House of Representatives.

Star (Christchurch), 30 September 1893, Page 6

House of Representatives.

•"" FstDAT, Sbpt. 29. .»•••-: ; ■-• AFTERNOON SITTING. The House met at 2.80. ''"•• " '■ 'pnisttSO DEBATES, <Mr .O*.? okob. brought up the report of the" Printing Debates Committee, wbioh __se_*n_sßande_iithst, in order to cheapen the cost of Hansard, the reporting of debates be considerably curtailed. The report also recommended . the publishing of a daily Hansard. , He spoke at some length on the dbe^trian, and.said that Hansard, cost at the present time, nearly £4000 per annum, and ext«!» < reporting cost nearly as much. |&> p^.rougly. supported the proposals to curfcaiS. the reporting of debates and to iaeue ■ -._% daily Mansard. He moved the sdoptioff^f. that portion of the report. lie. B_W 3' '3* Seddost moved the adjonraai'ent igf the '■ debate on the ground that tfie". 4_teasio__ . concerned the next Parlia_n!9at>.ah(^ it was nc-fcfair to take any action now. - ' ' Sir $_ ; 'Stout .said at this late period of the session it woold be almost impossible to discuss i the. .report fully, but he thought the 'debate strvpld not be adjourned, and that .jthey. cpu*_ d on the next Bitting day consider the ver^v important points referred to by Mr O'CbnQr. Mi** Hoc-V as . one of the Committee, regret, ed the Prqmier'a amendment. He thongh t this was one o? the moat importtot <j_iVe fciohs <<!_jey could consider, and eaid Hansard, was - at present quite useless. _nie motion- for tlip adjournment of the _iflb-*e ? waß caf ried. ' SATUBDAT _ SITTING. .The Hfln R^'J/Sjßßnbs' said he would ask the House to meet 6n Saturday at 2.30. If that motion were carried they might finiah the business by Wednesday next, bufc if tie, House '4id. not ait oh Saturday the Befo_ion could not cl63e till near the end of next week. He then moved his motion. __4j;RoM__BTON-eaid no good was. to be jjaiijed by sitting .on Saturday. He comp.ai__ed that members had been _te.iven.thia eeasibh much' more than usual, and they were utteily wearied with the late sittings. Ii was altogetheriinreasonabletoask them to' ait every hight in the week. 'After a lengthy discussion the Premier's 'motion to sit on Saturday was lost by 35 to SO", . "' ', Tao Hon B. J. Sehdoi/ then moved that t*_el_ou*e at its rising adjourn till Mon'dk j at 2.30. - . fair B. Stout moved as an amendment that the House eit ot 10.30 on Monday. The Hon B. J. Seddoi. accepted the amendment. Sir^'JbEK ll______ thought the, Premier . should -_ give' some assurance that it they met aCnalf-pasb ten a.m. they wonld aot be kept sitting till four next morning. Aft. r. some diacusaion, ' Mr Bichab dhon suggested, that in future the ' House should " meet at ten every xnordin£ and tie e at 5.30. They could then do Committee work at night. $fctf motion was finally carried that the $jftap£3i_Q Uid adjourn till 2.30, on Monday, o.^jdSit'' B<. ir stout'"a amendment for 10,30 w|s.-fe«t_-. : -v^ ; '-'--'^;- -'-•• -.-;' -' ; -^- ' *i-'*-fP:P~y QUESTIONS.'. -fter^ing^o Mr Koll eßtbn, •T_^Hon_B. J". S_i>poN said the Government %f£ u ' £ i g° ' nt ° the ' supplementary estimate . nert day, and he Bhould consider * wh-tber a sum could b. placed on them for Mary iij^ne' Bobin s, the widow of a platelayer Oa tho Canterbury railways. Bep^yinjf to Mr W. C. Smith, whether theViVgs of na .uralissd foreigners caube re^ifita.fed uuder tho new Eleotoral Act wit-.outth.ir having to take out letters of naturalisation thetnsel . 63, ' . T__. Hon E. J. Seddon said there was no doubt whatever that .f an alien became naturalised his wife tsnd family (if any) were eatitled to full privileges; but, in case there was any doubt on thia point, he ifaro'-ld' in t ttuat the Begiatrara to allow the Dames of those women to be put on the roll. -"Replying to Mr Sandford, The Eon B. J. Skddon eaid he intended goi?j» int-> the whole question of police constable promotion, and be Bhould endeavour to deal fairly with ail members of the force. IiAND AOT AMENDMENT. The Hon J. M'Kenzie moved that tbe __.r_.end ment? made by tho Council inthe [■and Act Amendment Bill be disagreed

