Political Gossip

Southland Times, Issue 19185, 24 October 1903, Page 2

Political Gossip

(By Telegraph). (From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 23. GOVERNMENT CAUCUS. The caucus of the Government lurty held this morning was a very quiet afidir. 1 he Premier 9aiu he had called the party together with a view to considering tho conclusion of the session. Ho wished to discuss what bills it was important to put through. 1 understand that the i'remier expressed satisfaction with the work that had been done, adding the usual gug, "in spue of Opposition obstruction " Mr .Seddon rather thought it would bo in tbe interests of tho country that tho important proposals contained in the Speech from the Throne (not already dealt with) should bo pit through. Among others there wero the 'Frisco mail service, preferential trade proposals, the banking bill, electoral law amendment and Kegulation of Local Elections Bills. The Land and Income Assessment Act Amendments Bill would be put through its second reading to-night if ho had to sit all night. The most objectionable clause (No. 13) he would drop. ,The Naval Subsidy Bill of crurse lad to go through. As to tho Land for Settlement Act Amendment Bill, it was a vory contentious subject and of course could not le put through this session. Tho Premier remarked that he waa quite satisfied to go to the country with the Bush and Swamp Crown Lands Bill, which would be much appreciated. Other bills which were mentioned to be pro* ceeded with wero the Referendum, Law Amendment, Public Works, Property Law and Companies Bills. The Cabinet was considering whether or not to take up the Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Bill Members present expressed their feelings clearly on this bill and indicated that it should be gone on with. FARMERS' INSURANCE. The Fremier stated definitely that ho would co on with Mr Kirkbride's Mutual Fire Insurance Bill. TRIAL BY JURY. A few remarks were made upon the Indictible Offences Summary Jurisdiction Act Amendment Bill, which takos away the right to claim trial by jury in certain cases. Members objected to any diminution of a defendant's right and it i 3 almost inevitable that this bill will bo dropped. THE LIQUOR BILL. The Premier handled this subject very gingerly I believe. " You would nave a liquor bill and there it is "—this is tha attitude he took up. He had done his duty and it was for them to say what was to be done with this measure and how far it was to go. Mho meaning of this very likely is that the bill will be read a second time aiid then dropped foi the session. It is significant that in the bthciul report of the caucus the liquoi bill is not mentioned. THE MEAT SHOPS. From what I hear of the proceedings of the caucus and the few words Mr Seddon snid about the English meat shops scheme, he is not so enthusiastic about tho mutter, but he would not like to cirop the whole scheme. Ho would not do that merely for appearances' sake and so he has put a v ote -'f ■' 'iOCo or jl-4000 on the Supplementary Estimates. THE BANKING BILL. This measure of course is early locked forward to and the Premier's present intention, as confided to the assembled members to-dny, is to introduce it next week. 1 am also told that the 'Frisco mail service proposals will como down on Monday evening unless- something turns up to cause Sir Joseph Ward to alter vis mind THE SLAUGHTER. No conclusion was arrived 1 1 in caucus as to what bills should be dropped. An indication was given of the programmo which the Government hope to nc« coinplish and it is very improbable that any other measures will have the slightest chance of coming before the house again this year. The Premier haa b\\\ty ly altered his tactics slightly. He thinks that by keeping all the bills on the Order Paper the House will •it.rk u»ore steadily. The slaughter will come at the end oi the session and the " also started " list will not be small. END OF THE SESSION. Very little was said on this point at the caucus. No dclinite expression of opinion was made as to the probable duty of closing the " Talkeries.'' The Premier pursued a course which he l»e----lievi:d bad tbe edect of frightening members. He pretends to be quite happy Olid comfortable ; willing to stay here till Christmas if the business of tho colony rendered it necessary. The idea was received in caucus with ironical " hear, hears." and the indications are that at the middle of November at the latest the session will be laid to rest. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY. This afternoon the Premier told tho House the history of the negotiations between himself and the debenture-holders of the Midland railway, which culminated in an oUer of JLloli.OOO. During his last visit to England he was called to meet the debenture-holders and a proposition was then made on behalf of tho company that JNew Zealand should hend over to them the railway on their puymg to this colony i;(>O,tVOO. The milway, they urged, belonged to them and they said that £37,000 had been raised during the time the colony had been in possession of the railway, and tiny asked ior that in nddition to the sum ia»-n----tioncd in the committee *« report. In cjiseussing the matter the Premier argued that it was unreasonable for the company to get the colony's £350,1)00 for juovi.OUO, to say nothing o.f the losses tho colony had sustained through the company. After some discussion as to what prosepects existed of the company being able to linish the line, even if it were handed over, the compromise finally arrived at was the offer to the debentureholders of the £.150,000 mentioned in the Premier's letter of 15th September. 