PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1847, 31 July 1907, Page 43

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL FRIDAY, JULY 26. Tlie Council met at 2.30. NEW BILLS. The Pure Foods, Public O ffice _ Amendment and Rotorua r ° w “ Jfmitted from the House of tives, were read a first turn? down for second reading next sittin* day ' ' LOCAL BILL. The Council went into Committee on the Hastings Recreation Reserve Bill. The Hon. G. McLean and the Ron. J. E. Jenkinson objected to the exHnsi e nature of the .powers tojie in the hands of the Hastings Borough Cm n oil, which might, it was pointed out, exclude the public from the resem and „-let the twenty acres on lease ioi build ' “life 11 Hom S 'j- B. Callan replied That power ivas sought to make cUai .^ eb 'l admission to the reserve on cei |f“ o sions, so that tire revenue could be ap- - plied for. its improvement - Upon the motion of the .Horn J. B. Callan, who was in charge of the Bill in the absence of the Hon. J. D. Ui mond, progress was reported. . At 3.15 the Council adjourned, to sit again at 8.39 p.m. . ~, The Imprest Supply Bill (No. 2), ie mitted from the House of Representatives at midnight, was considered forthwith, put through all its stages without discussion, and finally passed. ( The Council then adjourned till xue«day.

HOUSE OF RHP??2SEf4TATIV- S TUESDAY, JULY 23. The House met at 2.39 PRIVATE BILL. The second reading of the Dune tin Suburban Gas Company Linpcweiing Bill was moved, by. Mr Arnold. It eeefcs to empower the company to pm gas

mains through the suburb of caversham and surrounding district. ~ , The Hon. Mr Miliar pointed out that the company’s concession was granted .twenty-one years ago, and since teen Cavereham had become part ot Dunedin city. He objected to this power being given to a private company when the city itself was prepared to do the work. The Dunedin City Corporation was opposed to the measure. . Mr Barclay opposed the Bid, and said he would ask the House, if ever the Bill came back from the committee, to join him in rejecting it. Sir Joseph Ward supported the Bill going-to the committee. He said a large ’ 6 uni of British money was invested m the company, and the shareholders mid a right to expect fair and reasonable treatment from the Legislature. Mr J. Allen said if rights could be given to the company which did not conflict with the powers of* Dunedin city, it should be done, but the unfortunate thing was that Dunedin city had taken Caversham into its arms, and naturally eought to supply Caversham with lighting; moreover, Dunedin city ow*ed something to the Caversham ratepayers. Mr Sidey said unless considerable modifications were made in the Bill he must oppose it. Probably some arrangement 'might be come to between the Council . and the company before the Bill was returned from the committee. Mr T. Mackenzie said the Gas Com- ■ pany had for years occupied a useful position in supplying gas to the suburbs. These suburbs had their rights, and it was because of the overstretching on the part of the city of Dunedin that many of the suburbs had positively refused to throw in their territory within the city area. They.felt they would be entirely under the heel of the city it they did this, ft appeared that Dunedin wanted to prevent the company continuing rights granted to TL by Parliament. Mr E. G. Allen thought if the Bill were allowed to go to the committee, „ ’ the differences would be satisfactorily * settled. The company was not a paying concern, and it would not take a very large sum for Dunedin city to buy the worksi The second reading wa3 agreed to, and the Bill was referred to the Local Bills Committee.COSTLEY HOME. - The Costley Training Institution Act Amendment Bill (Hon. Mr Fowlds) was read a first time. It extends the powers of the trustees of the home. ROTORUA TOWN. The Rotorua Town Bill, reported from committee, came on for its third reading. Mr Herries (Bay of Plenty) stated that the Bill proposed to place all the moneys received from the town into the Consolidated Fund. This would prevent anyone injured by the department in its capacity of a borough from suing the department for damages. A good deal of the failure in Rotorua administration had been due to divided authority. The figures in regard to expenditure upon Rotorua quoted by the Premier did not tally with his own idea of them. Probably the expenditure upon railway ■communication was included. If he chose to make a balance-sheet of Rotorua upon the same principles as the Exhibition "balance-sheet, he could show that Rotorua was the greatest asset the colony possessed. He criticised the Tourist Department's conduct of the drainage scheme, alleging that £6826 was spent upon the original scheme which had to be condemned without being need The waterworks scheme had not HfcoSU Thitftif electrical all the current '< He guaranteed that things would" have been better if the. Government had had nothing.he dp wl ' ' torua. If the petty charges tor use oi

