HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5205, 23 October 1878, Page 4

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

TUESDAT, 22XD (Vi'OBER. THE SPECIAL WIRIi

1 Mr M'LEAN presented to the House a petition from Messrs Holt and M'Carthy, of thee Press Agency, stating that tiie Goveruinent. have given a monopoly of the wires to a few \ individuals, and praying that they may be placed on an equal footing. HOUSE COJriIITTEE. t The report of the Joint; Houso Con:mittee* was brought up, recommending that membersresident iv Wellington during recess be- ! appointed a House Committee during that i period. Mr RICHARDSON commented on tiie fact \, that the Committee last year spent L-4090 without any check, and had claimed authority from I the Hon. Mr Macandrew for many items,.. 1 while Mr Macandrew denied all kuo.vledge of them. Mr SWANSON said many items in the. accounts incurred by the Houso C>>inmitteeduring recess showed grass overcharge. It was agreed that the report be printed and. considered to-morrow. HANSAKD. The Committee on the question of tranrlating Hansard recommended that during the recessGovernment should obtain informal!*.*! as tothe expediency and cost of printing portions of. Hansard in the Native language. LAW REFOKMS. Mr CURTIS asked the Attorney-General "If the Government will take into their consideration during recess the expediency of soamending the law of evidence os t..> admit of examination, under carefully considered restrictions, of persons on their trial for criminal offences." He said the Imperial Parliamenthad lately introduced such a clunse into a BilL. The Hon. R. STOUT replied Unvt the question waa a difficult one. The Government doubted whether it would be advisable, but would consider the matter during recess, as well as the expediency of altering present modeof prosecutions. FISHERIES BILL. Mr FELDWICK asked the Minister foePublic Works if he intended to proceed with thsFisheries Preservation Bill this session. The Hon. J. MACANDREW said that such; a Bill would likely lead to considerable discussion, which was undesirable at a late period of the session, but probably the measure would be* brought up next session. MARINE DEPARTMENT. Mr GISBORNE asked the Government, when the usual yearly report on the Marine Department will be laid before this House. The PREMIER replied, that the report had. been delayed in the printing office, but he hoped it would be laid on the tablo to-morrow. THE CHARGES AGAINST THE JUDGES. Sir R. DOUGLAS asked the hon. niemberfor the city of Wellington (Mr Barton), whether in the event of the committee or commission inquiring into the grave charges he hasmade against Chief Justice Prondergast and. Mr Justice Richmond, he will have any objection to the same committee or commission, inquiring whether he, as barrister, had con. ducted himself as a barristor should do, and, if" the charges made by him are found to be false, whether he should not be disbarred or suspended, from practice. The SPEAKER said this custom of members putting questions to each other, was. frequent in the House of Commons within c«r»-

tain restrictions, but it had not been taken advantage of in Now Zealand. Mr BARTON replied as to the first portion of the question in which it was assumed that charges of misconduct aa a barrister existed against him, that he was not aware any such charge bad been or could be made, and as to portion of tho question in which the member for Marsden asked him to assume that he was capable of making charges against the Judges knowing them to be false, he regarded the question as unworthy of the hon. member himhelf, and equally unworthy of notice from him (Mr Barton). THE SPECIAL WIBE.

Mr M'LEAN desired to move, without notice, " That papers laid on the table relative to the granting of special wires to certain newspapers be printed." The Hon. R. STOUT objected. _Mr M'LEAN, in order to have an opportunity of speaking, moved the adjournment of the debate. The Hon. R. STOUT said the printing office waa fully occupied, and the papers referred to could not bo printed this session. Mr M'LEAN urged the importance of printing these papers, which disclosed an attempt to grant a monopoly to three Government organs, and to crush the independent Press of the Colony. The Premier had granted thift monopoly against the advice of the General Manager of Telegraphs, whose opinion was that the proposed arrangement would involve a

cost of L4OOO per year. The papers referred to were the Auckland Herald, the Lyttelton Times, and the Otago Daily Times, in the latter of which one member of the Ministry was interested. The Telegraph Manager had protested against the proposed arrangement, unless the same facilities were offered to the whole of the Press in the Colony. The Postal and Customs tariff were regulated by Act; why should not tele* fraph charges be similarly regulated instead of y orders in Council? The Attorney-General should be ashamed thus to assist journalism in which he is interested. The arrangement was designed to kill the Dunedin Star, the Dunedin Morning Herald, the Canterbury Press, and any independent papers which criticised tho policy of the Government, He hoped every member of tho House would read the corre-

