POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12419, 31 July 1902, Page 5

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

— - (FtiOlt Oct OIYX ComaroxDm.) ■. : .WELLINGTON, .Tnly 30, NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITY BILL; The New Zealand University Act Amendmqnt Bill, of which the Minister .of Kducaiion lias charge in t-lio Legislative Council, is practically tho same measure as was brought down at the end' of last session and not proceeded with. Its main provision is for tho reconstruct ion of the senate, 'which is. to consist of 25 members, appointed as follows:—Four by the. GovMnor-in-C'ciuncil. night by tho governing bodies of "tho four universities, one each by the professorial boards of tho four universities, eight by convocation, and one to bo the inspectorgeneral. The chancellor and vice-chancellor are to be eleetcd for two years, anil msmbers of the senate aro to be 'elected for four years, provision being made for thfr'.pwitidical retirement of a certain proportion.

■ : AN INTERESTING- DIVISION. The actual division on Mr Ell's Amendment affirming the principles of an. elective Legislative Council was 32 to 20, thi> names of the "Noes" teller? (Messrs Garnpross and Slovens) having been ;omitte<l. The division list is as follows:.—Ayos (20).— Messrs J. Allen. Atldman, Bollard, Colvin, Ell, Fowldi, Ilall, Hardy, Jlerrico.'Btltoheson, Lauronson, Mav.ey, Mertdilfe Monk, Pirani, G. W. Russell, W. Rurioll, Steward, Tanner, R. Thompson. Noes (521 Messrs 10. G. Allen, Ba relay, Bennet, Bmido, Curnerc*«. Carroll. Duncan. Gilfndder, Graham, Hell-Jones. Hanan, Hckn. Hogg. liornsby, Hwwton, Lawry, Lcthblidge, M'Ciowai). T. Mackenzie, R. Mackenzie, M'Nab, Millar, Mills, Napier, O'Mcara, Palmer.'.. Parata. Perc, Slovens, fiymcs, J.. W. Thomson, W.'vvd. Among those who wont into (he " Noes" lobhy were several mombors who support an elective Council, but object to so important a constitutional matter iuiiiß dealt with on a minob item of t.iw'-Esti-mates. Mr Kll is so satisfied with, tlie division and with th-e prospect on a stvaisht-out vote that lie given notice of tho Elective Legislative Council Bill.

A SKRTOUS CASK. Among tho votes on Hie''JJitimnten' of the Tom'iah Department is one of £3SO, compensation to a visitor accidentally reared at Hanriiw, including mcdioal attendance. Parlienlars of tho affair wore jiiven by Mr Collins this morning. Tim visitor' was • a young lady school teacher from Canterbury, ivho was in f.lin hot-air bath at Hnhme'r, when the gas isrtiitnd, and overv bit of akin was burned oli her body. She was unconscious for hours, and 'ilnt she u aiire at present !3 a miracle. Even so; slip is unable to walk without assistance, and is novor likely to rccovsr health or strength. Ho urged that £390 was nothing like sufficient compensation for such a case. - Tho Acting-Premier said one's sympathies naturally went, out to th-e young lady, but his information was that the. casts wa« not bo bad as stated by Mr Collins, Tlie amount of the componritiou was based on the report of tho medical officers. Mr Piraiii remarked that a similar case nearly, ocyurtcd

at Rotorua. Before bucli machines wcro used un expert should lie consul ted, and frozen sheep experimented on j M tead 0 ( S°.iS J2?"" ™"""' ™ GOVERNMENT'S BORROWING POWERS, Jh» S ■ 6r , for Broco < Mr Jamcs Allen), lftlner BUtynscd gome of the mombers whose tasto or tig urea is not vpry koen when he n ' borrowing powors of , ('Oycynmont for tho pr&sfiiit year. He llls "marks by saying that ho int „ Tl? '? ter on tlmt amount of tho Loan Bill bo reduced to something more roMonaWo, and went on to remind »S: 1 • wcro other ' oan proposals fnnfH, \ n tin 1" tto ' s- 0 orr 'phaeised tho fact that tho Government had prfwer to f™ c y the Advances to Settlers Act and Land for Settlements Act, so that even if the Loan Bill wore amended the working 0 f the acts referred to would not bo affected The total amount tho Government could raiso was very huge. Would tho House behove that if the Loan JjiH were passed the Government would have power to raiso almost four and a-half millions of money in this ono year, The amounts under the various acts wcro as follows, the figures in eaoh ease being approximate;— Act authorising the raising of (lenenturcs against sinking funds, £57,000; • to Local Bodioa Act, Mnn'nnn 1 I', arl ol ' Settlements Act, rwn'mn' A 7 Zoaland 00115013 Aot > £230,000; Advances to Bottlers Act,' £1,000,000; balance of last'year's unraised• loans, £130,000; Dairy Industry Act,' iSO.OOO; acoidnnt insurance, £23,000; State coal mine, £150,0004 Ho considered this waa. a huge amount for a colony of about 800,000 people to borrow in ono year.

