WELLINGTON.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2252, 26 July 1870, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(from our special correspondent.) July 23. I am ’so full of the two debates last night affecting Otago, that your readers must excuse me for skipping over the concluding portion of the financial debate until I disburden myself. The first debate was on the re-union ef Otago and Southland. This was opened by Mr Wood (Superintendent of Southland), in a very clear and forcible speech. To him succeeded Mr Mervyn. Of him I shall say nothing, as Mr Haughton gave him, immediately on his taking his seat, such a dressing-down that fairly renders any other remarks superfluous. It was der cidodly the wittiest and weightiest reply I have ever heard in the space. The House was convulsed. .Mr Macandrew then followed, and in a and exhaustive manner Eeculiar to himself carried the House with im. After other members having delivered themselves, Mr C. Wilson, C.B , said that it was clear to him that the matrimony of the two (Otago and Southland) was to bo consummated to-night, and he therefore hoped there would be no delay. Whereupon Mr Fox said that he would waive his right to reply, and “ give away the bride. ” So ended the union debate. The motion was carried on the voices.

Tho next debate was on the Otago Hundreds. Mr Brown moved the second reading of the Bill for the Repeal of tho Bill of last session in a speech impossible to characterise —at Fast I dare not trust myself to do so—and content myself with enclosing an extract from tho Daily Advertiser, the opposition paper I referred to before as having died. It has since been resuscitated, but still it may be said to have died upto Staf : ford and now lives to Vogel. The following is tho extract:—“ Dreariness vast and oppressive often characterises tho oratory of soma honorable members. Tho efforts of the member for Bruce last night in this particular direction were more than dreary—they were simply ridiculous., Ho is a master in tautology, and. an adopt in murdering tho Queen's English. His mistakes in grammar elicited the mirth of the House, yet he pursued the rugged tenor of his way out to the end or the bridge of Parliamentary decorum, within whose cloud-hung extremity ho found a home ftt last. ” Mr Mervyn made a most Iftbored and impotent attempt to prove that Mr Mervyn was right last year in voting for, and right this year in voting against, the same Bill. The weariness depicted on the few members that remained in

the House to hear him would have melted the hardest heart, and as he continued to bob his head upaml down like a hen taking a drink, member after member quietly retired. Mr Stafford, with a candle in hand, was absorbed in reading a paper, but had to succumb at last before the continuous clatter, and joined'the rest in Bellamy’s. The only .Minister that could retain his seat on the Government benches was the Defence Minister. Mr Reynolds in a concise speech moved that the bill be read that day six months. Mr Birch seconded, alluding to the state of the House (which reminded him of a Scotch night in the House of Commons). He showed the necessity of coming to a decision at once on the subject, as the time of the country was unprolitably taken up in discussing the repeal of a Bill that had beenepassod after careful deliberation by both Mouses, and had not even been tried. As he looked round to the hon. member for Bruce when he talked of “his assurance in attempting to make the legislature stultify itself,” his emphatic manner took the House by surprise, and he sat down amid general 1 applause. Mr Howorth, nothing daunted, moved the tCßjoummcnt of the debate, and on a division, numbers poured in from Be’lamy’s to the number of 45 I think, and the motion was lost. Mr Howorth then commenced his speech with a very good house. Several members fiom other provinces listened patiently, hoping to get some explanation of this, to them, most difficult question ; but the floundering manner in which the Taieri (tiring) member occupied emo solid hour in, laying down what ho was “proposing to begin to explain” wag found too much for them. After he had spoken two hours, the Premier came in, and his “ wondering eyes” seemed to ask what it was all about. Member after member retired to Bellamy’s, and of the few remaining many were sound asleep. Even Mr Haughton, the indefatigable, had to cave in. Mr Brown sat on patiently. Mr Heynolds, whose close attendance to his parliamentary duties has passed into a proverb, endeavoured to sit up, but the Taieri member was too much even for him ! At last, and doleful to relate, the few that were awake walked out of the House, and Mr H., of all the Otago members, hko the last rose of summer, was left “ blooming alone !” The Speaker’s attention being called to the rtate of the House, the House was counted out, and the Taieri member had to gather up bis papers (bulky enough looking to last two more hours) and join the retiring throng, I am afraid Mr Howortb's speech will not be well reported, as the Reporter’s Gallery was only occupied by two, who lay on their backs the most of the time. Who can blame thorn ? It is a great pity that Mr H. cannot condense bis remarks. His own friends personal and political seemed fairly wearied out, and the appearances of the three members Brown, Mervyn, and Howorth, afforded excellent pabulum fpr the small wits in the Gallery. As an Otago man, I had to blush for my Province, and hang my diminished head.