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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4158, 18 July 1874, Page 2

The offering of a bonus, in the form of Differential Duties, offered by the Distillation Act of 1868, for the encouragement of Distillation in the Colony, appears to have produced results not calculated upon by the Government which carried that measure (Mr. Stafford's). In his short in the House last night, in proposing a "motion in Committee of Ways and Means, for the increase of the excise duty by one shilling on and after Ist July, 1875, another shilling on the same date in 1877, and another shilling in 1879, so that the duty should then be nine shillings per gallon, Mr. Reynolds stated that from the commencement of distillation in New, Zealand to the 31st of March' last, 294,460 gallons of spirits had been distilled, of which 268,689 were from grain. The loss to reyenuehadbeen£B6,B42. Forevery bushel of grain consumed the Colony was paying lis. 11J per bushel. Yet this industry only gave employment directly to twenty-eight persons —five at Auckland and twenty-three at Dunedin. During 1873 the nett loss was £20,634. The petition of the Distillery Company of Dunedin, presented to the House, stated that they expected this year to use 70,000 bushels of grain, and if that were the case the revenue would lose £42,000. It was stated by Mr. Macandrew, on the authority of a private letter from Dunedin, that £60,000 had been spent on the works Df the distillery there; but it was urged by several hon. members that if the loss to the revenue was so enormous it would be better to equalise the excise and customs duties at once, and get rid of Colonial distillation altogether, even though it should be necessary to compensate some of of the persons who would suffer from that course being taken. The committee so far agreed with his view of the case that they adopted the Government resolutions increasing the duty, though they had been informed that the imposition of one shilling more than the present duty would most seriously interfere with the business of the distillers, and that any further increase would compel them to close their doors. It is understood that in a few days a Select Committee will be appointed to inquire into any claims that may be made upon the Government for compensation, in consequence of the increase of excise duty which the House may now be said to have sanctioned, since the Committee of Ways and Means is a Committee of the whole.

The story o£ "The Two Dromios" was revived in a Bmall but amusing way in the House of Representatives yesterday. The subject under discussion, in Committee of Ways and Means, was the proposal of the Government to increase, on the plan proposed by Mr. Reynolds, the excise duties, so that in 1879 they would amount to 9s. Among the speakers was Mr. Luckie, who seldom fails to avail himself of an opportunity that turns up to taunt the protectionists with errors of commission in the promulgation or support of their theories on the subject of trade and commerce. He regarded the now notorious failure of the effort to encourage Colonial distillation by differential duties, as a proof of the fabity of the reasoning on which it was based, and twitted the supporters of protectionist views selected the very last article the manufacture of which should have been encouraged, as the very first the experiment should be tried with. , Mr. Header Wood agreed with hon. members who thought that figures produced by the Commissioners of Customs clearly proved the failure of the Distillation Act, from the point of view of revenue ; but he differed from the hon. member for Nelson (Mr. Luckie) as to the fact of distillation being the last industry that should be encouraged, and would like to hear tho hon, member's reasons for saying so. Mr. Luckie replied by reading from Hansard a passage in the speech of " Mr. Wood" on tho discussion of the Bill in IS6B, in which that hon. member spokowarmly of tho effects for good to be anticipated from tho measure, the failure of which he now admitted and rather rejoiced over. This "retort courteous " provoked a laugh at Mr. Wood's expense ; but the House became for a few moments uproariously hilarious over the discomfiture of Mr. Luckie when the lion, member for Parnell (Mr. Wood) roso and stated that as he was not a member of the House in 1868 he was at a loss to conceive how the extract just road could have found its way into Hansard. It was whispered round that the Mr. Wood, of 1868, was one.of the Southern members; and the representative of Nelson had stumbled upon the wrong one of " The Two Dromios."

