PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

Evening Star, Issue 3303, 20 September 1873, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

(BY OUE SPECIAL EBPOETBB.) Wellington, September 16. I have been tola several times during the session that it is a wonder that you, in your edii torn}! capacity, did not often run your pep through some of the paragraphs I from time tq tinje inflict on your readers. I have ap answer always ready. You want ipe to tell the truth, and not write political articles under the guise of newspaper correspondence. This answer generally suffices. We know politics and Yogelism are mighty things : but truth is still mightier. Suffice it for me that I adhere to the latter.

I And my daily special telegrams extract from a correspondent’s letter all its verve and power. You dilate on paper, but compress by wire. You can only amplify at the charge of attenuation, after the manner of JFitzherbert, on subjects the telegraph have already posted you up on. And speaking of telegraphy, the Independent rates you soundly for falling foul of telegraphic delays, devoting nearly a column to your mental and political improvement. You may eat your pie humbly, being rebuked, and inquire for consolation how Iqpg sUfih a Rapgf as th‘e one expired would live" in 'PunecSn,' There is nothing like comparing ourselves with others to gain a correct mental gauge of our capabilities. Otago has to be congratulated that she has another kind of mining representative in the General Assembly to those she already possessed. The member for the Dunstan is not now the only claimant for mining honors since ha of Wakatip came to the fore. Ail Dunstan wrath was expended on poor Mount Ida j but, having found a man of a different oalibre, he is trying to fight before he cries “ Peccavi t" There was some rather amusing sparring on the rejection of the Gold Mining Bill, of which White, of Hokitika, called Shepherd “the heavy fathersaid he appeared as the “ claimant of goldfield honors,” and delighted to pass himself off as “a bleeding mining patriotr” Pyke told the House the Bill was “noxious, unpalatable, and objectionable to the country;” that the “heavy” had tried to represent Queenstown and failed; and any Bill that he brought before the House would never pass, as Dunstan was unpopular. So Pyke was answered this way: “that he was not qualified to form an opinion; that it was the fault of young members that they wanted to put everything right in fourteen days ; that he wanted to be made Minister of Mines,” and much more to the same effect The people of Otago should go in for a fresh selection of mining members, for, as it is, they carry little weight in the House. There u always a fight about Otago waste lands; why should there be another about gold and gold mining ? Unless, however, we occasionally had such mirthful interludes, the gallery would be utterly intolerable. I intend avoiding personalities until the session comes to a close. 1 have a sketch-book partially filled with the mannerism and personal appearances of mast of oar members. - I fear .their wrath too much— the terrors of bread} of privilege,’ andbeing brought! to the bar while the House is in session—toi risk* their publication at an earlier date; so, for once, I shad strive to write a few bare, facts, 4

Anyone possessing a grain of sense can see the assembling 0 f the Parliament is akin to a farce. The Colonial Treasurer is the main—l may say the only figure in the political foreground. He prescribes political medicines as he deems most beneficial to the country, and, nauseous as they may taste, his followers swallow them because they believe in his political medicinal knowledge. This was noteably manifest in the pasgage of the Provincial Loans Bill. I believe scarcely a member in the House, save Macandrew, heartily approved the Bill, Now it has been well said if Macandrow loved New Zealand much, he loved Otago more. The Bill may possibly obtain benefits for Otago, but how it will affect the Colony as a whole is another question. (And here allow me for once to express an opinion of my own : I consider the Provincial Borrowing Bill a retrogression in Colonial policy, and a Bill that should be cast out utterly as an unclean thing.) There is a difference between an expression of opinion and a declaration of truth. Now. the country should learn this fact, that many, many of the members who voted for this Bill held similar views to mine, but considered the Premier’s presence superior to their own. More than one or two Otago members have told me when discussing the merits of the Bill “ I’m going to support the Ministry.” “But” —I would interject “Oh” would be the reply, “if you discuss the merits of the Bill that is altogether a different thing.” No impartial honest reporter can tell his employer that he is satisfied with the conditions of the parties in the House. As the turnpike-hating clergyman from Wairarapa said the Opposition has neither vertebrae, head, nor tail. I have a profound admiration for the strong, mentally or .physically, but there is a fear of their becoming blind and carrying away the gates of Gaza on their shoulders. We should import and pay a qualified leader of an Opposition of a legitimate character, if one could be found in the country. The Colonial Treasurer has earned and deserved every honor he pqssesses, but the Colony has no one to pit against him. I have heard frequently in the South doubts expressed as to his political honesty and self-seeking. lam thoroughly convinced the man is honest as he is strong—that it would not pay one of his mental calibre to be otherwise ; but I abhor utterly the Provincial Borrowing Bill. Of course, were this a mere Ministerial rag, the above remarks would not obtain insertion. Hence my provision as to truth. With regard to the immigration questionone of infinite importance to the Colony, and more so than that of the construction of railways —there is not the slightest doubt but that a horrible and dreadful mess has been made. Of course the Premier defends the Agent-Gene-ral —he would not be leal otherwise ; but why on earth a man who completely smothered the Province of Wellington in debt—managed that beautiful Manawatu Native muddle shows no other capacity for politics, save that of clear speaking and possession of a muddlesome nature, should have bean chosen the representative of New Zealand in Great Britain, is a consideration for wonder to the minds of many. He is too large a man for his position: arrogant without capacity; so self-opiniated that he will not receive or obey instructions, with ill-health, a weakened intellect, and increasing irritability of temper, without commercial knowledge of any kind, the selection could have been scarcely more unfortunately. People, however, often obtain credit for qualities they do not possess, until they are placed in positions of trial and trust. Probably no such labored and damning impeachment of a servant of the New Zealand Government has yet ever taken place in the Colony as that of the member for Selwyn, re Dr Featherston. These are the only two questions of any vital importance before the House this session on Provincial borrowing and Immigration maladministration. During the evening when the debate came on in an unexpected manner, and the department of immigration was thus vigorously assailed, O’Rorke sat blandly on the Ministerial benches smiling and dumb, “ touting,” it was remarked, “to be called smiler the second.” His friends say, however, he wants Donuybrook treatment —a rap on the skull and a foot of whiskey—to make him dangerous. I’ll wire you when he goes in for the Donnybrook business. The plain truth is that the Premier has no one save the Minister t(3 help him, and has to do too muct "work. Xt is bad to be an all-round man. 1 know less about the Tapscott difficulty than I knew when I wrote last, but have very grave doubts whether she will ever leave the arbor. It may pay some of your Dunedin people to buy her and her cargo.