with, and that Sir B. Stout, Mr Duncan and the mover be appointed managers to draw up reasons for disagreement. j Motion agreed to. ; RAIL WATS ACT. On the motion for the committal of the Bailways Acts Amendment Bill a lengthy diaoussion arose, whioh waa interrupted by the £.30 adjournment. EVENING SITTING. . The House resumed at 7.30 p.m. BATING ACT. The discussion on tbe committal ofthe Bating Act Amendment Bill waa continued nt consideiablo length, several members speaking on it. Sir B. Stout suggested that the Bill shonld ba amended so that only Native land that had passed through the Court should be rated ; that ratea on Native laud should be only half that on European land; that no .special rate should be imposed oa Native land, and '-that the rating of the, unimproved valno of the land, which waa A .large. question, should be deferred till next session. '' The Hon J. G. Wakd said it waa scarcely to be expected that the proposals for delaying the Bill/ made by the Native members, could be agreed to. The Government had been considering the question of rating Native lands for thelasr. two years, and he did not, therefore, think the Natives could say they -bad been taken at a disadvantage. He pointed out that it was intended to aßk the Natives to pay half the rate which Europeans paid, and if the Bill did not make that clear he would see that it was altered. The motion for committal waa agreed to. Clause 1, Mr Kapa moved that the Chairman leave the chair. The Hon J. G. Wabd eaid it wa3 only a part of the Bill that affected rating Native land, and he hoped Mr Kapa would withdraw his amendment. Mr Kapa withdrew his opposition for the present. . Clause 2, looal bodies to make their own assessment. Mr Buchanan moved that thia clause be Btruck oat. ' After a lengthy debate, the clause was retained by 38 to 25. . The Hon J. G. Waed moved that aise_m<. ment conld be made either annually or triennally, at the option of the local body. Agreed to. ' „ " In "Clauee 4, amendment 'macie By the Select Committee providing- that an owner shall be deemed an occupier in caaes of less than three months occupancy, was agreed to. In Clause 9, levying interest on rates unpaid for twelve months, Mr Swan moved to limit the time to cix months. Lost by 47 to 11, and twelve months retained. Mr Pratt moved that the interest on unpaid rates shall be five percent instead of ten. Lost by 31 to 21. Clause rating Native land. Sir B. Stout suggested that the Natives should be required to pay only on land which had been through the Court, except any ocoupied by Europeans. The Hon J. G. Wahd said that was the intention, and the Bill would be made clear upon that point. Clause 13 was amended .o that the rating rata should be only half that charged upon European land, and that Native land should not be subject to a snecial rate. Clause 18, rating on unimproved value, elicited a very lengthy debate. Clause carried by 27 to 24. The following is the division list : — Ayes, 27 — Buick, Cadman, Carroll, Fraser, Hall- Jones, Hogg, Houston, W. Hutchison, Joyce, J. Kelly, W. Kelly, "Lawry, M'Gowan, M'Lean, C. H. Mills, •O'Conor, Parata, Sandford, Seddon, Shera, Smith, Tanner, Taylor, B. Thompson. Ward, Willis and Wilson. Noss, 24— Allen, Blake, Bruce, Buckland, Buchanan. Duncan, Duthie, Earnshaw, Fish, Hall, Harkness, Kapa, Lake, T. - Mackenzie, Meredith, Mitchelson, Moof e, Bhodes, Biohardson, Bolleston, Stout, Swan, Taipua and Wright. Paxes — For : Palmer, Mackintosh, J. M'Kenzie, Beeves, CarncroßS and T. Thompaon. Against— -J. Mills, G. Hutchison, M. J. S. Mackenzie, Bußeell, Fergus and Hamlin. Mr Fish said after auoh a close division he thought the Government should drop that part of the. Bill altogether,' as it introduced a new Bystem of rating. The Hon J. G. Ward said that as the matter had been very fairly debated, and as the Bill was permissive, he thought it might now be allowed to proceed. Clause 19, Bating Act, 1882, amended. Carried by 28 to 21. * Clause 20, Batepayers may by vote adopt thiß Act. This was amended so that any demand for a poll on a proposal to rate property on the basis of its unimproved value must be supported by 20 per cent of the ratepayers when the number on the roll does not exceed 100, by 15 per cent when it does not exceed 300, and by 10 per cent when it ia more than 300. Sir ,B. Stout moved a new. clause exempting all colleges from local rating. He said that private colleges were at present exempt. Mr Waed aaid he could not accept the amendment, as the local bodies would lose a large sum of money. Mr Fish strongly opposed the clause. Sir B. Stout Baid it would mean the losa of only about £60 or _£70 to eaoh of the principal corporations. The clause was read a second time by 20 to 15. Mr Fish moved that the Chairman leave the chair. He aaid they had just passed a most improper clause. Amendment lost, and Sir B. Stout's clauee added to the Bill. The Bill was read a third time and passed. The House rose at 1.50 a.m.