PARLIAMENT.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2070, 20 May 1887, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

PARCELS POST. The Colonial Treasurer said the question of a parcels post had received very careful consideration at the hands of the Government, and they had come to Uni conclusion not to extend the parcels poet outside the colony until they had seen it satisfactorily established inside lh» colony nciiEs on k 2. produce. Mr Buchanan as ted the Col Treasurer whether his attention has been called to the re-imposition of the duties on butter, cheese, bacon, and hams imported into New South Wales ; and whether ho will communicate with the Government of that colony with a view to the abolition of such duties by ofleriug concessions in the tariff of the colony P The Colonial Treasurer said his sympathy was in the same direction with the hon. member, and ho should bo glad if the arrangements could be made. He was. however, afraid it could not. He had communicated with the New South Government recently, but without receiving any reply. There was a ditliculty in entering into any arrangement* for exchange of commodities; we had very little to give in exchange for New South Wales goods. He would keen tha matter In view and see what (.could ba done. MAKAWATU GORGE. Captain Russell asked the Minister for Public Works, If he will order the District Engineer to report upon the probable cost of widening the road through the Manawatu Gorge at its most dangerons places, and, if the sum does noi exceed LIOOO. will he recommend the expenditure of that sum. and, if voted bv Parliament, instruct the Dutnct Engineer to widen and maintain the road in good order ; and will he abolish the toll gate recently erected by the Wairarapa North County Council, causing instead such sums only to be levied aa toll at the upper bridge over the Manawatu Rivor as will recoup, by the tuna the railway is finished from W oodville to Palmerston North, the expenditure of LIOOO and the cost of maintenance of the roadF , . . The Minister said the road was vested in the local bodies, who between them, were raising more than five times aa much as was necessary to maintain the road. The Government, as he had stated yesterday, were considering the whoU question. He agreed as to the necessity for widening the road through tha Gorge. firewood for locomotives. Mr’’Buchanan asked the Gov /nunt-nt whether they will arrange to Guru wood instead of coal on the railway locomotives, where the price of firewood and the gradients of the several lines permit of this being done at a saving of cost to tha colony P The Minister said it would be impossible except on the level parts of the hue. Where possible it would he used, but th# only locomotives in use in which wood could be used were those which had bean specially made. representation bill. The dispute over the Representation Bill has ended in the recommittal of the Bill, the number of members having been restored to the old figure, 91; the concession to rural districts has been altered 10 18 per cent nominal—equivalent to 15 per cent “ the actual " —and the “ margin ’’ to 750 ; also the proviso for amalgamating city constituents has been struck out. LAND BOARDS. Ministers in reply to questions said steps had been taken to reduce the coal of Land Boards by reducing the num. her ofmeetiugs. As to the fees drawn by each member, they depended, of course, on the circumstances of each particular case. CORONERS AND GRAND TORIES. Bills would be introduced dealing with the abolition of Coroners and Grand Juries. DETERRED PAYMENT SETTLERS. Deferred payment settlers were ir 4 very different position now to which they were in 1880. Thtr , * wer< never pressed unless it was knr wu tß e j could pay, and the leniency waR given whenever it was thought noe dfuL It was not considered advv t0 further concessions to r ma]l farm associations. CORONET jg Mr Tolc’s Coroner'/, Act Amendment Bill provides that no medical officer to any lunatic sysfcr or Uceußod house for the reception o', lunatics to any prison, shall be comr ,oteiit while holding such °™ to act v 8 Coroner at any inquest on the body of any lunatic dying at. such asylum or licensed house, or on the body of any prisoner dying or being executed at such prison. CRIMINAL CASES. ihe Criminal Law and Frooedura Amendment Act, introduced by Mr lole, fixes the age of “consent ” at 16; makes assaults on women or girls misdemeanors; permits the uusworn evidence of children of tender years to be accepted subject to ample corroboration; provides for the suppression of infamous houses; allows accused persons to give evidence, and busbauds and wives to give evidence for one another ; amends the order of pro, ceduro in Court; revises the law of challenges to jurors, and provides for appeals in criminal cases. RAILWAY TICKETS. The Minister lor I’ublic Work# answer to Mr Turnbull, said ho r o uid not see his way to allowing holri c . ra of annual railway tickets to pay for t hem by quarterly instalments. grevmouth-iiokitika railway. The Minister for I’nbiic Works, in answer to Mr Guinness, said tender* would at once bo called for the of the permanent way of the Grew mouth, Hontua Railway from Grey mouth to Teremakan River.