POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10179, 13 October 1894, Page 6

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE

(From Ock Own Correspondent.) Wellington, October 12. POST AND TELEGRAPH.

The Post and Telegraph Department Bill j 1 introduced by Mr Ward combines these two] ■ branches of the public service into one depart-1 ' ment, and provides that the secretary of the j , Post and Telegraph department; and the super- J , intendent of electric lines and one other person (fco be elected from amtn*.g their number by the j officers of the department) aro constituted a j board of appeal fco which nil appeals in relation , to any question of classification, status, or salary . shall be referred. The board shall inquire into j appeals, and shall make report,to the MinU- ( ter, whose decision shall be final; provided that, 'save with the consent of i ' the Minister, no -ippesl shall lie in - ( respect of any matter. already .* disposed '- of by any board heretofore existing. The new feature in the scale of salaries and increments . provided in the schedule ie in connection with j the sixth cI»S6, in which the minimum is £115 ( and the maximum £180. There are to be , three annnal increments of £15 each and two ', of £10 each. * Officers iv this cissj who have , served more than 20 years to have two '. additional annual increments'of £10.. each, commencing not earlier than Ist April 1395, but without being transferred from the clase; but the salary in the next class to start at the same rate as that received in this class at the time of transfer. THE LIQUOR BILL. Ifc is now generally considered that the Government Liqnor Bill is dead, at leaßt for the present session. Tbe faildre of yesterday's conference practically put an end to all hopes of getting the measure through. In a letter to the Premier the Temperance party define their attitude iv the following terms :—" We have all along refrained from tedious or unnecesxary discussion, which might retard its progress, and we have remained during very late sittings notwithstanding our individual objection to this manner of legislation. A great number of amendments have been given notice of by us and placed upon the Order Paper. These amendments ate solely to assist yourself and your colleagues in making the bill as complete as possible, and we are quite content to leave one and all to the good, sense of the House, absolutely and without unnecessary discussion. To strengthen your hands we give you our assurance th-it we will refrain from discussing the amendments at length, and rest satisfied with dividing on the different pro-