the wharf on Lake Rotorua were continued, the votes recorded for the Opposition member would go up considerably next election. The Premier declared that the member for the district -©earned to want Rotorua people to get everything for nothing. There was not a Harbour Board in the colony which did not charge dues upon goods passing over its wharves, so a6(to pay for maintenance and lighting. The people of Rotorua, quite contrary to the impression of the hon. member, had so much confidence in the Government that they actually wanted it to take over the control of the local racecourse. In regard to the water and drainage schemes, the hon. gentleman quite, forgot t 9 inform the House that owing to the extraordinary nature of the soil at Rotorua it was impossible for the usual material to remain below ground for any length of time without serious deterioration. Instead of complaining, Mr Herries should have made a congratulatory speech upon the remarkable success - which had attended the Government s administration of Rotorua. The Bill was read a third time and P The House adjourned at 5.39. EVENING SITTING. The House resumed at 7.30. FINANCIAL STATEMENT. The debate on the Financial Statement was commenced (as reported eltcwhere), and continued to midnight., when the House rose until 2.30 p.m. today. THURSDAY, JULY 25. The House met at 2 89. LOCAL BILLS. Following Bills were read a first time : —Gisborne Harbour (Hon. J. Carroll), •Wellington City Empowering (Mr Fisher). LOAN BILL. A Bill making provision for the raising or a million loan was introduced by Governor’s message and read - a first time. NOXIOUS WEEDS. The Noxious Weeds Bill (Mr R. McKenzie) was moved into committee for further consideration. Sir William Steward was voted to the chair. Mr McKenzie explained that he was quite prepared to accept the amendment made in the Bill by the committee on a former occasion, confining the operations of the Bill to the Nelson district. Mr Field moved to include the district of Wellington within the operations of the measure. He regarded the provisions of the Bill as excellent, and they should be made to apply to the whole colony. .

Mr Svines hoped that the good sense of the House would not include the \\ ellington district. Mr Dillon characterised the exclusion process as a farce, and urued. that if the Bill was adopted it should be made to apply to all parts of the colony. Mr Remington moved that the chairman leave the chair. He was doing this, he said, to prevent the scandalous waste of time which was taking place in regard to the Bill, a repetition of what took place last year. Mr Izard suggested that if Mr Field wanted a share in the operations of the Bill, only the Otaki electorate should be included. Mr Herries considered the Bill was intended to carry out the work of clearing roads of noxious weeds in a very equitable manner. Mr Remington withdrew his amendment, and eventually Mr Field withdrew his motion. Mr Bollard moved that Auckland province be included in the operations of tbe Bill. It was unjust to compel a man to clear the road opposite his land if the weeds had grown owing to the neglect of the local authority, and it was fairer to throw the burden on the general rates. Mr Hardy supported the amendment, as also did Mr YVniurd, who facetiously suggested that it would be a good object lesson if it applied to Auckland, which was one of the purest districts in regard to weeds in the colony, because they could hardly find a plot of land there upon which a noxious weed would grow. (Laughter.) The amendment found support from two Auckland members, Messrs Alison and Poland, whose arguments were similar to those of the mover, but was opposed by Mr Stallworthy. Mr Lewis suggested that as soon as Auckland was disposed of another iiain 6 would crop up; therefore, it would be better to make the measure permissive all over the colony. The discussion had not concluded when the dinner adjournment was reached, and when it was continued at 7.30 by Messrs Izard, Hone Heke, Barber, and Flatman, there were unmistakable indications of a stonewall. At 7.45 Mr Remington had moved to report progress, declaring that it was a selfish action for members to block other Bills which were on the order paper. For over half an hour the motion was debated, and it was then defeated. Another thirty minutes was spent by country members in discussing Mr Bollard’s amendment that the land district of Auckland be included in the scope of the Bill. The amendment was agreed to by 3U votes to 24. Mr Heke (Northern Maori) asked it he would have the right to move a further amendment limiting the scope of the Bill in Auckland to the city itself. , . Mr Buddo (who, in the absence of feir William Steward, had been voted to the chair) replied that this was clearly an absurdity, but the member was in order, though no doubt the House would reject the amendment. COUNTRY MEMBERS' STONEWALL. Mr Rutherford joined the army of talkers after supper. He affected to be

