Clippings from Hansard.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5836, 5 August 1890, Page 3

Clippings from Hansard.

Mr T. McKenzie ; A young man, a farmer, sent his stock to an auctioneer, who was living in a most extravagant manner and far beyond his means. When that stock was sold it realised something like L7OO. Immediately afterwards the auctioneer filed his schedule, and this unfortunate farmer did not receive for his sheep more than Is 6d or 2s in the £. Ib absolutely ruined the young man, who had to leave his farm, and was now engaged in driving stock. He considered that anyone who received money in payment for goods or stock that had been placed in his hands for sale, and who pub thab money into his own account and failed to hand it over to the peraon who had intrusted him with his goods, ought to be deemed guilty of larceny, and' severely punished.

Dr Fitchett (Auctioneers' Bill) : Under the 14th clause it was provided that no licensed publican might be an auctioneer. but that the holder of a wholesale spiritliconse might be an auctioneer. Now, he thought ib was a dangerous thing to allow bhe holder of a wholesale or any other drinking license to hold a license to act as an auctioneer. The holder of such a license sold by the bottle instead of by the glass ; but they knew what that meant in country places. The auctioneer could have bottles opened for the benefit of his customers, and so inflame the biddings. He thought ib far better to limit auctioneers to auctions, and publicans to publichouses. Mr Mitchelson : A great deal has been said with reference to the primage duty as being an attempt to increase taxation ; and, notwithstanding what haa been said by some honourable members as to the objectionable nature of the tax, I may state that the Customs Department have received letters from large importers in the colony saying that nob only was ib a fair tax and one that they. approved of, but also that it should be increased from 1 to lj per cent. Mr Seddon : One of the main intentions of the Bill (Auctioneers) was also very much in their interest ; ib was intended to prevent those sales by ''Dutch auction " carried on by undesirable characters who came into the country and sold inferior goods by night - which a licensed ! auctioneer was prevented from doing— and who travelled over the country interfering vith the business of legitimate traders, and yet paying none of the license fees and rates and taxes which had to be paid by the legitimate traders. Theso "cheap Jacks," " Yankee Jacks," greatly injured legitimate traders, and imposed on the people ; and there was a provision against them, with a penalty of not less than HO or more than LIOO,

Mr T. McKenzie : At the present time there was to<j much nonsense talked about die unfortunate debtor. One man might borrow LIOO from another man on false representations, and thon file his schedule; and if the man from whom he borrowed dared to try and obtain his own he was hounded down, and the only one who got any sympathy was the swindler, and not the swindled. That was the consequence of the unfortunate state of our bankruptcy law at present. To sum up the presont bankruptcy law, he would say that it was framed purely for the protection of rogues and the spoliation of honest traders. This was largely brought about through members in the House tinkering with subjects they had absolutely no knowledge of.

Mr Taylor (Sydeiiham) has. moved " That the time has arrived when the Government shall for the purpose of securing proper economy in the govern- | meat of the colony, and for die due protection of His Excellency the Governor and his responsible advisers, take tho necessary steps to obtain a permanent location for the legislative capital of the colony by purchasing, say, about 1500 acres of land on the Canterbury plains for such a purpose, such land to be laid out as a township, and after the reserves have been made for Governmental, recreation, and other purposes, the balance of the land shall be sold in sections by public auction from time to time at the discretion of the Government, provided that no Bections shall be sold until after the Government has accepted a contract for the erection of a Governor's residence or ] Parliamentary buildings ; that all moneys obtained from the sale of such land shall be paid into a special fund to be used for repaying the temporary advances made for defraying the cost of the necessary departmental buildings, and other works required for carrying on the business of the country." Sydney Taiwhanga : Where are we 1 We j are nearly L 100,000,000 in debt. It is the Bank of New Zealand, and the land monopolies, and land rings, and land-sharks ; that has put us there, and there is L 100,000,000 to pay, and our children's children will have to pay it. How are we to get out of it 1 My sugestion is that everybody should get out of this House, and that we should have a new one ; that we should abolish all the land laws, such as Wi Pere's, Tokomaru, Ngarara- Waipiro. Maraetaho, Paremata,Pakowhai, by which the land goes and the people suffer. Tho people have to pay for it — the Maori and the English together. The only remedy is a new election. It is said it is a hard joj to find good members ; but that is the only way out of the difficulty. Now about Maori lands. I hope while I am in this House no Bill will pass. We should abolish the Native Land Office and the Native Land Courts. Mr Mitchelson : Tho new claims that have come into the Native Land Court since October, 1881, have been 13,290, which together with the 8,740 then, make nearly 22,000 oases, of which 10,712 are now waiting to be heard.