posals. Owing to the short time given us by i your circular we have been unable to take ! the opinion of those members who have in- i terested themselves in the licensing law, but we < think we fairly represent the views of the i majority. We sincerely hope your effort to 1 settle this matter will be successful, you may i rely on our doing nothing to occupy the time ; of the House unnecessarily, and we would ] express the hope that armed with this assurance you will succeed in inducing other members of the conference to adopt a similar attitude. If this be done, we think that the passage of the'bill through Committee will be greatly facilitated." THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY BRIDGES. The discussion of this afternoon upon the report of the Railways Com-mittee as to the condition of the southern railway bridges is reported elsewhere. I append the report in full: — The petitioners allege iihat "many of the railway bridges on the Hurunui-Bluff section of the New Zealand railways are in such a condition as to require immediate repair, and in many instances renewal." They pray that such steps may be taken as ate-required,, to ensure the/safety of the travelling; public. (1) The committee have exhaustively inquired* into tho petition and have taken all the evidence available. (2) The only witnesses ih support of the statements contained in the petition were E. 'Norton Taylor (the chief petitioner) aud Thomas M'Garva, foreman of works on the Dunedin section, who -was summoned at the request of E. Norton Tiiylor. (3) Tbe evidence 'bowed that Thomas M'Garva was in February 1893 transferred to the Dunedin section from Christchurch,and felt aggrieved in consequence. Ibis also clear that from the date, of taking up his duties on that section he adopted a hypercritical attitude towards the Railway department, especially regarding the bridges. (4) It was elicited during the inquiry. that when M'Garva was transferred to thie' Dunedin section 6ome of the bridges were below that complete standard of efficiency which it is desirable should be maintained. The department, however, promptly entered upon the work of strengthening ;and; improving the bridges, and the work has regularly and steadily progressed, and is still being proceeded with. No evidence was offered to the committee to prove that any request made by M'Garva for either labour or material for raising the standard of the efficiency of the bridges under his control was ev.er, refused by the department. (5) M'Garva denied having supplied information to the petitioner Taylor, on which the statements in the petition were based, but Taylor categorically declared that M'Garva had not only 'supplied him with information verbally, but had also placed at his disposal certain railway papers 'of an official character, copies of which he produced to the committeo. M'Garva's evidence must therefore be considerably discredited by his having falsely informed the committee that he had not supplied the information to Taylor on which the petitioner's statements wene based. The committee has therefore to report:—"(_) That no evidence has been laid before the committee whioh would justify them in! believing that the bridges on the Hurunui-Blufl; section either are now or ever were; in a dangerous state as alleged by the petitioners. The committee is, however,, of opinion that the sjstem of: bridge inspection" on the Dunedin section was not properly carried out, and that the whole system of bridge inspection in the colony shonld be so arranged that each officer's work should be sufficiently checked by his superior." THE NORTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY. The Hon. B. Mitchelson stated this evening, in criticising fche Public Works Statement, that it was most unfair that money a should be taken from the North Island Main Trunk railway loan to construct roads and bridges and other works of no benefit whatever to the railway. Notwithstanding the fact that £250,000 was to be raised for reading Crown lands, snd £250,000 for purchasing aod roacling Native lands, the Government had taken £20,000 from the loan for road works iv the North Island. Out of this loan of £1,00()'000 only soma £550,000 had been spent in ■ connection with the railway ' itself, while no less than £334,000 bad been spent in other w<r*ks. and in the acquisition of . Native lands, in iiiurveys, &c. This was most unfair to both , ends of the North Island, Mr Mitchelson contended, and Sir Robert Stout cordially agreed iititli him. ; THE COUNCIL AND THfirPOLICY BILLS. The Gevernmont policy bills on which questions of privilege have arisen between the two Houses are tho Land for Settlements, the : Consols, and the Advances to Settlers, Bills. The questions ruised are of the highest constitutional importance, a fact which is fully recognised by the managers appointed by both sides. It is impossible to say what may be the outcome, but sis to the Land for Settlements Bill it is understood that rather' than run* any risk with his bill the Minister for Lands is prepared to make the amendments by Governor's . Message, but as fihis cannot be done without the concurrence of the Council, it is not by any means certain tha-'c the Council will agree to this course, as it would amount to a waiver of their; contention that -".-key have the right to make amendments, and they are not in a mood to give . way. The result as to the other bills will probably be that the House will have to accept the ■ Council's amendments, and record resolutions l reserving the rights. ' THE EMPLOYEES OF THE RAILWAY | ,'■ DEPARTMENT. The position of the employees of the Railway '■ department as;affected by the recent amendment in the Railway Bill is exciting public 1 attention. Uiider clause 4, sub-section 3,: . as it stands in the bill, servants of the commis-' i sioners who were in the civil service at the time" * of their being Gaken over by the commissioners along with tho railways are to be deemed to " be in the same position in the civil service as jif they had never leffc it." The effect cf the Governor's message is that such civil servants , as w ere ta ken ovisr by the commissioners will * be in the same position as if they had continued ■ in the service of the commissioners, and as if j section 76 of " The Government Railways Act J 1887 " had not been repealed. Under th&t section civil servants taken over by the commis- *■ sioners were to liave their right to compensation s for loss of offico or superannuation allowance ' preserved " up- to the time when they entered 5 the service of tte comuiissionersi" So that * such civil servants as were, taken' over ". by the commissioners, and are now brought _ back into the service of the Queen are; not to I lie entitled to compensation for the years they " have been in the service of the commissioners. Cutting off the retiring allowance on a civil servant entering the service of the commis- , i sioners ws,s an injustice, »nd the effect of the 1 Goveciior's raessage will be to continue this ' injustice. The Council this afternoon agreed * to the amendment. '■'".. 7,77-7 ) THE COUNCIL AND THE HOUSE.

Whea the Government Advances to Settlers Bill came back to the House by message from the Council lasfc evening, Mr Speaker said the amendments appeared to be an infringement of the privileges of the House.' They included the limiting of money to be advanced, and the striking out of clauses dealing with land bonds. He was stating no new principle, a similar conflict having arisen no far back as 1872, when thei Payment to Provinces Bill was referred to the law officers of the Crown in England, the late Chief Justice Coleridg-j and Sir George Jessell, who found that the Council was not justified in amending tho Money Bill in question. The Colonial Treasurer said he was of opinion that there had bsen a distinct interference wifch the privileges of the House by the Council. Captain Russell said the impression conveyed to his mind was that the present case, and that cited by Sir G.