1902. MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS. There uppears to be some misapprehension with regard to tho proposed Medical Registration Bill. The friendly societies of Invercargill made some enquiries of Mr Hunan and his representations have received the following answer from the Minister : — Nowhere in the Act is it suggested that medical men from Australiu should be barred ; all tnat tho Act provides for is to s<-e that medical men coming from outside countries shall have undergone us long a period of medical education as the N.Z. University requires of its own graduates, it is unfair to allow men whose period of study may have varied from eighteen mouths to three yeare to enter into practice in New Zealand and compete with our students who have had to spend not less than five years in the prqsedition of their studies. No bar is put against any medical man from a foreign country, provided that the country from which he comes will recognise our students. If Germany, for instance, rtfuses to acknowledge a New Zealand graduate, why should New Zealand recognise a German graduate ? I certainly would be ono of the last to do anything which would hamper in the slightest degree the efforts of friendly societies ; on the contrary everything should be done to foster their interests, as they practice self-denial for future benefit. THE LICENSING BILL. The new Licensing Hill is, of course, to be a bone of contention. Prohibition members have decided to block the bill ut evrr.v stage of its progress, by e\ery means in their power, and to aid i n jt a obstru.tion by flooding the Order paper with amendments. Mr Taylor gave an indication of their attitude hv - irivini*notire that he would move to emend the clause providing for the constitution oi committees, by adding that the Premier of tho colony for the timo being Presidents of Licensed Victuallere' Associations and chairmen of all Rugby Union clubs should bo ex officio mem&ra ?ou?*d C^°?^ Uee - -P r McLaehlan foljoued by stating, amid lauehtcr tliat he intended to move several amendments in the interests of "tho trade." Mr Tav- »-«• W -.*W nO H CC o£ a f - er -'*>*-* s oinenSuieitt. providing for annual licensing polls. 1 hen Mr Bedford took a t«id in the gome by giving notice of ar-yon involved amendments. These cover the provisions (1) thut any licensee or perron pecuniarily interested in the sale of liquor shall be liable for com pensat toil op damage to any husband, wife, -widow child, parent, guardian, employer? or other person injured in person or property by any intoxicated person who obtained liquor from such licensee : (2} providing for damages against any licensee who shall have sold liquor to any person wlui while intoxicated, has coma to hid death by accident, suicido or execution tor crime - (8) providing grounda of action against the supplying Hu-rseo m the case of any person suffering imprisonment for a crime committed while intoxicated ■ (4) providing for right, of action against any person declared by a court of summary jurisdiction to be a habitual drunkard ; (5) throwing the onus m the case of tied houses upon tho brewer or wine merchants to whom the house is tied Messrs Mandcr, Tanner. ttS. 1 " ttre *° ta »• *w."»th LYING LOW. A day or two ago I stated that nieiiiliers weror Shaking very guardedly* in reference to the Licensing Bill. Since then l nave made several attempts to secure the opinions of a number of members and in exvry instance was put off with vague answers. They will not Commit thc-ni-se vos io paper and would rather not take up a definite stand just at present, lhay say thai} the bi\\ ia & curious ono • eonmiUuf is !jivet> to 000 cj4«- &»*

. + . „ nthor, and something which thing r to .tho otnor. fa {or Ag & K«er n oM™t "hS Premier has the House very much in a knot. ST-VTE FIRE INSURANCE. a H 1 wired yesterday a second confer- „„„ between- the two Houses has been found necessary. The fate of the ptoi.oa„i Vo establish a State lire insurance department hangs in the balance for if no is arrived at the bill cai.not become law and the whole scheme vo.i lshes into thin air. The Council is insisting on its ri-giit to amend a money clause although the House regards this as a breach of its privileges. Sir Hem*, Miller goes the length of saying that if the council does not assert its right it. would go a long way towards committinir political suicide. At 11 P.m. the second conference reported that it also had failed to come to an agreement, me Premier said it was only in respect to an important measure that a third conference was ever asked for. The majority of the Houso was in favour of the bill and the country wanted it and they should exhaust every means in their power to get the measure through. He would nwhor lose tne bill however, than consent to the encroachment that would be made upon the privileges of tho House if tho Council's amendment was not agreed to. On the merits of the amendment Made by the Council the Houso would be prepared to accept it. but they could not agree to allow tho Council's right to make amendments in appropriation clauses. He therefore moved for a third couference which was duly appointed. BREACH OF PRIVILEGE. The Wellington branch of tho Institute of journalists has petitioned I'arl -amen t re the threat that if reporters refuse, to disclose sources of information tl.ey will be excluded" from the Press Gallery, the petitioners ask that such threat be eliminated, being inimical to the : uolic interest and opposed to the best traditions of journalism. ,„,^.