PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 31, 2 August 1900, Page 3

PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

(From our special correspondent.) The whole of Tuesday afternoon was devoted to replying to questions. The only reply of general importance was that in which it was stated that a Referendum Bill would be introduced this Bession for the purpose of enabling people to say whether Biblereading should be allowed in the public schools. At the evening sitting the Premier moved the second reading of the Governor's Salary and Allowances Bill. He stated that when the Governor's salary was reduced it was done to meet a temporary emergency felt at that time when the Colony was in a state of depression, which had now passed away. By paying a low salary they limited the field of selection of suitable men. He knew that the low salary had prevented one man, who was otherwise well qualified, from accepting the position. He trusted the motion would be carried unanimously, and that the debate would be of such a character as would redound to the credit of the House. Messrs. McLachlan, Monk. Collins, G. W. Russell, Buddo, Pirani, Tanner, Meredith, J. Hutcheson, Hall and others opposed the Bill, on the grounds that the increase was not necessary. Eventually the second reading was carried by 43 votes to 13. On Wednesday afternoon the Premier informed the House that he declined to agree to a request that members of the New Zealand oontiDgents be allowed to join the South African police force. The men, he said, had been sent to Africa as soldiers, not as police. There had been some discontent amongst the men on account of their being drafted amongst other men and losing their individuality as a corps. He thought the South African authorities should first have consulted the Government before engaging the men for the police force. He explained that the men bad been engaged for three months at lUi per day and find their own horses, with liberty to join the corps at the end of that time. Wednesday evening was mainly devoted to consideration of the Abolition of Capital Punishment Bill, the second reading of which was negatived by a majority of 40 votes, and the Absolute Majority Bill, which was taken in Committee. Several local bills were advanced stages in the House on Thursday afternoon. In the evening Mr. Carncross moved the second reading of the Law of Libel Bill. The mover said this Colony was years behind the times in the matter of the libel laws, and the bill now under discußßion was drafted on lines similar to the English law. It was a reproach to the Colony that newspaper proprietors should be, as they were under the present law, laid open to blackmail. All the bill intended to accomplish was protection for fair and impartial reports of public meetings and court proceedings, provided the said reports are published contemporaneously with such meetings or court proceedings. The interests of the general public were carefully safeguarded, as the leader and local columns and correspondents' letters were not protected, and it was in these columns, and not in reports of meetings, that libels occurred. The measure was stroDgly opposed by the Premier, Messrs Fisher, Barclay, Hanan, Gilfedder, and others. . The second reading was lost by 23 votes to 20. The thirst for information is still very keen among members as was shown by the fact that the whole of Friday afternoon was devoted to answering questions. The following were the replies to questions of more than local interest : — The Premier said that arrangements had been made with Mr. W. P. Reeves satisfactory to himself and the Government for his reappointment as AgentGeneral for a definite time. He (Mr. Seddon) had no intention of going Home to occupy that position under any Government, believing that he would be of greater service to the Colony if he remained here. — To give Mount Cook site for a university college would mean a grant of £100,000, and the Government were not prepared to recommend this. Other suitable sites had been offered and refused. — The question of introducing penny postage in the Colony was one of finance. As soon as the finances permit the system will be adopted. — The Government did not intend to enlarge the order of reference of the inquiry into the management of the Stoke Private Industrial School from two to five years. The Imprisonment for Debt Limitation Bill was passed in the evening, the Premier promising to amend in the other Chamber the clause which provides that no commitment order shall be made for sums under £20. The Public Contracts, Native Interpreters' Classification, Lunatics Act Amendment, and Noxious Weeds Bills were also pasted.