POLITICAL GOSSIP. [BY TELEGRAPH—OWN REPORTER.] Wellington, this day.

Te Aroha News, 26 November 1887, Page 4

POLITICAL GOSSIP. [BY TELEGRAPH— OWN REPORTER.] Wellington, this day.

Government Railway Bill. Tin: policy bill dealing with fcho appoint ment of the non-political Railway Board \va finally passed by the Cabinet yesterday. Youlmvealroadybeenfurciishodwilhtliopurport of the measure, which is on the lines of the Victoi ian Bill. The appointment of tho three commissioners is to beby theGovernorin Council, and they shall hold office for five years. One of the three officers is to be Chief Commissioner, and tho amount of the salaiy is to be left to the House to dcteimine, and provision is made that any CommisMoner who is interested in contracts bhallbe liable toapenallynotexceeding £500, or to impiisonment not exceeding three yeais. Tho powers of the Commissioners include the management, working, and maintenance of all railways in New Zealand now vested in or woi keel by or on behalf of Her Majesty, and also the management, woiking, and maintenance of all such railway-, as may heieafter be constructed or purchased by or on behalf of Her Majesty in New Zealand, or by the Commissioners, and construction of all works and doing of •dl thing? neeest-ary for the purpose of managing, working and maintaining such railways, or any of them, as provided by this Act, the making and construction of all such railways and several woiks in connection therewith which .shall from time to time bo devolved upon or vested in theCommi^sioneis by theGovernor-in-Council under the powers contained in this Act. All railways, picis, stations, buildings reselves and lands geneially in use of the Department aie to be vested in the Commissioners. The Governor-in-Council may at any timo order the construction or completion of railways, but the l!o\ernor and Ministers are to have no power o\er the lailways. It is the duty ot the Commissioners to maintain all railways in a state of efficiency, and to reconstiuct or add to railways where nece.-sary. They have power to deal with the leasing of reI ficshnient 100 ms, and the right to sell liquor and to alter cr revoke by-laws, and it i-> ptovided that no contract over £20 is to be let except by public tender. They are to prepare an annual report of their proceedings to March each year, to be laid with the estimates, receipts and expenditure before Parliament in May of each year. The Commissioners may appoint or remove employees, and they have power to hear appeals of employees against the adoption of the advice of tl.e officer at the head of his branch, with respect to his promotion or of any charges made against him. Accidents of certain kinds are to be leported to the Minister, and the (^ernor may order a formal investigation. Railway propei ty is exempt from rates.

The Stark Purchase. Mr Monk is asking Government to j^ive as an endowment to Devonport Borough the portion of the Stark purchase not re quired for defence purposes.

Auckland Petitions. Amongst the petitions presented yesterday were the following from Auckland ; — Fioin McLeod and others, that some districts be relieved of liabilities to County Councils (Monk) ; from Althea Symonds, for compassionate allowance in consideration of hex husband's long service (Hamlin) ; fiom Henaie Kaihau, that restrictions be removed from part of Pakakinae Block (Hamlin).

School of Mines' Building. Plans for the tesfcplantand building 1 for the School of Mines, Thames, arrived yesterday morning. Gordon promised Cad man that he will inspect them without delay, but that he requires detail plans. I understand Cadman has wired to the Secretary of the School for details.

Amendments in Minos Act. The Amendment Bill introduced by fiovernment is merely of a technical nature.

Licenses at Pannmre. Mr Lawry is interesting himself in connection with the anomalous position of the Panmure hotels. They are not in any licensing district, and consequently the granting of licenses to them is irregular. j\] r Lawry yesterday presented a petition from James Taylor and 41 other residents, asking that the boundaries of Panmure and Tamaki West Districts be more clearly denned, so that the committees may be better able to discharge their duties legally and to the satisfaction of the residents.

Auctioneers' Licenses. Many members think that so important a question as an alteration in the mode of granting auctioneers' licenses should not be undertaken except as a Ministerial measure, and this induced them to kill Mr Seddon's bill last night. A motion that the Chairman do leave the chair was carried on a division by 40 to 37.

Cemeteries Amendment Bill. The above bill, which is introduced by Mr Moss, passed its second reading last night by 38 to 13. Its object is to enable boroughs to authorise the opening of private lands as cemeteries. An objection was taken that the bill had only been circulated that afternoon, and that therefore there had not been time to consider it. Mr Seddon, who was evidently chagrined at his Auctioneers' Bill being killed, proceeded to set up a stonewall, which prompted the Speaker to rebuke him for wasting the time of the House. A motion for the adjournment of the debate was lost by 22 to 52. Mr Thompson (Marsden) suggested that a clause should be introduced providing that a poll be taken before cemeteries were made, and Mr Moss said that if such a clause were introduced he would support it. Mr Goldie objected to the establishmentof cemeteries on water reserves, and urged the importance of preserving the purity of public water supplies and preventing their contamination in this way.

Duration of the Session. Great diversity of opinion exists as to the probable length of the session. Ministers are confident that as they have a good working majority they will manage to break down the present waste of time on the part of the Opposition, and terminate the business required to be transacted during the present session within a month, while the feeling in the lirinds of the majoi ity of the House seems to be that a short recess over the Christmas holidays is inevitable, and that the prorogation cannot take place before the end of January.

Reduction of Honorarium. The proposals to reduce the number of members and to curtail the honorarium and Ministers' salaries are sure to be deloated at great length, and in dealing with the honorarium the leader of the Opposition intends to raise the question that members should be paid a fair wage for their services to the country. |

Number of Members. Ministers are confident that they will carry the reduction of members, a very con siderable majority of the House having pledged themselves to this reform in their hustings speeches.

