PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1893, 14 July 1888, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

l * (From our own Correspondent.) )J . 16 Wellington, July 18. Much speculation as to what they have J» |q view has been engendered by the ex- £ treme reticaooe of the Opposition at their n meetings durjug the last two days. c Members refuse almost point blank to j t itate what la done at their caucuses, and Q all the information that is vouchsafed to is oorrespondenta is the very brief official 3, version supplied by the whips, from which y it 1b Inferred that members did nothing bat discuss the position m reference to a Native Bills. The general Idua ia, how 0 ever, that there is something at the back '■■• of all this closeness, and-the qaestion is a what. Naturally at the proseut time m '* viqw of the complications of parties there L" we all Borts of r amors of a probable NoConfidence motion, but after fossicking £ about I have reason to believe that at j present this is not contemplated. Such t a move will almost for a certainty be , made before the close of the soqslon, bat from what J can gather the policy of the B Opposition ia to be a, waiting one; They ( say that they have several things for { Government to do before they tarn them 7 out of office, and tint as things are ) at present tending the Ministry are t gutting weaker every day, and aB "water f wears away stones ao will the majority of J the Qovemmeut speedily depart. Already ' on two oooasloUß thtß week hay« they had J a nasty "j»r" and the contlnuoaa succession of these 1b bound to tell. For [ instance on Wednesday night m order to , save defeat over their motion ti refer the r Natire Bills to a select committee a . Minister, I believe, had to request as a , personal favor the votes of two Freetrade j seceders, who bad intended to vote against \ thiroong, bat for ij)ls, the motion would r have been lost, Then ag^in m the matter [ of the constitution of the Committee to 1 wMoh Native Bills are to be referred the Opposition virtually had their own way ' and, if all that is Bald be correct, Govern- : ment are just staying m office on Buffer--1 anc?. Naturally Mr Pyke and various other members interested In th.o passage of the Otago Ooutral Bui I way Bill are very wroth at the deliberate stonewalling carried on last night, and but for which, m all probability, the' Bill would have been carried through .Committee. MrPyke does not lose hgapt, however, and expreaaeis his Relief that the' #lll will yet go through. To do t^ils ho informs me he and those who supported the motion for going into Qommlttee of Supply (numbering with pairs Js(|) are prpparpd to go to the extent of wli)fdrawlng' thpjr support from Government altogether m oises where they aro at present Government supporters anlotg Government take up the Bill and push (t through. It la hardly anMolpitod that suoh extreme taotlcs will be adonted, but no doubt eorno votes will be Icflbooood by ihe decision of Gjvornmenfon the point. Although proyioualy Mr Pyke waEt'given to 'udders! and that the Goyernment Vas behibd him ih this matter he lo now dyofou| on the point and this impression le current. After Qarefally oonildcping xbo matter for some time the Qommlttee tf the Legislative Council, who hava been taking evidence on the snV.j >ot of the JntalleaWr reported this afternoon, through the Cv:!:!? aa °* Ooraraittee (M Millpr) on tho sabjeot. The roport „!;! forth thai; ip the opinion of the Oom- v mittee the totaußator" hag go^e fap to redaoo the business of bookmakers, Tho Committee thought, however, that only c > large racing clubs, whoae rulas we?a S drawn on the lines of the metropolitan raolng clnbs, should be lloenaed to work totalißators. The Hon J. MeDziea and 1j Hoij W. Swanson, members of the Com- c mittee, dlgse^ted to the Ending of qhe Committee, ' The Customs Duties Bill as n peivod ' . from the Legislative Council was finally t i< 1 paoied thli afteroooo mify »ppUako, ( }(