The number of live stock imported into the colony last year is shown by a return to have been 2238, valuod at L 7388. The annual meeting of the Lawn Tennis Club will be held on Wednesday evening nex at 7.30, at the Albion Hotel. — Advt. Country boot buyers will do well to give Hennessy a look in. I have com • odd sizes . in Ladies' Boots from 3s lid per pair, a big supply of Ladies' Norwegian Felt Slippers at Is 6d, Ladies' Morocco Black Laceups 8s 6d, Ladies' Prunella Button 6s 9d; Men's Strong Leather Elastics (heel and toe plates) 9s lid, -Advt. Strangers visiting Gisborne and desiring to know tho best establishment in which to purchase Watches, Clocks or Jewellery v/ill plcasenote that S.McLernon offers special advantages. He imports direct and buys fo cash from the leading manufacturers, couser quently he claims to be in the best possible position to serve the public well. One month's trial given with each Watchr epaired by him. If not satisfactory, money tqturned. — Advt

-'Soeteties gave a WelHngfcdHf^ Opera House ll^lnd Royafon Friday hlghfcin glfiai^ja^Pattie Mbrary" Fund. It was that the programme be the same ft^®|k -'iwiw^hiapS^'thfi'fflrit -.part of the pro*JA^j^naimeafcjone constituting the second part R?^at ihi^^th«^Bhd and vice versa. . The $isSoyerrio?^|aß present; and the concert was ;: : ;?;*i Ireatr^^jfie&^Mr Duthie," chairman, ■^^§§*d^ thl£ frad 'Amounted to L 2,853 already. ;|^|^bsctl^^aria^thef concert, would raise J -^^thV knioun^to"; L 3,000, # which would he :.: P thkndedAover to the City Council and; a ;';? - ; caall made oh them to proceed at once with >; of alibrary .according to - r ' their promise. . . ?. .:; "-=,;- The Auckland Charitable Aid authori;i ; ties, seem to be given to this sorb of thing r^ : r i -dunaping^ indigent^people on to other ?^ ,(;;-• place*. vThe following from the Napier fe^/Tele^^K^ceaemblw^a*; recent cai?e in 'f^, li: which .(^wbprnejßuffeir,ed t-rrßy the steamer :f :■• : / ; Wairat»^/there, arrived a sick m«in of the ■L name ol'Alilander McLean, from Anck- '■*'■■'- land. landing he applied for. an order : |o enter either the Refuge or Hospital. On enquiry it was ascelrtsijn'ed that he had had his passage paid from Auckland by ; the Hospital authorities there in order to get rid of him.. McLean's proper locality -■:■; '- is Ofcago. This 'way of shunting indigent people from one place to another is practised by the. "oharitably" disposed in . «rery district, "but the above case is somewhat barefaced.

; : A Melbourne correspondent writes on n July 22;:—^It looks as if there* is going to be a serious triiil. of strength between^ coloniallhipping employ era arid employ ees. ; \-^Among the' latter there has been an all -:-jJc'; t ! found- demand for concessions and in- —•' Vsreaßes w o£;'**©muneratioii which the shipowner^ cannot see their way to give They however, agreed to take the requests of - the officers if they gave an assurance that they would not become allied with any labor unions. This assurance the officers have refused' to give, and the owners are now preparing for a "tug of war." A - r meeting was -held in Melbourne yesterday at which representatives of all the Victorian steamship owners were present. It was unanimously agreed to sign* a bond v for L 20,000 asthe nucleus of a fund for defensive measures in- case of a strike. , Judge McDonald, formerly of the Na- '--"■"--:• tive La'nd'dourt^npw absent on leave, has -..--. petitioned.for special consideration of his case. The* Petitions Committee report that as. Jie has already received L 875 •alary, for fifteen months leave of absence, • and is ensitled to a month's salary for every year of service, they have no recommendation to make. | An extraordinary case of polygamy is furnished by a correspondent to the Indian ", Daily News. A Brahmin of Bengal gave , away his aix aunts, eight sisters, and four daughters, in a batch of altogether 18, in marriage to one person, a. boy less than 10 years oldv. The brides of three generations were in^age from about . fifty to three months i afc We lowest. The baby bride was brought to the' ceremony on a brass plate.' Among the Kulin Brahmins, as a rule, the ffian who receives In marriage the majority of the daughters of a family is also bound to have the rest, otherwise the minority .must suffer a life-long celibacy. Hundreds of instances like the above may be, given if needed. " Aulua;" furnishes the i following amus- _ - " ■ ing item t» the Australasian : — There are numerous stories of lucky accidents which have led to the discovery of gold. In the : of Western Australia a find was made very simply. A boy took up a stone to throw at a cow, and found that it was a lump of quartz containing gold. .The resident magistrate, who was of a fussy, excitable temperament, rushed post haste to the telegraph office, called out — " Quick, a telegram form, important message for Government," and dashed off his despatch at once for the Oolonial Secretary. An -hour afterwards he received the reply. He opened it with a gratified smile,^knowing that it would contain .the Minister's thanks for his zeal in sending the good news so promptly. To his horror he read as follows : — ' The Oolonial Secretary to the 8.M., Blankville. — You 'don't-jßay-so-!. What became of the crow ?' H© rushed back to the telegraph office \. ~ more Inaxtically than before, and asked for a 'repeat.': He got it, and found that his official despatch read as follows :— ' A boy picked up a stone to throw at a crow. ' In his flurry he had left out all about the gold. *'-■••.■