oltutu block (on the northern banks of the Wanganui river), for which there was the clamour of tongues and the heating of drums, but the Council had thrown every obstacle in the way of its settlement either by Maoris or Europeans, in order to pander to a few natives who were anxious to have home rule with their Maori Councils. “You can wait until death is knocking at the door,” he dramatically exclaimed. “Why is it? Because you are supporting the Government,” chimed in Mr Duthie. “No,” rejoined Mr Fraser, “ when you show me a better Ministry in personnel I will support them —and I have very good eyesight.” “ I’ll bake a hand at the game in a minute,” interrupted the Premier. Undismayed, the member for Napier registered his sessional protest against the Government’s native land policy.

The introduction or the Workers’ Dwellings Bill gave an opportunity fcr brief reference to the inequality of taxation. Mr Taylor pointed out that for many years the credit of this colony had been pledged on the London market, and the whole benefit had gone to the landed proprietary class, and it was time the toilers received some consideration. The burden of rent in New Zealand was increasing yearly, and the. cost of living was greater to the city dweller than to his brother in the country. Mr Buchanan championed the cause of the landowner. Did the hon member mean to say that thousands of working men had not benefited in an equal degree by the money borrowed? How many men had been sent from Canterbury to the North Island in 1895 to open up roads, and who participated in the expenditure of two million of loan money? Mr Fowlds put the problem in this way: The labourer gave value in services rendered for the money he got; the landlord got it without any labour at all. He was satisfied the State was going on wrong lines altogether in spending public money in this direction. They could get cheap workmen’s homes if they only applied the natural taxation —the single tax. It was the absence of taxation that caused the enormous increase of values. The House was indifferent- to the suggestion. The position in regard to the Vancouver ma'll service was incidentally explained by the Postmaster-General. The House had authorised that £20,000 should be offered to get this service extended to New Zealand. That offer was made to the Union Steam Ship Company, side by side with which the Queensland Government, it was understood, expressed its willingness to give up the right of the steamers calling at Brisbane, for which it was paying £IO,OOO, whereas the New Zealand Government offeiod £20,000 to get the steamers to call here. The Queensland Government afterwards changed its attitude, and got the Federal Government to spread the £IO,OOO over the whole of the Commonwealth. The result was that the steamers could not be withdrawn from Queensland, and although the New Zealand Government offered £20,000 for three years to the

Union Company, the company, which was subsidised by the Canadian Government, was unable t-o accept the offer. Therefore, until 1906 the Union Company was tied to Brisbane, and could not come on to New Zealand. Sir Joseph Ward assured members that everything had been done to get the service extended to this colony, and he had hopes that it might still be done. The colony, however, was not prepared to pay £IOO,OOO tor an independent mail service to Vancouver.

In the discussion on the question of adjourning, the leader of the Opposition suggested that, in order to save time, the Government should bring down the Consolidated Estimates and the Public Works Estimates together. The Premier said he had promised to bring down the Public Works Statement at the epd of this month, and he hoped to keep to his promise. .But, so far, they had been going at the rate of on 3 day one class. To bring down the two sets of Estimates at one time was impossible. “ You can’t do it,” he said, “ for members would be entirely in the power of Ministers, and I don’t want to start an innovation of that kind.” “ I don’t object to doing a reasonable amount of work,” said the leader of the Opposition, “ but I do object to what has obtained in previous sessions, and I hope, so far as this session is concerned, there will be a decided change for the better.” “If we’ve got to go away by October we must get on with the business,” emphasised the Premier. “ I am prepared to stay here until the end of November,” replied Mr Massey. “ You will be left sitting alone,” came the rejoinder. The House went on with the Estimates.

Auckland Net Cost. £ s d ... 13 15 5 Dunedin ... 46 1 4 Hokitika ... 58 15 4 Invercargill ... 28 6 1 Lyttelton ... 18 11 10 Napier ... 45 7 6 New Plymouth ... 66 16 8. Wanganui ... Wellington ... 51 13 11 ... 19 19 10