POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10416, 19 July 1895, Page 3

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, July IS. MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT.

The carrying of the second reading of Mr o'Regan's Referendum Bill by the latge majority of 28 to 14- came as a surprise to many people. The most ardent suppcrte.-s of the measure had anticipated that if the bill was carried at all it would only be by a majority of ttfo or three, and a two to one vote iv its favour was certainly extraordinary. It is true thit only 42 members nc rislly voted, but when the pairs are counted i.be voting strength is in- ; cre-ieed to 61, and the number in favour of the ! bill 39—a majority of tin- whole House. Though i the Premier spoke against the "proposal, tte only Ministers who were represented' in tie I division list and pairs were MeWs Ward and Carroll, the former voting "Aye" and the latter "No." In spite of this expression of opinion in its favour, experienced parliamentary hands are of opinion that there is no likelihood of the Referendum Bill becoming law this session. The Timei thi« morning endeavours to belittle "Vlr O'Regan's victory by asserting that che House had simply paid bim au empty compliment in the tull certainty that his measure will nob reach the Statute' Book. ADVERTISING TKE COLONY. The Government are taking- active steps to promote the tourist traffic and to advertise Hie uatbral resoutcts of the colony generally by the distribution of leaflets" descriptive ot the country throughout Gredt Britain and Europe generally, and by collecting and framing t series ol beautiful photographs of our splendid aud varied scenery to attract tourists' to the" 1 shores. The Minister for Labonr is taking au especial interest in this matter, and states that it is intended to hing theso pictures in prominent place* in the principal p&siengcr steamers, and also to send Some .Home to tbe Agent-geueral. Among the collection will be photographs of the Hot Lakes Ot the North Island and the Alpine eights and tho lakes and sounds of the t"oilth Island. All who have seen the specimens just now in charge of 'Mi Reeves are loud in their praises of them for their beauty and representative chs-tnCter. , THB DIVORCE LAW. - The Divorce Act Amendment Bill, introduced by Mr Collins, provides thit irom and atter Jauuary 1. 1890, any wife may present a petition praying for the dissolution of her marriage upon any ground upon which her husband may, under "The Divorcb and Matrimonial Cannes Act 1867," petitiou for a divorct'", and the rights aud responsibilities of husband and wife shall for the purposes of the acfc mentioned be equal.

SECOND-HAND DEALERS. The member idr Dunedin (Mr W. Hutchison) has in hind a bill to regulate fhe siie of second-hand articles and to license second-hand dealers. The licenses are'to be issued by fhe local authorities, and persons carrying on business without a liceuse are liable* to a p^.ualty of £10. Dealers are prohibited purchasing goods before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m , or from anyone apparently ui.dtr the age of 16 years. Thivy mu*t also keep a full record of goods bought and told.

y ,::. AN^OTASo: bEPUTAT?idN; ; - s!: A deputation of,southern members cchsisfcihg of Messrs Pinksrton, Allem Earnshaw; DSdrrison,- W. HutcHisoffl.'.Gre^h/ an'dW. Fraser tvaifced to-day , bhu t tbe Minister for" Lands to obtain ... spine",.*'.expression'* pf.,. opinion on various," matters affecting ■ tne : welfare of their constituents; Mr ;Pinkerfcon explained that the. deputation ; ;il desired ";': to ,: hear the Minister's opinion .upon the question of the control by the Government'of'the of lime*to be supplied, to farmers.: ' 'The Minister answered that,a bill wbtild presently be ready which will enable the Government.inthe pnblic interest,, to resume private lands containing lime deposits. .The measure Wbuld, in fact.be ihe same in principle as' that contained in the Lands for Settlement Act. "i It was riot tiie intention, of the Government ,to work such lauds, but to have them worked under equitable conditions of fair prices to the farmer aud fair wages to those employed in the production of the lime. This is nofc .'"precisely'- what the .Minister said. I was not'there, but from; wh^t I gather, from reliable, sources it is wbat he meant. And just here" let; me .tell your local politicians thab their local affairs and interests here would obtain wider publicity and therefore command more attention ii,. their representatives wonld take a little trouble t6 acquaint the journalists—who wbuld.be, glad of the ihfOrmatiou—of the bnsiness affecting district affairs outside the parliamentary proceedings. Coming back to the deputation, I luarn that as to *be question of fruit-farms .in-Central Otago bhe Mimster.proposed to select suitable land in tho neighbourhood of Clyde for that purpose, lhe idea is to start an exparimental nursery, of 150 or 200 acres, where those.who desired to follow the fruit-growmgindustry could getinformation. Aa to the desired agricultural hall in Dunedin, the Hon. Mr M'Kenzie did nofc see his way to do more for that city iv such erection than for other centres, but he had sent oat circulars inviting au expression of opinion frbm other associations concerning the question of a subsidy of pound for pound. Then Mr Thomas Mackenzie put, in a vigorous plea for the extension of the Catlin's River railway. He urged th*t a thorough' exploration'of the country should be made, the route fixed, and land reserved while still in the hands of the Government:. He also urged that a sum should be placed on the Estimates to form the line to the Catlin's River bridge, as the country was almost level, while the certainty of the values of the forest timber would be quickly reached The Minister promised to urge the necessary surveys. ; , THE TOTALISATOR.