spondence. Mr WAKEFIELD said the impression had got abroad that an exceedingly wrongful transaction had been attempted in the shape of a special contract with a lew newsj)agers, to the exclusion of the rest. What Government proposed was to give three or four newspapers a monopoly of %vireß for two years. Tho Hon. Mr STOUT said the arrangement proposed would not apply to any particular journals, but the Press Agency could obtain tha same terms if willing to pay the samo amount. Mr FOX said, from perusal of correspondence, he believed the Governmant proposed to give the monopoly of special wires to threo newspapers, which wero already largely subsidised in the way of advertisements. This monopoly was granted, in defiance of the advico of the General Manager of Telegraphs, who reported that the proposed scheme would involve an expenditure of L4OOO per year, The newspapers concerned got the cost reduced to L2OOO, and the Government accepted this, and made an exclusive arrangement without consulting the rest of the Press of tho Colon}'. The Hon. Mr FISHER said that eight newspapers had joined the combination, and tha Government intended to provide a special wiro for the Press regardless of political creed. The Press Agency would havo the same facilities as other journals. Mr SWANSON said he had a telegram from the Auckland Star, complaining of being ex- j eluded.

Tha Hon. Mr EISHER said that at present the Government did not see its way to increase the accommodation granted to tho evening papßrs. The special wire arrangement would not come into operation until the beginning of next year, and by that time the Government hoped to have another special wire to accommodate the Preps of the Colony generally. Mr ATKINSON contended that this was an admission that the Government intended absolutely to givo a monopoly to a few newspapers, leaving the rest of the Press of the Colony dependent on the chances of another wire.

Mr RICHARDSON said he had been informed that a letter written by the Press Agency was left out of the correspondence laid on the table.

The Hon. J. BALLANCE replied that the Government would lay it ou tha table. Mr M'LEAN said he was informed that tho letter, which was not laid on tho tablo, waa from the Press Agency applying for a special •wire, and asking the Government to name their price. Would the Attorney-General deny that he had prompted tho editor of the paper in which he was interested to make this application?

The Hon. If, STOUT: That ia utterly mitrue. It is utterly false. Mr M'LEAN called the Speaker's attention to those words.

The SPEAKER ruled tho Hon. R. Stoul out of order.

The Hon. R. STOUT said he would substitute " that the statement of the hon. member had not an atom of truth in it."

Mr M'LEAN said he had merely mentioned the matter in categorical form. The Government could not stretch an additional wire from Auckland to tho Bluff in two months, even if they had tho mateiial.

Tho motion for adjournment was negatived on the voices.

BILLS AND OItDERS. The Waikato Crown Lands Sale Bill, to enable the Government to sell certain reserves, and devote proceeds to higher education, and the Thames Water Supply Bill, wero read a first time,

On the motion of the Hon. J. SHEEHAISr tho following Orders of the Day were discharged from the Order Paper :—The Fencing Bill, second reading; Fine Arts Copyright Amendment Bill, second reading; Fisheries Preservation Bill, second reading; Publicans' Licensing Bill, second reading; Brands Registration Bill, to be committed; Impounding Bill to be committed ; Bribery Bill, to bo committed : Dog Registration Bill, p.econd reading; Wanganui Harbour Board and Rive:* Conservators Bill, second reading; Dunedin Botan:cal Gardens Bill, second reading. „In courHe of discission the Hon. Mr SHEEHAN, referring to the Licensing Bill, said^ ho had caused the Bill to be drafted this session, but wheu he considered the question ho came to the conclusion that it would*not be rightto regard publicans generally on the principle that they were rogues. He would not promise to draft another Bill, but if he did he would make its provisions public beforo the next session. Publicans' licenses being local revenue, if any reduction was made, those bodies would havo claim on the House for compensation. A fair solution of the difficulty would be to givo local bodies power to raise what publicans' fees they deemed proper. At_ tho half-past 5 adjournment the House waa in committee for the consideration of the amendments in tho Disqualification Act, made hy the Legislative Council, In tho Houso to day Mr M'LEAN gave notice of the introduction of a Bill to-morrow to amend the Electric Telegraph Act.