M- O'Rorke were not analogous. The one was a charge on the consolidated fund and the other dealt with a question of policy and involved the expenditure of money hereafter to be raised, and not money that was at present a charge on the consolidated fund. THE END OF THE SESSION. It is now hoped that the session will be brought to a termination by Saturday, October 20, with thfl help of morning sittings. The Premier sajs the only debatable questions will be the Midland railway and the K^ielstion in connection with the Bank of New Zealand Assets Company. Mr T. Mackenzie contends that the Government are entirely to blame for the length of the session. T.Uey have, he says, brought down measures they never intended to pass, and allowed the House to waste time wrangling over them. He thinks the opposing factions have now posed sufficiently before the country td make it clear they are in earnest in \ their intentions to pass the Liquor Bill, nnd I thafc tfce matter may now be left alone. The j resolution to commence morning sittings wrs | carried by 31 to 29 last night. This morning Mr Pirani drew attention to the sincerity of those who voted for this course by calling attention to the fact that only 11 out of the 31 had put; ba an appearance by 12 o'clock. JOTTINGS. Mr R. M'Kenzie told the conference yester. day that he only objected to four points in reference to the Licensing Bill. The first, he added, was all the Temperance party's amendments. That was enough. MrFirani considers that deeds cf assignment are* becoming a curse. In tbe Wellington district they are subversive of all honest dealing. For the new Ceok Strait cable £4-500 has been provided in the Estimates. The Christchurch Law Society is fco get a £1000 vote for a law library.

PUBLIC WORKS ESTIMATES.

The following Otago items on the Public Works Estimates came to hand too late last night:—Makarewa bridge, £500 ; Orari bridge, £150; bridge over Clutha at Miller's Flat, £4-000; piers Victoria bridge, £1 for £1 ; Arrowtown to Macetown, £6000; deviation Pleasant Creek track, £130 ; renewal bridge to Bannockburn, £500; road Garston to Nevis, £150; Waiau to Preservation Inlet, £1250;

tracks to Western Sounds, £1250; Waipawa to I Six Mile, £100 ; Waipapa to Waikawa, £200 ; tracks Stewart Island, £70 ; water race works j on goldfields. £10,000; assistance towards prospecting, £2000; prospecting deep levels Auckland, £4000; Nelson and Westland, £4000; Otago, £2000; compensation arising out of proclamation of rivers and. resumption of land held as occupation licenses and residence sites, £20,000. Courthouses: Arrowtown, £400; Invercargill (alterations), £300; Duuedin prison, £6000. Post and Telegraph Offices : Queenstown,£6oo; Invercargill, £1050. Lunatic Asylums: Seacliff, £3500; Suunyside, £5600. completion new surgical wiug,Duhedin Hospital, £700; Hamilton . bridge, £500; WaikawaCa'tlins. £6000; Woodlands, £1000; Ratanui road, £250 ; Long Point road, '£220 ; Hunt's road, £400 ; Cannibal Bay road, £400; Catlins roads, £1000; Tahaukaru,i£2ls; Rirau, £350; Livingstone-Kyeburn, £1800 *, Table; Hill, £150; Maungatua and AVaipori, £200; Mosaburn-Te Anau road, £500 ; Gow's Creek stock bridge, £150; Forest Hill road, £200; WaikawaWyndhnm Valley road, £500; Oteramika rond, £200 ; Ivercargill Hundred, £200 ; Campbelltown Hundred, £200 ; Riverton and Colac Bay, £200; Orepuki-Wairaua-hiri, £1000; Waiau bridge, Clifden, £500; Clifd™ ferry, Western Bosh, Limestone Gorge, £300 ; Tisbury-Wimit-tua, £300; Clifton to Seaward Bush, £300; Makarewa to Grove Bush, £150 ; Waikawa district, £1000 ; Longwood, £200 ; track to M'Laren's run, £120; Grassy Creek, £120; Wyndham road bridge, £200; Waimea Valley road, £100; Quarry' Hills, £100; Stewart Island road, £700. Village Settlements: Otago, £250; Southland, £250. ';