anxious about the condition of Auckland’s streets; The deduction from the amendment proposed by Mr Heke was, he said, that Auckland was a decaying city, and that its (streets were over-run with noxious weeds. Ho would like an assurance on the subject from the leader of the Opposition. (Laughter.) Mr Hogfif, whose Flour Duties Aboiltion Bill was next on the order paper, declared that there had been a display of wasted time which, would not tend to elevate the principal actors m the eyes of their constituents. Unfortunately, there were members who were afraid of Bills which contained a principle oi vital importance to the country. No progress had been made at eleven o’clock, when Mr Ngata was advising Mr Massey to take a lesson from the great strategists in regard to concentration of forces. This, he explained, was how Nelson won the battle of the Nile. Mr Tanner rose to a point of order. He had, he said, been listening all day to noxious weed discussion, but he was not going to sit up at midnight to hear about the battle of the Nile. (Laughter.) Mr Ngata took pains to explain how the concentration of forces was a very relevant matter, and then eat down. Ten minutes latex 1 he moved to report Tiiis was supported by the Hon. James Carroll. _ . , , Mr McKenzie declared that he would stick to his Bill if it took him three months to get it through. progress ivas reported at 11.15 o clock, and the Hon. Janies Carroll then moved that' the House should adjourn. Mr Hogg opnosed the adjournment as a protest against a display of wasted time, which stood without a parallel in the records of Parliament. So far as he could r.o great object was to be served beyond preventing the second reading of two Bills of some importanco to the country, the Abolition of Flour Duties and Abolition of Plural Voting Bills. Mr Hall said he had never met with eo deliberate a waste of time in all his experience. He had listened for an hour to the most utter rot and rubbish.

Members: Ua! The Speaker intimated that Mr Hall s expression was unparliamentary. Accordingly the member withdrew the phrase, substituting “utter nonsense.” At 11.40 the House adjourned.

FRIDAY, JULY 26. The House met at 2.30. The Lands Committee, reporting on the petition of William Bircli, Mangawui, who asked for compensation for loss of land, stated that it had no recommendation to make, the petitioner not having exhausted his legal lemedy. Mr Mander moved that the petition be referred back to the committee. Mr Birch had years ago bought 109 acres from the Crown, but on re-survey he was to be deprived of fifty acres. The petitioner was not in a position to appeal to the Supreme Court. Even if he were, the cast would probably be more than his land was worth. Mr Massey said the petitioner was a verv industrious settler. Thirty years ago' he took un land, for which he got a Crown grant, but it appeared that fifty acres were to be taken away from aim now, owing to an error in survey. If an injustice had been done to Mr Birch it should be remedied. The Hon. Mr McNab thought the previous speaker was under a misapprehension. There was no cause oi action against the Crown. The position, as represented by officers of the department, was that there were three land-owners who purchased some land many years ago, Mr Birch amongst them. Mr Birch, he understood, desired to get his own title nut into a land transfer title. He said he was losing fifty acres, but that had not yet been decided. Claims had been set up by the petitioner’s neighbours, involving some fifty acres ot land now occupied by him, and the Petitions committee took up the attitude that he had not exhausted his legal remedy. The Crown was not involved at all. He had no objection to the matter going before the committee again, but if the general question of Crown grants and the Crown s responsibility was to be discussed, and to lay down the principle that these Crown grantees should be put under the land transfer title, that was going to alter the whole policy of the country, and involve the Government in a large expenditure. Mr Mander said he could not help thinking that the Government was responsible. The Crown grant was issued in good faith, and the right thing for the Crown to do now was to show the man his boundary. The Hon. Mr Duncan (Chairman of the Committee): The evidence of his neighbours is that they had prior rights to Birch. , ... ~ . Mr Lang said the position was this— The petitioner was supposed to have bought 100 acres from the Crown and now found himself deprived of fifty acres. Mr W. Fraser said if the Crown was to be held liable now for all errors ot survey in the past it would be a very bier order Mr T. Mackenzie: If the Crown s surveyors made a mistake in the past, the Crown ought to bear the cost. No end of trouble had been caused by imperfectly trained surveyors in the provincial d£ The petition was referred back to the committee. PUBLIC WORKS. Discussion arose over a recommendation of the Petitions Committee m regard to public works. A grant of: £SOO was asked for a bridge over the Waitemata river at River Head, near Auckland. The committee had no recommendation to make in regard to the application, but made a general recommendation that all such applications should in future he referred direct to the Government by the Classification Committee. „ , ~ ~ , Sir Joseph Ward said a practice had been growing up for members to get up petitions for works, and then have them referred to a committee, with a view to getting a favourable recommendation.

