THE MAN IN COUNCIL.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 589, 29 November 1871, Page 2

THE MAN IN COUNCIL.

~_C|[Bl GEOFFBET 80FT8AWDEE, ESQi,} A': I LOST no time when I received your commission in going to the ProviMnaT Council That august body wt-re about to assemble, and ii is Honoril_e;Buperi intendeut was in waiting. I met a/gentleman, on my way. upSlumland-street, | who is a great traveller.! /He is at present in waiting upon^.Dr. Paustusi who has arrived in this city;; haying agairistthat gentleman a very hpavy.claim. His nnme is _iephi»tophiles t a G-reek according to some, but according to others of Grermnn extraction. When I }ast saw him., at a, place of public resort, he was dressed in; red, and i thought had a very sinister countenance. But on this occasion he was dressed in solemn black, and looked .very amial-le. 1 Was informed that he Uends youth and length of days to those !v*rho_i he can trust, and that he did such ; favor to the gentleman whom he so assi jduously attends. Some persons, his lene-uies, however, say that he has dealings with the ——, ahem. He told me himself, in confidence, that he was a great admirer of the superintendent, and would be gl_H.|of| an i introduction' to him. Henco his anxiety to" be present at the opening of the Council, ...•_.-, ■ ff ,, When we arrived in the' Council Chambers the members.were collected in groups, some in Bellamy's, some un the library, and some in the legislative chamber. We went into Bellamy's, which is new papered and renovated The appearance of this pi ice is greatly chang>d. *n the table was a largo Lipscombe's* filter, from which .clear, water was running, not copiously. My companion inquired what was the meaning of it, and the attendant informed him that the ->uperi tendent had .-resolved to turn all evil spirits out of the place. I thought my friend blushed. , Form-rly, • " two hips and a bottle' held the place of this substantial monument of crockery. Mr. Mephistophiles only replied that it was a very '■ cool,-'. proceeding on the part of the Government. We saw the Provincial Secretary, the Goldfields Secretary, Mr. Osmund Lewis, its. .Nicholson, Itayuer, and Wood enter shortly after. I suggested the improvement in appearance of these honorable members and teetotal societarians. But my companion said curelessly, " Yes, there was compensation in everything ; for if tlnir arguments were not clear their complexions were, and that is something." This piece of profanity made me a little nervous, and I enjoined silt-nee, while his • Worship the May«-r passed by. You have read His Honor the Superintendent's speech in the dnily joura-d-*. it is my peculiar duty to inform you not of the text but of the circumstances surrounding. After the spee'-h Was r-_d, several of the mcml ers entered. One o| the' first was a little gentleman. M.+. JbliiV Liordoff,-of ' Hahuhu, with a model of la.

!" five-bar toll gate" under'his arm. He |i-< not a Kechabite,1 bdta'*.Y.<ebeccaite, fi.r he is pledged to ihoiish all toll bars in jthe provindeV unless hon. members o. the [Council pan 'go^'-fr©-'' to the discliar.;*lot their public "dual's/ A very detenu ne • looking uentieWtfii.pa-Sfd in. 'Wehe.rl ; that,he was^member for some part o' the ;golafieral.'-_nd''lived* among tho Maoriup country., _£.»Dhistnidi-; i<»» *~i<* "*"t •« mutter within his own knowled.e, iha: the ; Maoris were _,i sce_ded from theManma ; Tartars, having been cannibals, but tfiey had left oil'their m&u-ektiug propensities _aud taken to oysters and onions. A very courteous gentleman came up to my 'companion at this iribment. His name, 1 |iiS!litJ!ve^:ia.iriur_t, an eXteuai^e merchant... 'He said he was happy to ma«e th ' "acquaintance of so distinguished a stranger, whom he had aeen the evening before aithe i)\)er!t:'':,My conipdiiion bowed his acknowledgments, sotnewhat sarcastically,, as I tliO-ght. J I'reassured him when 1 told him that Mr. Hurst always kept very 'distinguished .company. He had, smoked with the Lord of JPe.mbroke, aim drunk wjne with^the Hukp of, Edinburgh.j lie was, by hi 9 pffipej Treasury for the P^of vince, and property; the, tifaead of ihe Government,.' but Ids conspjcuoiis modesty prevailed 'upon 'iiiiu to,ta,ke his ; place at, the oilier end. ....,,,, j......,,, H ~,.....-.,,, ~ , i hjep^stiday.'s proceedings, apd indeed those of the second were, according to tho daily papers, formal. And uninterest ing. 'Ihe second day was relieved: by a little debate, which Bhow_d:li_w the political trade wind had set in. Dr. Mch-dsou moved for a committee ol public acc-nut-*. Ti*e Provincial Secretary, a pale, but | otherwise interesting young man, informedthe Council that there was an Au lit Committee provided for " by Act of Council." He laid Onthe " table of Council ' the receipts and expenditure for the year. He said he was yet occupied with the Estimates, /which were in process of? gestation; but poor gentleman, he was so j harried by the Doctor that it would almost seem as if the figures had fallen ! into vulgar f_actio_s in his inside. The Goldfields Secretary sat beside him—a ! youth of promise, also a lawyer. He had recently been employed in laying down tdelaw, and taking up lauds from the Maoris for the Kaipara railway. He j had drily thi day before travelled from Jerusalem to l<iverhe_d;! and looked latigued. Ihe ancient township just mentioned is on'trie J_ai|>ara waters —the Beersheba of i\ew; Zeal-nd. He encouraged his colleague. He is smart and fresh in political lite. : Yesteiday, however, was the real opening of the session. l_.e Provincial Secretary made his financial statement. He spoke for two hours and a-half. His speech bristled with loans, mortgages, contracts,; audi provisions. ; Piev: *>usly a number of members ru.-wd for " returns." ihese must not be confounded with the mercantile phrase on "sale or return." Political language differs from mercantile in the employment of the grammatical copula, and this word mean«i. when there has been a large sale of political pledges, there is vigoroU* call for " returns:" l'he most interesting of these r-lated to h monster locomotive imported to the pro vince by the Superintendent. It came over in the care of two m^n and a boy , (t was a " hobby" of His Houqr>, like the Duke of Edinburgh's elephant, " To!U." But when it came out here His Honor would not ride it, but preferred his " tall chestnut."1 It was estimated to go sir miles an hour, and it gets over two and a-half with ease. The Goldfields Secretary made a smart reply to a member named Ellis, who insisted upon the fullest infor- j xnation respecting this much ahuitdj

