PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

Evening Star, Issue 3314, 3 October 1873, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

OUE SPECIAL REPORTER.)

Wellington, September 29. Although there have been nearly two hundred Bills brought down this session, nearly double the number of any previous one, I fail to see hitherto what has been done save the passing of the Estimates, and the new .'ative policy of Mr M'Leaa, The number of the small measures passed may possibly be of more importance than those of a more startling and sensational character. Of money a ready voted tor railway purposes we have still L 2 :500,000 to expend, we learn, and hence we have no fear of stagnation for another twelve months. Otago must • emember that, save Canterbury, there is no ,ther Province in New Zealand that can go at her pace, or “ stay” equally well. People have no right to drink Clicquot or Rodirens, if they have neither money nor means. I have told Northern members irequently a sum of m»ney should be put on the Estimates to enable them to see what are the resources of the South ; Southern men should also travel North to see the landless state of the Northern Provinces. They cannot be called the patrimony of the disinherited. Under Provincial Government there can be no policy _ of 1 • equilibrium ” : the thing is an utter impossibility, Did your readers ever see vestrymen fighting lor their wards? If they have, they may imagine representatives fighting for their districts in Wellington. Every man appears to consider he is sent to ellington to dip his hand in the public purse, and as deeply as possible. In classifying the members according to their Provinces, I think Canterbury shows up best. Tnere are less roughs among the n. Taking the Provinces from the North downwards, who can we find up to par representing Auckland besides Vogel, Wood, Gillies, Sheehan, O’Rorke, and Swanson the remainder possessing an influence that may be called inappreciable—six out of sixteen ? There is one man from Taranaki—Atkinson; who hears of the other two ? Hawke’s Bay is fortunate; it has Ormond, M‘Lean, and Karaitiana. Wellington is fortunate, having Fox, Fitzherbert, Bunny, Johnston, and Pearce —five ont of eight. