POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 4999, 9 June 1891, Page 3

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

(BY TELEGRAPH.) (FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Wellington, June 8. Inquiries have lieen made from the south with regard to the Auctioneers Bill. lamin a position to say that the Cabinet has not yet decided whether the Bill will 1m; made a Ministerial measure or not. The amended regulations dealing with the educational syllabus are iu the hands of the printer. They have been most carefully drawn up by the Minister of Education and the Inspector-General, and are calculated to satisfy all the reasonable requirements of the State school teachers. They are generally upon the lines indicated in the speech by the Minister of Education ill Christchurch in April last. Mr M'Guire, of Egmont, as the only new member, will move the Address-in-Reply. The seconder will be Mr Buick { Marlborough), the most brilliant speaker of the labor section. Mr Earnshaw's staunchness to the cause would, I fancy, have ensured his being chosen, but for his open avowal of Socialistic beliefs. As the Ministry are very anxious to avoid even the appearance of revolutionary or disquieting measures, this may have weighed with them. The Ministry has decided not to allow advance copies of the Governor s Speech at the opening of Parliament to be given to any [wiper. This unusual reticence points to the speech being something more than the usual colorless verbosity. I aui in a position, moreover, to give an outline of the probable drift of the Speech. It will deplore the exodus, and state that it devolves upon members to ascertain the cause, and apply themselves to its remedy; it will vigorously disclaim the advisableness of any revolutionary or hasty legislation ; it will impress the necessity for a thorough and immediate grip of the labor question, if the steady drain of the nation's wealth, in the form of its bone and sinew, is to be stopped ; it will affirm the necessity for dealing promptly with labor troubles by means of Conciliation Boardsaml Arbitration Courts, so as to allow the industrial classes to regain some confidence in the future that tbev will receive just treatment, and to reassure capital and encourage it to again How in reproductive channels, by clearly and firmly defining the conditions attending its investment ; it will intimate to tile Upper House the intention of the Crown's advisers to introduce a Bill for its reform, based upon the belief that there is a wide spread desire to see it brought more into harmony with the people ; it _ will also affirm the necessity for encouraging settlement upon the land, and for making those who prevent settlement by retaining the land in large blocks unused, bear a larger pro[M>rtion of the taxation of the colon)'. Tliis last, I may mention, will be effected not only bv means of a graduated Income Tax, but also by a Land Tax, graduated between five thousand and one hundred thousand pounds, and rising from amount to amount. There w ill be an exemption of three thousand pounds on improvements, so that small settlers will escape taxation altogether in this form. The larire estates will, however, be compelled to do what they have not done iu the past: bear their fair share of the colony's taxation, while relief will be granted to the bona fide fanner by the liberal exemption on improvements. 'Hie Government has finally decided to inaugurate a penny postage system throughout the colony. This will prove very popular, and the extra cost, the Premier assures me, can be borne out of this year's surplus. June 9. There is now no doubt that Captain Russell will lead the Opposition. Even the Opposition papers ridicule the commission of five. As Captain Russell represents solely the large landed interests the appointment is very appropriate, say Ministerialists. The Chairmanship of Committees is causing some trouble. Mr George Fisher has prevented his claim from being revived by the threatening letter he sent to the Evening Press, in which lie talks of the I party expiating the indignity put upon | him." Mr Smith's qualifications for the I post are considered doubtful. The Tory i organs strongly urge that Mr _ Hamlin ' should be appointed, and the New Zea- ! Imid Times suggests Mr Alfred Saunders as Ministerialist candidate. Nothing will be decided until the whole party lias assembled. Mr W. P. Reeves, who will probably be the Minister for Industry, assures me that the Government has no intention of creating a new department with expensive salaried officers. All the work of collecting labor statistics will be done by gentlemen now connected with the Civil Service. "When compiled, these labor statistics will be of the utmost value. For the first time workers and masters will have exact and fresh knowledge of the conditions of trade in every district in the colony. A conference of delegates from all the trades and labor conncils will assemble here next Monday. It is generally understood that the Government are granting some slight monetary assistance, because the advice of the conference is wanted in connection with the Labor Bills which will be submitted to it. At a Cabinet meeting yesterday, steps were taken to reorganise the Public Trust Office scheme. The Commissioners' report will be submitted to Parliament. Mr Hainerton, the Commissioner, has been granted a mouth's leave of absence, at his medical adviser's urgent request. Mrs Blair, widow of the Engineer-in-Cliief. has been granted a compassionate allowance of 18 months' salary. Mr Seddon has issued instructions to consider and report on the Chicago Exhibition proposals. The colony will probably be represented thereat, but will not be represented at the Tasmanian Exliibition. Mr Reeves' Industrial Conciliation Bill provides for Trade Boards of Conciliation to settle disputes in single industries, District Boards of Conciliation to settle disputes aflecting more than one trade, and Courts of Arbitration, with the standing of the Supreme Court, as a final reference. The two first will be appointed by mutual agreement between the parties, and the last consists of two assessors, one nominated by the employers and oue by the employees, with a Supreme CourtJudge as President. Either side can compel a reference to the Court, and its decision is binding under heavy penalties. The railway servants have power to take the Commissioners to Court. The Auckland Sporting Review tells the following good story The first "Neddy" imported into the Island was the property of Mr E. Chaffler. of "NVangarei. When the animal was landed there, the Maoris, who had never beheld so strangelooking a creature, were greatly exercised iu mind, and a long discussion grew into a protracted del Kite, which the Maoris, next to eating and drinking, relish beyond all earthly delimits. Most of the disputants held that the animal was some kind of a horse, others maintained that it belonged to the cow tribe, while a third section defined it to be a poaka nui (a big pig). After all these various opinions had been pronounced and discussed, a vote was taken, the horse faction having a large majority, and the pig faction being at the Ixjttom of the poll. Then arose a youug chief, who had so far listeued in silence and refrained from recording his vote. He cut the Gordian knot in this fashion:—''You are all fools; it is neither a horse, nor a cow, nor a pig. It must be a halfcosteThis veritable judgment of Solomon was received with applause, and settled tho question.