This was only misleading tte applicants for members must know it wa6 impossible for the Government to carry out these recommendations. It was a very dangerous system to allow to grow up, because every hon: member well knew that the Government could never give effect to all these works proportionate to the amount of mousy available from year to year. There was hardly a petition that came back from committee that did not contain a favourable recommendation. A suggestion made by the leader of the Opposition that a Public Works Committee should be set up to whom should be referred all applications for public works was impracticable. To do any good such committee would have to travel through the country during the recess; it would have to be' paid, and, moreover, it would relieve the Ministry of the responsibility of deciding what amount should be put on the Public Works Estimates. The amount for these estimates was decided already. The actual amount for roads, bridges, railways in globo had been decided. He cordially supported the proposal to stop these recommendations from the committees. It was the duty of every member of Parliament to recommend wbat works were needed. He had received telegram.- urging that the Arthur’s Pass tunnel should not be undertaken, but with the railway running np to it east and west, and to leave the line incomplete, would be valueless and useless, and contrary to the original intention of Parliament if that work was not to be carried out. The Government could only carry out these works from Fine to time, as its finance permitted. The Government was not putting on the Estimates any sums for new railways, because that would only reduce the amount for existing lines. Unless the House wanted to go in for a three or four million loan, it was impossible to give anything like the money asked for all these new works. Mr T. Mackenzie maintained that the present haphazard system of doling out money for public works should be stopped. The chief merit of a member was the amount he got for works in his particular district. The Hon. J. A. Millar said if the system were ’allowed to go on members would find themselves in the position of having to canvass the electorates to get petitions for tbe House, if they wanted a fair share of public money. As a matter of fact, the main Public Works Estimates were made up before any of these petitions were dealt with. Mr R. McKenzie asked why should not a member of Parliament have the right of redress by wav of petition on behalf of his constituents. He did not know what Parliament was coming to if they refused the public the right of redress by petition to Parliament. Sir Joseph Ward: That is not suggestMr McKenzie: That’s the only inference. The report of the committee was adopted.

