WELLINGTON.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2657, 23 August 1871, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

August 21. The first week of the Parliamentary session is seldom very pregnant with interest; and beyond the mere record of formal business, there is very little to add to the daily telegraphic summaries. The Speech was received much as usual, declared to be complete by the supporters of the Ministry," arid- miserably barren of sense and infonnationhy-the Opposition. It is probably a fair specimen of such compositions which would seem tohe prepared so as to give, the least possible intelligence and the greatest number of words : baldly a hint of the policy of Government could bo gathered from it The enemy say that there is no policy until the Colonial Treasurer resumes his seat in the Cabinet; and it was believed in that quarter that .the time of his return was very uncertain. Some long faces were pulled when the telegraph adyised of bis arrival at Auckland ; and the Ministerial bench looked jubilantly at their foeS, It is very difficult to arrive at any thing like an approximation of the political position of parties in the House, there are so.many unknown elements to deal with. Out of seventy-six members, no less than thirty-nine had no seats in the last Parliament, whilst some thirty-five are entirely new to political life. - As, in the absence of party organisation, elections are left very much to haphazard, or decided by considerations simply personal, it is impossible to judge ho w many of these gentlemen may go should they be afforded a choice between two distinct policies. At present they are wandering lights, flaring up here and there without any set.purpose, and. with few exceptions, do not seem at all likely to “ set the Thames on fire,” even in their political maturity. Amongst’the old members there are strange and inc mgruous associations, Mr Fox numbering aniongst his supporters several out and out c ■ntraliits, such as Fitzherbert, Bunny, and Haughtbn ; whilst Mr Stafford is reported to have allied himself with the Superintendent of Auckland, and to have successfully negotiated with Mr Donald Bold an 1 bis ultrv-provincial followers. Up to the present time ho has appeared to work harmoniously with Mr Curtis and his Nelson f: lends, but it may reasonably be conjectured if he beads an opposition compose I as indicated, tb it he will force hon. genthmen into a cave or into active support of the Government. The Superintendent of Canterbury has not yet taken his se it, I but it is not rious that he does not affect the present Ministry; we may take it, however, for granted that such men as Mr Rollestorj Mr Curtis, Mr Coliins, and Mr R. Richard T son, will now support any movement which would have the effect of placing Mr Stafford in office with colleagues taken from the Auckland and Otago rump. It has been for some time mooted in political circles tb it a reconstruction would be gen rally acceptable in the direc ion of the retirement of Mr Fox and Mr Sewdl, and the substitution of Mr Stafford and Mr Hall. This would, without doubt, m .ke a strong Executive, hj iving the confidence of the country ; but the g >ssip of the lobbies induces me to think that such an arrangement is imprac icable at present. Mr Fox, a party concerned, does not seem to see it, and “ incompatibility of temper ” would probably stand in the way of Messrs Stafford, Vogel, and Dona'd M ‘Lean sitting at the same Conncil table. It is useless, however, to speculate further; all that anybody knows at present is that he knows nothing. You will see by the Order Paper of both Houses, sent herewith, that a very large number of returns have been move I Lr—principally, of course, by new members. It is a very convenient and cheap way of inducing constituents to believe tha£ their member is very active and energetic; but as very few of the returns arc looked at when furnished, and many are utterly useless, it is a sad waste of public money and time, and Government would do well to make a stand against the practice. Mr Mervyn and Mr Bradshaw are specially offenders in this way : the latter gentleman would indeed appear to have bhen.collecting statistics fir years, and will no doubt astonish the world should he live to come out with the result. The debate on the Address was concluded in the evening, an I was a model at all events in the way of brevity. Mr Pearce, one of the new members fpr Wellington City, moved the Reply ih a wellconstructed, intelligent far above the average of such productions;. Ml' Rjcfyarcj: son, of Oantqrl|nry, 0 as seconder j. A short as I have said, followed, when the Reply was adopted without amendments, Mr Staff rd spoke very temperately, carefully avoiding throwing out even the suggestion of a policy; be is evidently playing the waiting game he pursued so successfully in 1865. Mr T. B. Gillies made, if I may use the expression, one of his nastiest speeches—capping at and criticising everything that has been done in every department, and especially attacking the Californian mail service—for which, by the bye, he voted last session; and the cor,, duct of Native affairs, which certainly opens fair ground for attack ; he was followed upon the* ame side, after a shortspeech by one of the Otago members, by Mr George Maddin, who indulged in a long tirade against Mr Vogel, who would appoar to be his peculiar aversion Mr Maclean speaks fluently, hot. his utterance is not. very distinct, and I should imagine he must be very difficult to report; it bis speeches arc all to belike bis first, this will be no very great consideration. Anotlu r Otago member, Mr Shepherd, who took part in tee debate, made a very ignominious Jinuco— ho was twice “counted out,” and had to conclude his remarks rather hurriedly. It would seem that he had given offence by his pertinacity earlier in the diy in insisting upon certain change* in the constitution of the Waste Lands Udmffi^ee, r ai3-'received consequently this severe lesson to respect the feeling of the House. Upon Thursday a debate took place which was important only so far, that the subject-matter was iff ado a Ministerial question. Mr Collins, of Nelson, moved for a return of .“the, names of all persons not being, officers of the Government, to whom th. use of the been

given without payment.” The House dirt not. evidently, understand the bearing of the question, which was essentially a local one arising out of the disputed Motueka o-no-tion, The Government, instead of explaining this at once, and justifying, as they might well have done, the particular trailstion—which was, I believe, a short lelegra ; phic correspondence between the Premier and Mr Luckie, of the Colonist -stood upon their dignity, and refused any information whatever. They tarried their point upon a division, but many voted against them from sh< er inability to understand any intelligible reason for ejecting to the return. The Motueka elect on petition is causing considerable excitement in the political sorld. I believe it is the first case in tlie-Cobmies of an election petition being carried to prosecution. After many technical objections hail been got over, the committee was eventually completed upon Saturday, and will be sworn in and commence its labors upon Tuesday. Mr Travers is counsel for the sitting member, Sir David Monro, and Mr Alleyne for the petitioner, Mr Parker, The principal allegation is that .a certain person designated, voted in the name of his deceased father ; his name being identical, and he being in possession of the srmie property which gave the qualification. It will, of course, rest with the petitioner to prove that this voter had never placed his own name upon the roll, but took advantage of his father’s name not having been excised to exercise an electoral privilege clearly not belonging to him. As the election was dec;ded by the casting vote of the returning officer, the tenure of the seat depends upon the question at issue, and both sides mean bare! , fighting, whilst the lawyers will probably take care that the case is not settled in a hurry. .