VACCINATION. Tho rccont prosecution at Lyttelton of parents who have failed to vaccinate their children is likely to lead (o some amend' mcnt of tho act. Several members speaking oh. the question of the Lyttolton prosecutions, contended that tho registrar had taken up an altogether untenable position. Mr Laurenson, who was ono of thoßo summoned, .spoke temperately and judiciously oa tho matter. He faid he f did not blame' the magistrate. Ho wm ono of tho' ablest magistrates in the colony. Tlio mistake wis in the registrar demanding a modioal certificate in tile caso of a parent who liad s. conscientious objection against the vaccina* tion of his children. Mr Laurenson "ox« plained that three of his children had been vaccinated, but the fourth was rather delicate, and he wanted jo exempt her from vacoination. He pointed out that of 19.000 children in tho .colony last year only 4000 had beon vaccinated, Fifteen thousand hod not Jieen vaccinated, yet thew had 'not been a. ; single prosecution except in the 16 cases brought by tho registrar at Lyttelton one morning, .he presumed to get a dig at him (Mr Laurenson). Ho had hoped that ho would liavo been fined in a sum that wonid liavo onabled him to appeal. It appeared to liavo been it caso of petty animosity. I understand that more is likoly to bo heard of this particular ease, and that a motion- : will be made later on to reduce the iegjrtmr's salary by a small amount as an indication that the position he took'up was untenable.

THE PREMIER'S CABLE MESSAGES. • During the discussion on tho Eatimater this morning several spoakors dealt with. the cable messages sent from South Africa and England by Mr Seddon, but'Mr Fisher,' who "dropped in" just before the House adjourned, had tho last word. "Sir," he said, rising dramatically and addressing the Chairman, "it was irritating to tho Bensestp; .read thoso telegrams. but it is-'more irritating to think tha) 'tho ratepayers of the colony have to pay fay such slush." THE FERNHILL RAILWAY. Mr Carneroßs has presented ft petition from Janio3 Gray and other coal miners employed in tho Fernlull coal mine regarding tho branch railway to tho mine. He asks for a refund of £506 excess railage, which ho ( states' ho has paid sinco December, 1895, to April, 1901, and £300 compensation for losses. »

FINANCIAL CRITTOISM. Tho two best specohee on the Loan Bill to-day wero those of Mr James Allon and 'Mr Mill pi', Speaking from opposite sides of the House, both these members put bo : fore tho House a very strong condemnation of the finanoial polioy of the Government, : I have already telegraphed Mr Allen's remarks on tha subjeot of poker to borrow. Millar in his speech showed that our surpluses were gradually reaching a, vanishing point. Ho added that an inorease o! £107,000 was likely in our permanent charges : noxt year, and at this rate with a falling rovamio we oould not go on borrowing as wo wore without very soon increasing tho taxation. The taxation, now amounted to £1 2s 6d per head, and there were local rates amounting to £1 Is 7d per head,_ This made a total of £5 4s Id, and he did not .think wo could go vory much further without' some trouble in some shapo or {arm, Mr Millar advocated the cutting down of llie proposed loan to one million and tho concentration of work on main lines. At the same time he urged that we> should not under the circumstances go in for reductions' and luxuries in connection with_ our open lines.' As ft mutter of faot, lie said, wo had been making thc3o reduotions by the aid of borrowed money. The users of the railways had no right to these reductions whilst tho lines were not fully equipped. >,

ROYALTY IN NEW ZEALAND; _: ; During the all-night sitting on the Estimates some very .hard things were said about tho Government publication entitled "Rpynjty.in New Zealand." At tho item Printing and Stationery Department. (£35,372), Mr Pirani moved to reduce the vote by £1 as an indication that tho official account of the royal visit to New Zealand should not. liayo been printed at tho Government Printing .Office. There were altogether 60 pictures in the hook, and of those. 49' were pictures' of the Premier. It must have cost nearly £2000, and was enough' to give one the horrors to look at it. i The Chairman said tho motion was out of order at that stacje. it a later stage the AotingPren>ier informed Mr Pirani that;th© cost of ■ preparing iand .printing the book giving aw account of the voval visit was: £1030; There was a'strong demand for thorn at half a guinea each. Mr Atkinson: Was that tho ! literary ami mechanical work, _ too? Ths 'Acting-Premier: The mechanical'■ work. Affairs Atkinson and Pirani spent some time in condemning tho hook on the' ground of extravagance and ths nature of its contents from which they quoted at .length. Mr Atkinson moved a reduction of the vote by £5' as'sii indication of the, sense of the' House on the subject. Mr Herrics wanted to 'jcnow what became of the kinemato graph pictures taken for' the Government! The' Acting-Premier said the filmp ,wcre still-at the Government Printing Office. Some were : very good and some were very poor. Wherever the royal party went an official vceord was made op'lhpir progress, the ovont being ;onc of a. unique character. Mr Hornsby condemned the publication of the book. Mr Massey said the royal party was in New Zealand for 16 days, and the total cost'wan close on £93,000. As to the official history it was evident that it was got up simply to glorify the Premier. At 8.20 the motion for the reduction of the vote by £5 was lost by 26 to 10.

■ JOTTINGS. "Retrenchment and economy should lie the Older of the dav. We are living up to our last shilling."—Mr Meredith (a Government supporter), when speaking of the colony's condition. . "We can write across the Financial Statement. of last year in large letters the words 'Broken Ministerial Promises'" remarked the member for .Ashley in _his moat dramatic tones. '' And," ha added, "we can write aci'Ois . the present Budget 'A plunging policy.'".