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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4167, 29 July 1874, Page 2

Tun Bill “ to provide for the election of Mayors of the City of Wellington,” introduced by Mr. Bnnny, and read a first time in the House of .Representatives, consists of seven clauses. The second enacts that as soon as the term of office of the present Mayor of the City expires, either by effluxion of time or from any other cause, the election of his successor shall take place (as in clause tlu-ee) by the citizens. The election is tr bo held on the next day alter the vacancy has occurred, unless that day should ho a Sunday or a public holiday, and then on the day following,' should the vacancy occur by effluxion of time ; but should the emergency arise through any other cause, then it is to take place on the fourteenth day afterwards, unless

ifc be a Sunday or a public holiday. The Town Clerk is to notify in “some newspaper generally circulating within the City” the occurrence of a vacancy and that an election will take place, and then all persons who would be entitled to vote in an election of a councillor shall elect some person to be Mayor who at the time was qualified to be a Councillor of the City, and the person so elected shall hold the office of Mayor until the third Wednesday in the following December, when another election, and from that time forward annually, shall take place, the person elected to be the Mayor for the yea,r following. Clause 4 provides that the election shall take place in the same manner as the election of a Councillor is conducted, the result to be determined by the aggregate number of votes. Clause 5 declares that extraordinary vacancies are to be filled up in the same manner as ordinary vacancies, but the person so elected shall hold office only until the expiry of the current Mayoral year. Clause G declares that when such an event occurs the election, notified in the usual way, may take place not less than eight and not more than fourteen days after the occurrence. The last clause provides that excepting as regards the election of Mayor, all the provisions of the other Acts relating to Municipal Corporations in New Zealand shall remain in force.

The reticence of the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, when importuned by lion, gentlemen of the Council to give them an of the proposed amendment of the Constitution Act, is explained by a very cursory examination of the short Bill introduced. It provides that auy Bill which has been introduced into the Lower House, and subsequently disallowed by the Council, or by the Lower House because of amendment in the Council, after being introduced into the Assembly and carried without amendments that are considered substantial by the Governor, may he brought before a Combined Chamber consisting of not less than thirty-five members of either House, and there carried or the contrary. The Governor, it is proposed by the Bill, shall have the power of declaring what Bill is or is not “rejected” in the meaning M the Act, and he will publish in the Gazette a proclamation to this effect, convening the Combined Chamber. The Speaker of the Legislative Council will preside ; and he will have a casting vote on the question that the Bill under consideration should pass. The Governor may, until the first meeting of the Chamber, make rules for its guidance, and he may, at any subsequent period, propose amendments in any Bill, which shall receive due consideration. No Bill can pass the Chamber until fifty-five members have voted in its favor. The Chamber cannot sit during the period of a dissolution, and Bills assented to by it will be in the same position as those passed in the ordinary manner.

It could scarcely have been supposed that any opposition would have been shown in the House of Representatives to the very modest proposal of the Government that a sum of £IOO should bo voted for a year’s rent of the Mission Buildings at Auckland, and the schooner Southern Cross, to be used as a training school for those of the youths of the Colony who require the discipline of such a school or ship to fit them for the journey of life. It was apparent, however, that the objection taken by some members was not to the principle of the vote, or the Bill—postponed for the day—the object of which the money asked for was intended to px-omote. Some of the x-e----px-esentatives of Otago reminded the House that their Province maintained its own industrial school; others were troubled with doubts as to whether boys could be trained in a school on shore for a life at sea ; some thought that the training-ship, being intended for the Colony, should be stationed in the harbor of Wellington ; and there were members who thought that a larger vessel than a schooner should bo obtained, which would cruise along the coast, and be stationed for a time in each of the principal harbors. Mr. Reynolds explained, with some patience, the efforts ho had made duiing the last two years to obtain a tx-aiuing-slxip from the Imperial Government, and the circumstances under which he obtained the very advantageous arrangements—as the country cannot but think—he has made for the pro-pex-ty at Auckland of the Mission Society. He reminded the committee of the advantages to be derived from the combined use of the buildings on shore and the vessel on the water ; that the scheme was one for the whole Colony, and not for Auckland alone ; that youths sent there by the Magistrates would be trained to trades as well as for a sea-faring life ; and induced the committee to agree with him.

The services of Mr. Lemon, of the Telegraph Department, were referred to somewhat handsomely in the House last night, when, in Committee of Supply, the estimates for the department were under discussion. Reference was made to his discovery of a system of telegraphy, known as the duplex, hy which messages could be sent simultaneously in opposite directions by one wire; and to the fact that it is now in successful operation on a wire of the Cook Strait cable. It was pointed out that the discovery practically doubled the value of the cable, and was therefore of very great advantage, pecuniarily, to the Colony. The obvious wish of the members was, that Mr-. Lemon’s discovery should not pass unrecognised, and the hou. member for Nelson (Mr. Luckie) remarked that if Mr. Lemon had chosen to patent his invention or discovery, it would have been worth a large sum of money to him. Mr. Yogel highly complimented Mr. Lemon, not only for the admirable state of his department, but for the devotion to the service which he showed. He mentioned, however, that the transmission of messages on what was known as the duplex system. had been investigated and brought into practice in other countries, though to Mr. Lemon the credit was due of having worked out the system on a plan of his own. When the estimates for the department were presented, said Mr. Vogel, he had suggested to Mr. Lemon that an increase of salary should be proposed for him. Mr. Lemon, however, said he did not wish such a proposition to be made, as he had received an increase of salary last year. The feeling of the House, however, was that Mr. Lemon was inadequately paid as compared with other heads of departments, and that his discovery of a mode of duplex telegraphy should be recognised in a substantial manner. Mr. Vogel, therefore, promised to place a sum on the Supplementary Estimates. The Premier also stated that a special recognition of Mr. Lemon’s services, to which the Cabinet had agreed, should be appended to the annual report of the department.

Another new iron clipper ship has narrowly escaped from a similar misfortune to that of the Loch Ard, the John .Kerr, the Dallam Tower, and other ships that have lately arrived in Australian waters. The Star of Bengal, like tho two vessels first named above, was on her first voyage from Loudon to Melbourne. She rounded the Cape on the forty-second day out, but on tho following morning fell in with severe weather, and three days afterwards, in another gale, < her wire topsail braces gave way. Nearly all the wire running rigging broke immediately afterwards. The loss of several spars followed, and the ship had a narrow escape. It is becoming only too evident that greater attention must be given to the quality of the iron used in the sparring and rigging of new iron ships. The Assembly of Victoria have carried tho Ministerial measure,for tho reform of the Constitution, but only by a majority of two on the third reading, and a crisis is imminent. Meantime, the Bill has been despatched to the Upper House, whore perhaps it may be more kindly received than was at one time anticipated. This may be brought about by a proviso added to one of the clauses of tho Bill, giving to the body to be constituted by the joint meeting of the two Houses power to deal until money Bills. This is to some extent a concession to the Council, as the Assembly has always most carefully guarded their exclusive right to deal with measures of that nature. Tho more thought Deems to have acted like tho blast of a war trumpet on Mr, George Higinbotham, tho

old opponent of the Council, and who has most earnestly worked for its extinction. He declared to the Assembly that they had done. “ a great mischief,” and proposed an amendment to limit the operation of the amended clause ; but the House would not listen to the voice of the charmer, who they at one time thought charmed so wisely, and induced him to withdraw his proposal. -

The coincidence is accidental, but still it is not a little curious, that at the very time when the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company are about to allow their fine little fleet of vessels to be scattered under the hamper— n °t for 'want of business, but of business-like management—there should be in the ports of the Colony on the same day as many ships, with the exception of two, belonging to a Melbourne firm, engaged in the trade between Victoria and New Zealand, as the whole fleet of the company whose internal dissensions have brought them to the pass in which they are now. Yesterday morning the Otago and the Tararua met at Nelson, and the Albion and Claud Hamilton at the Bluff. The presence of these fine steamships in the waters of New Zealand is proof of more than one thing—it proves, for example, that the trade of this Colony is worth cultivating ; that the coasting trade of the islands is also worth attention ; that good management will secure trade and profits ; and that, even if the fleet of the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company should be dispersed, the business of the ports will he taken up by others who know its value, and how to cultivate it. It will, of course, be unfortunate if Wellington should be unable to keep its own trade with the other ports in its own hands, but the public need have no fear that they will suffer other than temporarily. If the Phoebe and the Ladybird must go to the market of Sydney, and the Taranaki and the Wellington to some other port for sale, and should be sold to leave New Zealandwaters—supposing they do notfind local purchasers—it is beyond doubt that a newer and still more serviceable fleet, with all the latest improvements, including economical engines, will take up the coasting trade, whether they are owned here or elsewhere.