." Not content with the summary rejection of the Estates Company Lottery Bill, followed by the overwhelming majbrity Hgain.st the member for Parnell's proposal to legalise consultations, the Hou?e ha 3 gone on to assail and condemn the totalisator. The attack took the form of a motion by Mr Carnell—" That with a view fco reduce the number of race meetings it is desirable that clause 46 of 'The Gaining and Lotteries Act 1881' be repealed.": This, of cotirsa, was equivalent fco a motion for the abolition of the totalisator, The questiou w*s not, discussed, bufc was affirmed on a division by 35 to 24-. The motion came on rather unexpectedly, and tbe House was not a very full one, otherwise it would hove been in all probability uiked out with the 5.30 adjournment. Some prominent friends of the machine were absent afc.the lime, and it wonld have required only some 10 minutes talk to kill the motion, and they are rather sorry they did not prevent this expression. of opinion by the House. Following up, his victory, Mr Carnell gave notice of a question as to whether the Government would bring in a bill this session to give effect; to the declaration of the House against the iofcalisater. It 13 not considered likely tbat the answer of Ministers will be either favourable or very encouraging, and it-is certain that if snch a measnre should come before the House it would be very vigor- ; ously opposed in all its stages.. THB DEFAMATION BILL. The Joinfc Statutes Revision Committee have mado some alterations in the Defamation Bill. The chief is thnt in any action for defamation the judge may order the- plaintiff to find security for defendant's costs to the value of £25 in the evenfc of the action nofc succeeding. Informations for criminal libel are to be heard by a stipendiary magistrate, who may in actions against newspapers hear evidence as fco the truth, public iuterest, and fairness and accuracy of a report, and if he is satisfied that no conviction would follow may dismiss the case. What constitutes a public meeting is to ba a question of law. The committee recommended that the bill be j allowed to proceed.

WANT OF CONFIDENCE. The notice of motion of the leader of the Opposition, the text of which I sent you yesterday, with the intimation that tbe Government would treat it as a substantive motion of want of confidence, was forced en to-day by tho Premier moving to go into Committee of Supply immediately sift t the disposal of formal business. There ■v,-, re hot words at the beginning between the Pi easier, aud Captain Russell, in which each more thau implied the other bad not acted in good faith, witnesses on both sides deposing to the ciuiee of the respective loaders. It was as t-j an agreement relating to the conduct of the business alleged to have bsen h^olcn. This led to the Premier saying vy.h soma hett there must he an end of trnch undewtaiid/njfs. Thiß did not muk;: for temperate aud judicial speech* and certainly the performance has. not belied ths premise. The Premier led off, aud made about the least impressive speech 1 have ever beeu required' to listen to from him. His worst fault of wordy irrelevance, and bathos were eccentric to a degree that, made the sound of the Speaker's time ball silvery and sweet. He i premised by saying that Ministers could not avoid the challenge and maintain their self- j respect, and proceeded to say that the ! motion was really intended to injure the j credit of the colony, aud that had always I been the policy of the honourable gentle- ! man and bis friends. The other side w^re abetting the land grabbing and moni>y grabbing companies in the couulry that were draining th 6 life blood of the country and aiming to destroy the welfare, of every mau, woman, and child in tbe country. It was unpatriotic, snd then he fell into loud bathos and likened his Government and the country to a noble ship aupro-ich-ing a rocky shore and the Opposition to fiends in human shape who were from the darkness and the reek-hemmed shore showing false lights to""* tempt the good ship .and her unsuspecting crew to their destruction. Captain Russell followed with his motion, and then came the Minister for Land^. MrGeorge Hutcbi:on continued the debate in the evening, and was followed by the Miuister for Education, who is always reserved to answer the member for Patea* Mr Bell was the next speaker, and then followed the rank and file, talking more or less -purposely ' Trie House and the press now wait expectant for the Treasurer and Sir Robert Stout. JOTTINGS. According to Mr G. J. Smith, when the Minister for Labour tried to enforce the Shops and Shop Assistant* Act in Auck -aiid; he had to call upon his officer to stay his hand to avoid a revolution. -.

Mr Massey wants to know whether the Government intend to proceed with their Representation Bill thii session. - -