An Absurd Report. Both the Wellington evening papers give currency to a rumour that Sir Julius Vogel has received the appointment of Chahman of the Midland Railway Company, and will proceed to England shortly, while the " Press " added that the choice was restricted to the late Minister for Public Works and the member for Christchnrch North. The statement is absolutely foundationless, and both Sir J. Yogel and Mr Richardson are anxious that it should ha\e the most complete refutation.

Limiting Members' Verbosity. j The harmless proposal made by the member for New Plymouth to prevent members being reported in " Hansard " after they had spoken an hour, gave rise to an animated discussion. Messrs Samuel, j Ban-on, Allen, and others warmly supported, while Messrs Ballance, Fish, and Sir Geoigo G icy objected to it on the ground that it meant restricting the freedom of debate. The motion was talked out by the dinner adjournment.

Tho "Roar" for Retrenchment. "With a view of reducing the estimate* of the Justice Peparment, Mr Taylor wants coroners and coroners' fees abolished throughout the colony. Government, while unwilling to abolish coroners or coroners' inquests, think that Ministerial investiga tion might suffice. They are alto consider ng the advisability of reducing very con&ideiably the fees paid to coroners, and mobt likely a bill in that direction will be intioduced this session.

The Unemployed Difficulty. In asking what action the Government propose to "take and give effect to the petition of the unemployed of Auckland, Mr G oldie mentioned that for the position of nighfc watchman for the Auckland Coloration, the salary for which is £2 per "week, there were 118 applications, and that between April and November 730 l ail way passes were given to men trying to seek work. Of the £21,000 voted by the colony for work for the unemployed Canterbury and Otago monopolized £20,000, while Auckland only got £1,100. The Minister of Works replied that the petition in question was» not ieceived by the Public Works Department till Tuesday, and that Government were now communicating with the Mayor of Auckland with a view to establishing a Labour Bureau. As to the inequality of the distribution of the unemployed vote, it should be borne in mind that Auckland had advantages over the other parts of the colony, inasmuch as its gumiield.^ are capable of maintaining thousands of men. There was no intention of treating Auckland in an exceptional manner, and as soon as the Lnrbour Bureau was appointed Government would endea\our to pio\ide work for its unemployed.

Glove Fights. The Minister for Jn&tice looks like a peison who would liko to take part in a glove fight, or if he is not gladiatorially inclined, his manner of replying to a question on the order paper yesterday left the impression that he delights to witness them. In answer to Mr Fulton, he said that the attention of (lovemmenb had been drawn to glove fights, and he was informed th.it the police had no power to interfere with them. Ordinary glove fights were nothh.g more than boxing matches with gloves, and as a rule there was nothing disordeily in the conduct of those attending them — at all events, nothing to call for the intervention of the police.

Railway Prelght Charges. The refusal of the Minister of Public Works to make concessions for conveyance of wool to the port of Southland pimilai to those allowed to those forwarding wool to Dunedin or Port Chalmers, elicited a protest from Mr Ward, which was followed up by a general denunciation by Otago members ot the excessive rates for freight on the railway. Mr Pylce declared that settlers would soon have to let their sections as ra!>bit 'une, and Clutlm McKenzie, Mr Valentine, and Mr Downie Stewart, as well as previous speakers, asserted that waggoners were conveying wool for large runs to Dunedin, and loading back with goods at 'less than railway freight charges. Messrs Marchant, Samuel, and Cowan also spoke, the latter expressing the opinion that until the railways were under the control of the non-political board dissatisfaction must continue. The Hon. E. Richardson, ex-Minister for Works, said it would be necessary to allow the boaid to impose different rates in in different parts of the colony. The late Gov-e-rnroent were compelled to reduce rates in level districts owing to the competition from waggons, and immediately the cry arose from one end of the colony for a general reduction, which the Government were compelled to accede to. Dr. Newman reminded the late Minister of Works that he gob into office three years and a-half ago, owing to dissatisfaction with the grain rate tariff, and then admitted that he was unable to cope with the difficulty. He promised to appoint a railway board, and had failed to do so. Political purposes had reduced rates in Canterbury as far as Waitaki, and then he succumbed to the pressure of 24 Otago members, and extended concession to that provincial district. Wellington was unable to get such a reduction owing to the fact that she had only 12 members. Mr Mitchelson declared that the reduction asked for would mean a loss of £10,000 to the revenue, and the discussion closed by the statement made by Mr Ward that rates in New Zealand are immeasurably higher than in other colonies.

The Premier's Challenge Declined. In the event of the Premier carrying out his announced intention of putting up ono of his own followers to move " That in the opinion of this House a revision of the tariff is not necessary this session," the Opposition will decline to debate it, but will walk out in a body, Sir J. Vogel having protested against the proposal as a devico for further delaying the business.

Jottings. The discussion on the debate re imposing a duty of not less than 2s 6d per ton on imported coal was further adjourned on a division by 46 to 28. Mr Goldie, who is a City Councillor, tickled the House last night by addressing the Speaker as " Your Worship." Just before the House rose, Mr Pyke referred to a member as the Buller lion, but the Speaker ruled the term opprobrious, and it was at once withdrawn. On the question of tho adjournment of the debate on coal duty last night, a protection discussion was raised, with the result that the Gold Duty and Otago Central Extension Bills were blocked.