THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

West Coast Times, Issue 301, 10 September 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

The following interesting resume of recent proceedings in the House of Representatives, is from the Welliugton correspondent of the "Lyttelton Times :"' — Saturday, Sept. 1. I have to give you an account of a week's Legislative woyk, and 1 may begin by saying that there has been no further declaration of Ministerial policy since the short statement made by Mr Stafford on yesterday" week, when the Ministers first appeared in their places. It was then that the new and strong profession of love to the .provinces was uttered of which I wrote to you. the same day ; and it was then that the memorable declaration was rqade that, if the House would only gra-it all the money that the Government asked for, there need be no quarrel between them. Nothing more definite than this oracular utterance has yet fallen from the Government, if I except the promise that the Defence Estimates should be materially reduced — a promise whose early delights, 1 fear, will fade away in the performance — for reasons which will presently be indicated. On Tuesday ' the Game Laws went through Committee. It sounds strange that a law of this sort should have come to be as much as talked of in a new country ; but in fact the English system is now fully adopted.. There are by a former Act the usual open and close seasons for the killing of game, carefully enacted under penalties. Now there is a new low going the whole length, and requiring all who shoot and all who sell game to take out a licence and pay a round sum of money. This advanced state of civilization has been brought about by acclimatization. It would never do to allow any one at any time to shoot at his pleasure birds and animals brought at great trouble and expense from other countries as soon as ever they began to get a footing in the land and to venture forth from the nursery into the open country. The case of the pheasants at Auckland is the only one at present in point ; but it is urged that the same wholesale destruction which now goes ou there will be^-repeated wherever else game may be introduced.. There is this to be said in faVor of the game laws in New Zealand, that the imported birds and animals cannot be called'the property of everyone, but must be considered, for a time at- least, to belong to those who tojpk the trouble to introduce them. Some' importers in Canterbury will be glad to learn that the House of Representatives has resolved that- all duties paid during last year on steam engines, and mining and agricultural machinery, shall be refunded. The amount paid in Canterbury has been be.tween L3OO and L4OO ; but it must not be supposed that the whole of this will be handed back. The resolution is sweeping, biit it cannot supersede the law. In all cases (for instance, steam engines pure and simple) where the duty has been wrongfully charged, the Government promise that a refund will be made ; but they will not obey the~~ resolution where •Jhe duty has been levied within the meaning of the Customs Act. It will be for the Commissioner of Customs, with the help of the Attorney-General to determine between one class and the other. I may add that nothing more has yet transpired about the forthcoming tariff. One of the last acts on Tuesday evening was to throw out the Legislative Council Limitation Bill. The Council is at present unlimited in numbers, and therefore any Government may svyarnp it by fresh appointments for the sake of carrying some obnoxious measure. The Council want to have their independence secured, and they passed a bill to fix a limit to their number. In the Lower House this measure created much discussion, and raised -a variety of important constitutional questions about the comparative merits of oi)e form afti)

another, of a second Legislative Chamber. A set was made against the bill, in tlie hope that au elective 'Upper House might be substituted,, and \\ got W further than committee. In a thin House i lie Chairman was ordered to report progress without asking leave to sit again, which is equivalent to shelving the bill for the present. Mr Vogel's " three-eighths" resolutions had been fixed for to-day, but he post•poned aheir consideration, and promised to bring them down in an amended shape about Wednesday next, after the Treasurer's financial statement, which >w£ll probably be«leliv.ered on Tuesday. The notorious Goldfields' Committee has at length closed its deliberations, completed its report, and brought in its new I V- Wf late weeks tlle vigorous passions of this Committee had been much subdued, and in its old age it became a conciliatory, and I might almost say polite body. What it had really done for the goldfields -is another question ; but I fancy some good will come of it. at least for the complicated mining interests in Otago, for Mr Vincent Pyke, the clever gold secretary for that province, has been closely occupied upon the proposed measure. The Otago diggers are getting into that state in which a good deal of law is wanted.

