GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 14 June 1880, Page 2

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

♦■ — Welmngt in, June 10. After the formal business, Mr Wilson gave notice to ask if the Commission of the Peace would be purged of insolvents and other unsuitable persons. A Bill for the suppression of gaming and betting bouses, and for the more effectual abolition of lotteries, (Mr Whitaker) was read a first time. Uolonel Whitmore was given a fortnights leave. The Deceased Wife's Marriage Bill lapsed on the second reading. The Rabbit Nuisance Bill was read a second time after a short debate, in which Mr Waterhouse said the wool exports of Southland had from three ship loads to one through the Babbits easing the pasture, and other parts of the Colony were likely to be soon in tbe j same position. Mr Murray gave notice that he would ask that a sum of mor.ey be placed on the estimates to defray the costs of con ferring the order of Knighthood on the Speaker. Mr Hall said that it was nlmost an unseemly thing to ask gentlemen on whom the honor of JCnigh'hood had been con* ferred to p<iy the costs thereof. Tbe Government proposed therefore to place tbe amount of fees payable for the patent of the order of Knighthood conferred on the Speaker, Mr Hursthouse moved that iq the opinion of the House all trerosportann of cattle from North to South Island should be suspended until the Government are satisfied that pleuro-pneumonia, now known to exist jrs the provincial district of Auckland, is eradicated ; and that all cattle arriving from Australia be quarantined for at least three moDths ; and that the Government should at once issue an Order in Council in accordance with the provisions of the Diseased Cattie Act, 1871, to give effect to the foregoing resolution, Mr J. T. Fisher seconded and spoke in support of tbe motion. Mr Hall could not agree with the motion. The fact was the disease was confined to a very small district of Auok' land, a district from which cattle was never taken south. It was on the de. crease, and there was no danger of th decease spreading. If it should increase the Government would exercise its powers to avert the danger. At present there was no danger of its spread. They were watching carefully over the matter, and he hoped the motion would not be pressed. Mr Pitt supported the motion, main taining that it would be too late to attempt to check the disease after it bad spread as suggested by the Premier. Mr Ballance said that he had been assured on Government authority that many of the cattle slaughtered had not pleuro.pneumonia at all, and that the alarm was to a large extent groundless. The debate was interrupted by 5.30. In the Fisheries Bill, a new clause, that no Maori shall be sued under the Act without permission of; the Native Minister, was inserted after a brief discussion- Mr Whitaker said without it zealous people would be found prosecuting natives, whom the courts could not reach, thereby bring the law into con» tempt. Sir W. Fox resumed the debate on the Licensing BilJ. He was glad to find the Government direct its attention to the moral and social improvement of th

mnsses. It was undoubtedly the duty oi the Gevernment to use its ii fluence to check the growth of gigantic social evils. This Bill was a movement in that diroc lion. A cry had been raised throughout the world of the great attendant evil od the drink traffic. It had been said truly if all the evils of war, finance, &c., had been put together, they would be nothing compared with the evils entailed by drunkenness. This Bill went in the right direction; it gave the power of protection against the sale of intoxicating drink. A raor ement in that direction bad his entire sympathy, and the sympathy of those with whom be was leagued ; it would therefore have his and their best efforts in getting it passed into law. What they demanded was not only power to defeat ihe threatened evils, but also power to check Ihe existing onrs. They had the evil existing now, and thpy wanted to curb the evil. This Bill was not complete in that respect, and he trusted Government would see ils way to remodel the Bill in that respect. Iv 18**0 he brought in a Bill having this object, and at first he could not get it beyond the second reading. The principle of allowing the people to quash a license without paying compensation was there asserted ; what they, as Temperance Beformers, desired was a power of this kind ; without such "powers they would never be able to put down drinking habits. As soon as drink shops were established, so sure would gaols, lunatic asylums, and other kindred erijs exist. Until that right was conceded they would continue year after year to de« mand it, and not rest content until it was obtained, That Ilouse had had petitions demanding that right ; these petitions were first signed by 5000, then 9000, and last of all 17,000, so that there was evidence of the desire on the part of the people to obtain such a rght. Subsequently the Bill referred to above was passed into law, and now stands on the statute book, so that tbis Bill, practically speaking aimed at withdrawing that power.