The acoustic properties of tlio Chamber occupied by the House of Representatives were the subject of discussion by that body a few nights ago, and it was admitted on all hands that the defects were exceedingly bad, and almost beyond cure. Yesterday Sir Oracroft Wilson, who spoke under the influence of a very severe cold, brought under notice the defective heating arrangements of the Chamber. Addressing the Speaker, he observed, with quiet humor, that he did not know whether the'Premier intended to deprive gentlemen who aat on the Opposition benches of their voices, but he could aaBure that hon. gentleman that unless something was done at once to render the atmosphere more tolerable, there would not be a voice left in that part of the House in a fortnight. There was something intolerably wrong, he was sure, with the fires outside. A number

of hon. members sitting to the left of the Speaker supported Sir Cracroft Wilson's remarks, and it was rather curious to note that on the left of the chair most hon. members wore hats or caps—were literally " out in the cold" —while Ministers and members who sat to the right of the Speaker were bareheaded, comfortable, and cheerful. The Speaker stated that he was aware of the state of the atmosphere of the House. The Colonial Architect had been sent for. On his visit the thermometer marked 4S°, which was too cold an atmosphere to sit in ; but that gentleman was unable to suggest how the House could be better warmed. He (the Speaker) was not an engineer himself, and really did not know what to do. The subject then dropped.

In the Legislative Council yesterday, no business was done except on one Bill—the Inspection of Machinery. Being a new Bill, of a new nature, arising out of a late accident at the Thames goldfields, and the subsequent report of a Koyal Commission appointed to inquire into it, some discussion took place upon the clauses, which were necessarily of a somewhat crude character. Dr. Pollen had a number of amendments on the order paper, which were agreed to ; but several hon. members took great exception to the definitions in the interpretation clause, especially that of the word "boiler." Mr. Waterhouse was in a more than usually factious mood, and had numerous objections to the wording of almost every clause, which, it must be said, were too nice for anyone but the hon. member himself to understand. Eventually the Bill was got through without any alteration of consequence, and the Government are to be congratulated on having introduced and successfully carried through the Council so far a Bill so much required for the preservation of life. It however, that the Colonial Secretary will introduce several amendments before the third reading.

Mr. Stafford, in his first effort in the House this session, made last night, was singularly and ridiculously unsuccessful. He essayed a fall with the Premier, and was thrown with ease, but not without receiving some damage to his reputation as a political wrestler. The occasion was the discussion in Committee of Ways and Means of the resolutions proposed by the Government for the increase of the excise duties. The committee had been reminded by more than one member that the Distillation Bill was introduced and carried in 1868 by a Government of which Mr. Stafford was the head. Mr. Stafford, however, charged Mr. Vogel with having originated the proposition of ,a six shilling duty, by. reason of which so much loss had been occasioned. By reference to the Journals of the House, Mr. Vogel at once showed that the Government of the day had proposed an eight-shilling duty ; that a member of the then House (Mr. Dignan) had proposed five shillings, as an amendment; and that the duty had been fixed at six shillings as a compromise. An awkward mistake to be made by the hon. member for Timaru.

When the Order of the Day for the adjourned debate on the conservation of forests was called on last night, Mr. Sheehan, who had moved the adjournment of the debate after the Premier's opening speech, rose to address the House. With becoming modes ty, he stated that he would not care to make a speech on so important a subject without having studied the Premier's address, which was a masterly exposition of the subject. It appears that Mansard has not yet printed the speech, and those who saw the voluminous papers from which illustrations were drawn, and on which the speech was founded, were not surprised to find the Government Printing Office already far in the rear with its work. Mr. Vogel said he had no objection to the postponement of the debate, which was accordingly adjourned till Tuesday, when the whole question will be fully discussed.

When the Civil Service Act Amendment Bill came before the Committee of the House last night, an amendment was moved by Mr. Vogel that the repeal of the 2nd clause of the 19th section of the former Act should not apply to persons transferred from the Provincial to the Colonial service. This gave a handle to the severest critic the Civil Service has in the House —Mr. Swanson, the member for Newton —whose very plain speaking was heard on the second reading inveighing against the Civil Servants one and all. Mr. Swanson was of opinion that the members of the Civil Service were banded together too much, and were pampered above any other body of men. Well, said Mr. Reader Wood, perhaps not so bad as that, but the House was conferring an advantage on Civil Servants which they had not before, and which did not seem necessary. He had no special antipathy to the Civil Servants, but he did think they were going out of their way to make provision expressly for them. Mr. "Vogel, with esprit de corps, stood up manfully for the Civil Service, and fought well against all the objections, succeeding in carrying his amendment notwith... mding Mr. Swanßon's strongest efforts.