The Postal Committee has also biought up its report. Postal Committees are always, injurious ; but this one offers more surprising novelties .than any of its predecessors. A threepenny postage rate on letters is proposed between the provinces, and a penny 'rate within any ' province.' Newspapers are to be taxed aljvays, and threepence often, That is to say, to send one by Panama or Marseilles will cost 3d. And the system of franking is 'to be abo-~ lished. With these turns of the screw a sum of L 15,000 a year is expected to be squeezed out. Revenue must be got; perish the people! And reajly if the people will bend to the grindstone — aye, and, help to turn it with shouts and cheers' — tbey must not expect to keep their noses whole. The Government will always take full advantage of the snpineness of the taxpayer. But don't suppose that the Postal Committee's ideas have been adopted. •$ don't know what the Government willj say, but I hardly think that the House in general will accept any such propositions. lln Wednesday evening the Estimates were opened for the first time, and the Customs expenditure was voted for the year, with a great deal of talking, but few reductions on the printed figures. I may add at once that on Thursday and Friday the Estimates were gone on with, and the Judicial and" Postal departments were finally disposed of., No great economies were effected - } but an interesting' discussion ,arose when the telegraph items were under consideration yesterday. There were sums amounting to L 12,000 put down for the construction of lines, part being for the submarine cable, and part for an extension to Napier which is promised to be done this year. Mr Whitaker pointed out that this was not an annual expense, but one for a permanent and reproductive purpose. Mr Yogel proposed that it should be charged on the balance of the loan, as the telegraph construction was always intended to be. Mr Whitaker preferred- that it should be divided over a term , of, say, five years, so as not to increase the loan, but yet to ease the burden on >X the year's revenue. Mr Ward observed - that the same rule should l be made to apply to other expenditure proposed for the year ; for instance, the location of the Military Settlers, whioh would cost L 200,000, and be completed once and for ever this year. All the non-recurrent expenditure should be divided over a term of years, and not saddled upon one, for it was easy to calculate that the revenue of future years would, be somewhat larger and the expenditure somewhat smaller than could be the case this year. .He thought L250,0Q0 would be wanted, and he advised tUat it should be" changed on the revenues of five years to come, at the rate of L 50,000 a year, and .so extra taxa-

tion for this year avoided. Mr Moorhouac went further: He was confident of the prospects for the future. By his calculations the expenditure next year might be reduced by L 250,000, and the revenue increased by a similar amount. . This' would make the, country richer by half-a-million next year than it is now. .Even if one-half his calculations only should be realised, it would be practicable to cany forward L 250,000 of this year's expenditure by means of Treasury Bills, and so to ease the finance of the current period, give the provinces their three-eighths, and avert the proposed stamp duties which he denounced as most injurious to the country. Air Fitzherbort took the suggestions in good part, declined to say what he was going to propose in his budget, and amused himself with chaffing the various speakers, in return for which compliment Mr Moorhouse, in a second short speech, gave the Treasurer a " piece of his mind.' I think the solution of the' financial difficulties of the present year will be' found in some plan,not very different fr«m one or other of these suggestions.

Thursday morning opened with a compliment to the Volunteers. Mr Cargill (Lieutenant-Colonel of the Otago body) moved a resolution in favor of their exemption from jury service. He was supported by Messrs Burns, Ward, Moorhouse, and many others.' Mr- H ill objec • ted ; but his colleagues, Mr Fitzherbert, Col. Haultain, and Major Richardson, expressed themselves very favorably towards the motion^ Mr Stafford was not warm one way or the other, but wished to put it off. Ultimately the motion was carried, and a bill was brought in and read a first time to alter that clause of the last Volunteer Act which bears on the point. To prevent mistakes, I may say that nominal volunteers will haye N no exemption ; they must possess a certificate of efficiency befove they can claim the benefit of the measure. This successful movement is the result of the unitedefforts of the Volunteer 6fficers in the House, who have also undertaken to give effect as far as possible to the wisTics of the General Volunteer Qomniitte of Canterbury. The motion, of amalgamating all the land laws of the provinces into one has often been talked of- by theorists ; but it remained for -Mr Chas. O'Neill, a not very well known member, actually to propose it. A resolution to appoint a committee to consider the subject, was flung in his name on the floor of the House, but tlie idea was "not entertained, and the .motion was picked up again and withdrawn. It is noticeable, however, that the simplicity and high price of the Canterbury system me being every year more and - • ».'o ■'• • ipprpached to by the other pruvnuu, wmen are continually patching their regulations, - -