PARLIAMENTARY. ♦-POLITICAL GOSSIP IN . WELLINGTON.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7114, 12 July 1886, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY.

♦- POLITICAL GOSSIP IN . WELLINGTON.

THE HARBOUR , BOARD BILL. ' Tho Hawera Star special at Wellington wires :—": —" I don't think that the majority for the second reading of the Harbor Board Bill ineanß very' mush. The real fight will be in committee. There will be an attempt to make various amendments, and whether tho attempt is successful or not the result will, bo that the bill will lose the support of a good many who asked^ for the second reading. Some members avowedly voted for the bill with the reservation that Hawera and Manaia must be included, and others voted for it because it did not include those parts of the district, and whatever be the result of attempts made in committee to include them, the support of one section will be loßt. lam not at all certain that the bill will be passed by the Lower House, and then it has to run tho gauntlet of the Upper House. THE CRIMINAL CODE BILL. The Criminal Code Bill introduced by Mr. Tole differs from that passed by the Legislative Council in the following particulars, inter alia :—ln: —ln clause 6 provisions have been made (1) declaring the punishmints for felonios "or misdemeanours created by unrepealed Acts where no specific punishment is provided therein. This is necessary, by reason of the abolition of punishments under the common law for such offences; (2) declaring that no person shall be punished twice in respect of the same offonce ; and (3) conservine the summary jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace in certain cases ot indictable oftencee. Clauses 195.. 210 and 202, relating to tho protection of females, children, and girls, have been altered in consonance with the recent amendments o? the criminal law' in England by the statutes 48 and 49, Vie. c. 67. Clause 195 fixes the ago of possible consent at sixteen . Clause 201 extends the age of children to thirteen, instead of twelve. Clause 202 protects girls up to the age of sixteen, instead of thirteen, as heretofore. To this clause is added a provision from the above English statutes for the punishment of of'ences upon idiot women whin commited L iidor circumstances which do not amount to that wnich was punished as a ■ capital crime. Clause 212, as to tho abuclion of girls from their homes „ in England the age has been extended to 18 ; in this Bill ikis proposed to fix tho age at 17. The language at the end of the clause has been altered in the same manner as in the above Imperial Act, but it should be added that in tbe English Act, fixing the age of 18, the defence is permitted that tho offender believed the girl abducted to be of or above that age. SERIOUS ILLNESS OF SIR JULIUS YOGEL. Sir Julius Yogel is still confined to his house, and it is reported that fears aro entertained that he has gout in the stomach. The correspondent of the Lyltelton Times wired last Thursday: —"bir Julius Yogel is not so well, being threatened, his medical advisers fear, with a teturn of the gout, from which lit has been free since last November. Such an accident as he met with on that .occasion has been known to banish j^out from the system entirely, as man}' letters received in the iuterval from friends have infoimod Sir Julius, in the semi-congratulatory stylo resorted to by a man's friends when making the best of a misfortune. The long freedom from the malady in question had given rise to hopes that these statements had not, after all, been coloured with the bright hue of friendly Bympathy. At present, however, the many friends of Sir Julius will be sorry to learn that he is in danger of an acute attack at any moment. Twenty additional hands were taken on at the Harbor Works this morning, and a start was made at block making. Wo have to acknowledge tho receipt of tho New Zealand Postal Guide for July, which has been forwarded to ub by the chief postmaster. It has been decided by tho Hospital and Charitable Aid Board that no rolatives or friends be admitted to stay at the Hospital 1 with patients without the express sanction of the Boird. Captain El win telegraphed at 1.8 p.m. to-day: —Wind will blow from between north-west and west and south. Glass further rise, and sea heavy. Notwithstanding tho wet weather on Sunday the funeral of tho late Mrs. W. Bennett was very largely attended, there being fully 300 friends and acquaintances of the family in tho procession. Tho burial service was performed by tho Rev Father Caesidy. Referring to Iho lato eruptions in the North Island, tho Australasian remarks ;—; — I " It goes without saying that tho rush of I tourists to tho Hot Lake district next summer will bo tremendous. They have grown tired of Iho Pink and White Terraces ; and the novelty after this will be walking over the ashes 'which aro said to be covering these singular trophies of chemical action, as Horculaneiuu and Pompeii were buried under the cinders of Mouut Vesuvius." Mr. J. G. S. Grant, of Dunedin, scores at the expense of Sir Robert Stout. In a letter to the Dunedin Herald he says ; " A littlo over three years ago, while severely animadverting upon such gew-gaws ho concluded his editorial article in the Echo, of date December 22nd, 1882, in these words; "No, we don't require titles. They may, in certain stages of development, stimulate mon to deeds of heroism and goodness. But as the race getß better educated, theso spurs to greatness will provo unnecessary, nay, harmful. Lot us hope, then, that at the next session of our Parliament somol'iing will be done to prevent titular distinctions being bestowed in tho colonies." Hi. Grant corchded by referring to the action of Sir V ibert Stout as a gross pioco of inconsistency. The ministry bothers the GoverEO', tho Governor pesterß tho Secretary of State, and he importunes the Cabinet; and to avoid further importunity, a fovi ribbons are thrown over the Heasjto hungry .".spirants after notoriety. Such is the real mouus operandi of this despicable business of Knighthoods. The Queen —honeßt woman —probably nover heurd of the man thus honored.