THE MAN IN COUNCIL.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 595, 6 December 1871, Page 2

THE MAN IN COUNCIL.

[bT'GBOFFEET gOFTSAWDER, ESQ.] The hurley-burley is done. The Appropriation Bill has passed the second reading. Dr.- .Nicholson is not in office, and the hon. member for the City West- —the gentleman of the camelias —is not out of collar. The auriole of office is still upon his brow—the Goldfields (Secretary wears the laurel, Mr. Lusk the oak-wreath and holly berries. 'Twill be a merry Christmas for the " ins." 'J he " outs" will have bottled gooseberry instead of llossilian .No. 2. Let the hands be clean that will put their lingers into the provincial pie of 1872. Who the deuce could have recognised Mephistophiles but the hon. member for the Bay. What a strong family likeness ! Le Diable a quatre was not hirer to the " Gentleman on two sticks." Sticks make the only difference. We were glad to see the hon. member for the Bay. His political holiday has done him good. Exercise and self-examination, it is to be presumed, has madehim appear alittle thinner. He was never remarkable for good humour. His sepulchral laughter is as sonorous as ever. It brings back the recollection of old cachinnatory exploits. He brought no foreign dignity into the Councils of the province. We had ex- ' pected to see him enter in academic cap, vice-chancellor's gown, maaive, with trimmed gold lappets ; and that" Egomct" tallest of Colonial Dons would mount the steps and take his seat by the Speaker. Why should it not be so ? He did good service as it was. He deprecated opposition to the second reading of the bill, so that public business might not be hindered. The Vice' Chancellor played the part of judicious political bottle-holder with admir&ble effect. ( Dr. Nicholson rose to resume the debate. Ho spoke low. He put the figures, through their facings. They became apocryphal in an instant. The hon. gentleman has a financial habit of placing cyphers on left and right of the units until tbe substantive reality becomes a myth. His mind is logical but his manner is pathological. He disects a budget as luf wcmld a corpse. What a solemn financier ! His genius for calculation is elephantine. But he does not belong to tho pachydermata. He can be pricked by smallest interruption. The Goldfields Secretary struok home when he said, that tho gstmdeyr of the hou. gentleman was fata! to his negotiation with the General Government. The sun of Auckland overpowered the benighted intellects of Wellington, so sbaken with terrestrial as well as fiscal disturbances. His situation last night was not enviable. It ; re" miuded one of the chorus in " Faust: " — OhDocter! Dear Doctor, in treasury bills You* u<?t flo accomplished aa making up pills. OU Uddor! Dear Doctor, though your case ie bad Keep up jwur peekar, and neve* look sad. To Mr. Mackay is due the credit of slaying the financial Minotaur. He told the political iEseulapius that the goldfields progress was the fruit of an accident—and, worse, the. accident of, the hon. number's removal from office. .It was hard to hgtve it so set dorm. He accused the hoa. metiiber of " mourning over" the history of goldfields, but tho Doctor pleaded not guilty, upon which the hon. Jerome —nothing whatever to the saint of the name —declared that he saw the "big tears stream down the lion, gentleman's cheeks as he " whined" over the Waiotahi tramway; : But hero there was a diversion made, and riaint Andrew Beverid^e sought to take the Executive upon the flank. Mr. Hurst is said to be the most ornate member of the Provincial Cabinet. St. Andrew put his lance in rest, and at him carrying away the flower in the honorable gentleman's button - hole. This had all the neatness t»f > a "new romance of the rose." 'Twas in autumn of tho year—the fall of the leaf ; that he met tho hon. gentleman walking— cogitating w.hat new trifle he .knew not. The gleam of office was spread over the intellectual face, just shaded by the brim :of new belltopper. Ever ambitious of good company, the politician invited St. Andrew to dine with him, to meet the other goldfields members in the chief hotel at Grahamstown. The hatchet was to be buried for ever, many fathoms below the floor of the " Pacific." A dove in the shape of a pigeon post, was to carry the olive branch to the Super's office in Auckland—the modern iNoah's ark, Mr. Hurst was to repeat history and go through Noah's sacrifice by deputy ; Mr. Mitchell came from far Ohinemuri very hungry ; Mr. Mackay strode down from the ranges, his appetite whetted; St. Jerome, like the Monk in Chaucer, never " goeth empty within or without." All met at the Pacific except St. Andrew, who loved his latitats, " What's writ is writ; let the writ issue." Having had an acute attack of rheumatism he was consulting liobbler's Exercises. But in the coffee-room of the Pacific peaco was not. Three hungry members came to dinner. They found themselves and not the dinner cooked. The hatchet rose like the ghost of Banquo at the "head of the table." " We're swindled, I'm thinking," quoth Mr. Mitchell. "Of course you are," said St. Jerome, in Iris Sardonic manner. Mr. Mackay invited them all to go and get oysters. St. Jerome said " That since the d— had got into the Council tho d— might take the hindmost." They thought ot putting the telegraph in motion, and did it. Tbe tel.egra*u was handed to the hon. member of the Executive, who was " doing a bun" in Canning's.

For weak Bfomachs jellies good are, Eaten cold with ven'son pastry ; But tops and bottoms wholesome food are, Digestive diet light and tasty.. W. J. H. (loquitur). — By Jove; to dine with Mitchell, Mackay, and Jerome at the Pacific, Forgot all about it. Mutton chaps and cheese cakes. Can't be helped. Telegram received, telegram to be sent: —" Forgot all about the chops. Wil) bo down next week, and stand a leg and ' enpers.' " The disappointed slowly dispersed, and whistled as they went to order—>eggs and b«c.on.