machin-iV He said that His Honor's Mla.dk Klephant was a nightmare to the hon member, the,.circnic of his bed-tester regularly every night. - c .The Provincial Secretary laid the report of the hugesCY_^ivatipe upon the tabled The report of the PiVtyiticial Juggernaut cpm* plained of great ill-usage in being brought, to a country where there wan notjmbstaHtiar*"bTidges to. carry him ovjsr the creeks Without the peril of being droned, the only, structures of the kind*.the creaturehad seen were"political bridges." I do not know whether there was any covert meaning in this, but.there was a general look round the " House .', as this was irtsinuated. and it was observed that the hon. members for the Hay were not in their places, but were still " down Bouth."

My companion noticed that the Council seemed greatly afraid of the police. The Mayor moved on this subject, and there was a very considerable stir. It was admitted that the force was clean and respectable, Mr Swan Son lodging his usual protest against white gloves, which, he said, we're impediments to the arrest, say of a rtfciusant Inspector of Nuisances, or the dusf-contractor, or a sweep, it necessary! It was a subject of complaiut that the police did not» carry out the " Dog Act." I could not help noticing that a great many of hon. members' papers were shockingly " dog-eared." They had great dislike to driving poor foUs' cattle to the pound. The police should be handed over to the Gity Council. The Mayor reminded the members that there was no longer a mere local board, but a "lull corporate body Mr. Macready followed on the same side, as the reporters say. As he arose, Mr. Mephisto;>hiles opened his eyes ;- his became elevated, and his nose somewhat hooked, a* he exclaimed, " Mighty; son of Anak ; if that is the 4ayor, here is the 'entire Corporation.' " There was a good thing said by a member, wh<>se name I do not know, but they called him the Hon. Q.C. HJ. He said he was a prophet a year ago, when he told them not to let the police go out of their hand*--. He would now hit the nail on the head. When the Superintendent got the chance, he gave the province into custody. I understood that Thursday is a great Scotch holiday. An hon. member askeij whether the festival would not be upheld. The Provincial Secretary answered somewhat laconically, *' No." 1 heard the member spoken of as " Saint Andrew," a lawyer by profession, also a good Christi-m, and a great Freemason. Tho Provincial Secretary made his financial statement. I do not go iuto details, for the reason already given. It was a long addrs-*. concluding with an eloquent peroration up m the value of the noldfi. Ids. He «•_- ---' pressed in vigorous phrase do-iy his d<-t--r----miti-ition on the part of the liovertin-ei--i which, he said, would uiid.-rtake good ; iravers'ihle roads before it "made track-.' j._ young gentleman named --d-ariHghan, , vI.P.C, who has been a political philo jjsopher since he was "live years old.' 'iii c »r.-s his opinion that the proceeding* ■jof the session will be of unprecedented ,i interest, k if / f. >I './. i \