IMPREST SUPPLY. An Imprest Supply Bill for .£623,000 was introduced by Governor’s message. Mr Herries, while expressing satisfaction at the buoyancy of the railway revenue, said he was not satisfied that sufficient ivas being done to provide refiling stock for the increased traffic. The Premier was asking for ,£350,000 for additional rolling stock, but if £500,000 had been required by him the House would gladly have voted it. The co-op-erative system had not resulted in railway construction being cheapened. . The Premier : You must take into account increased cost of materials. Mr Herries went on to argue that the earnings per train mile were decreasing on the Hurunui-Bluff section, which was not earning 3 per cent, upon its capital cost, thus throwing a burden on the Northern systems, which paid £4 3s 4d per cent, on the Wellington section, and £4 is 9d at Auckland. An inquiry should he made into this matter to see what could be done to improve the position of the most important railway in the colony. ' ’ The Premier declared that nothing was more regrettable than an attempt to set off the North against the South. The position represented by Mr. Herries was absolutely contrary t<3 fact, as had been shown time after time. There were long sections in the South Island, and the system included a large portion of the incomplete Midland Railway, of which only a small proportion could be expected to return a profit. The debate was interrupted by the 5.30 adjournment. EVENING SITTING. THE PREMIER ON RAILWAYS. ROLLING-STOCK ADEQUATE. Continuing his reply to Mr Herries, the Premier pointed out that a loan of £1,000,000 was already proposed, and it would not do to float another half a million during the same year. In regard to the allegation that rolling-stock was insufficient, he quoted details from the railway report, and summed this up with the statement that on March 31st .last G ie rolling-stock capacity was within 13 pei cent, of the requirements of the pr-nvnt traffic in spite of the fact that since 1895 the length of new lines added to existing railways was 463 miles. At the present moment practically all the i oquirements of business were being met by existing rolling-stock. Large additions had been made recently on the Auckland section, and with the more powerful engines provided, the difficulty in regard to the supply of waggons had disappeared. Mr Herries was evidently making his criticism without being acquainted with the present Auckland conditions. Rates of freight were absolutely the same all over the colony, except where special rates had to be fixed to compete against sea carriage. He earnings on the Hurunui-Bluff section amounted to 7s 9;}d per train mile, the highest in the colony, while on the Auckland section it was 7s 9d, jand on the Wellington-Napier-New Plymouth 6tction 6s lOd. The Hurunui-Bluff section earned £2 17s 3d per cent., which was not the lowest in the colony. The m-r creased cost of running was due to the;

fact that the department was returning to the public three-quarters of a million sterling in decreased freight and faies, and ,£375,000 per annum to the employees, in the shape of improved pay. The cost of construction had increased, but was a general increase all over the world. A higher class of construction was required now in consequence of the increased weight of engines, the doubling in size of carriages, and a great increase in the size of waggons. Taking all in all, the co-operative system had been of great benefit to the colony by absorbing a great deal of labour, which would otherwise have been without employment. An exception had been rightly made in the case of the Arthur's Pass tunnel contract, because in such a big work it was just as well that the colony should know the extent of its liability before it started. The upkeep of our peimanent way was second to none in the world. He had gone for miles aid miles in America without seeing -a sur-face-man, and had noticed sleepers sticking out in all directions. Mr Massey declared that serious less and inconvenience was caused on the Auckland section of railways in consequence of insufficient rolling-stock and want of power. He briefly criticised the working of the Valuation Department. Mr Fisher criticised the system of auditing the public accounts, expressing the opinion that members should have the right of inspecting them. During the progress of the vouchep inquiry he had ascertained from witnesses that the Treasury had made payments twice on the same account. This indicated the defective nature of the system. The law was not being complied with because vouchers were not returned to the Audi-tor-General after payment. Mr James Allen said no doubt the increased cost of maintaining the Southern railways- was due to their greater age, and perhaps some of it might have been caused by the State coal mines charging the Ea.ilway Department too high a rate for coal. He suggested that inquiry should be made into allegations of unfair promotion in the Civil Service. The Hon. James McGowan replied that the cost of Point Elizabeth State coal was 16s 4d and Seddonville coal 14s 10.5 d per ton. Mr Okey gave an illustration of unfair valuation of a New Plymouth estate, and asked that inquiry should be made into the matter. He criticised the working of the co-operative labour system. The Hon. C. H. Mills, asked. What interest would a valuer have in placing an abnormal value on a property F The Premier, replying to Mr Massey’s complaints regarding shortage of railway waggons at Auckland, said that there were no staiths or hoppers at the Huntly coal mines to hold even a hundred tons of coal, the colliery owners expecting the department to provide fifty or a hundred trucks to be accumulated at the mines to keep them going, a thing which was not done anywhere else. The Colliery proprietors, under such circumstances, should provide the waggons themselves. There were execeptioDal times during the year when the rnih;» system was taxed to its utmost capacity, but that its work was well done would be admitted by every class of the commercial community in the South. He gave an' unqualified denial to the suggestion that instructions had been given to increase valuations. It was undeniable that an appreciation had been going on in the value of land throughout the colony, and no doubt some of the valuations had been too low. . The Bill went through all its stages unamended, and was passed, the House rising at midnight.