„ AN OPINION. At last a member has opened his heart to me upon the Licensing Bill, Lut with n reservation. Mr W. Eraser (Wakatipu) acknowledges that he has not thorougnly inspected the bill, but in the meantime lie takes no great exception to any ot thu main provisions. He approves ol eliminating the reduction issue and would Rlso support, with ms vote the clause providing for a plebiscite on the question of whether tho poll shall be taken triennially or every six yeans. In this connection he would not support the prohibitionists' proposal to take the poll annually. He could not entirely approve of the clause to prohibit the use of liquor in private houses in prohibition districts, but some such provision seemed to bo necessary to prevent illicit soles of liquor. He does not think the measure has any chance of getting through in its present form ; if it gets through at all it will be much altered. THE JLaanju) Js.rtju--.ui'. Tho Commissioner of Lands for Marlborough i 8 not a supporter of the ballot system of settling the land. He does not approve of it at all, except as a last resource. He puts this question : "Would you or 1 dispose of our land in this manner," and he answers his own question by an emphatic " Certainly not." Wo man in his proper senses would dispose of his property or select his tenants in this hapuazard manner, therefore it is not suitaDle for tho disposal of lands belonging to the State. He goes on to say that our present method of ballot was originally designed to meet the case of two or more oona rrte applicants applying for the same section, hut as at -present worked it becomes -a gigantic lottery whon a great public uaty is placod upon us, involving in its execution our best skill, judgment and faithiul administration. Are we going to shirk our responsibilities to let b.md chance decide ? Is this reasonable ? Certainly not Why was it adopted v To avoid the evils of the auction system, but now the bullet system bus had several years trial 1 think it will bo admitted that its evils are far worse tl.an those of the auction system. The ballot system fails altogether in selecting tho most suitable applicant for the land while, on the other hand, the auction system generally results in the best man getting it. Of course this does not su->-Pose that any one can compete at auction. Make your restrictions as stringent as you like, so as to exclude all those who may be considered undesirable, and then, if you like, allow- the land board to weed out any applicants they deem unsuitable or undesirable, and then put the land up to auction aun-ng-st the remainder. In using the word " auction " where leases are concerned 1 do not mean the usual method, but w hat i would term a modified auction, ulich avoids most of the evils of the present system of auction, and which should be' applied to pastoral leases as well as other leases. The annual rent should be fixed b.v the land board — a ia.ir rote — ana the goodwill only put up to auction. Thus the successful upplicant would only have to pay down a cash bonus and not be saddled for twentyone years or longer with a rack rent that he was induced to bid for in a moment of excitement. Thus the chief evil of the old or present system of auction disappears. The applicant only commits himself to a present payment of a cash bonus and then for the rest cf the term has the land at fair rent. If this system is objected to I have only to say that it in a common practice nowadays under the present system for a tenant, after he has held land for a certain torm, to transfer his holding for a considerably less bonus to the applicant whi is willing to give him the highest price and I maintain that the State nnd not the land speculators should get this bonus. NAUGHTY TEMPER. Mr Laurenson broke out in a strange way this evening. He was floundering about in a lot of figures before an inattentive House. Mr James Allen, one of tne colony's few financial exponents, ventured to throw out an interjection that the speaker was in error, but Mr Laurenson turned on him in puny wrath and cried : " You aro the baby of fmance ; you know nothing about it" Of course the House laughed, but Lyttelton 's elect fumed louder and then glared round on members liko a bull on a hill. ODDS AND ENDS. This is the last scene in an ignoble drama.— Mr Hogg on the third rending of -.the Midland Kail-way Bill. Mr T. Mackenzie's speeches remind me of the cook who on Monday produces clear soup, on Tuesday Scotch broth and on Wednesday vermicilla soup ; but it's all the same soup, out of the same slock pot. — Mr Laurenson. Mr Witheford intends to ask the Premier whether, seeing that tho Federal Parliament has just passed an nddress to Lord Tennyson, paying a high tribute to his ability and tact, the Government will give this House an opportuuity of passing an address expressing the universal feeling of satisfaction at the mi-n----ner in which Lord Ranfurly has discharged the high and responsible duties of his office as Governor of New Zealand ? I understand that tho Government has decided to take up Mr Field's Juvenile Smoking suppression Bjlj. Mr Hogg intends to ask the G-overn-ment whether their attention has been called to the fact that the duty of Is per 1001 bon flour and manufactured grain, while enabling producers within tho colony to exact £§0,000 a year from consumers of bread, only yields £1 30 a year to the revenue from imports and, seeing that this is tho case, will thuy take prompt steps to abolish a tax that is obviously unjust, impolitic and highly detrimental to the general welfare.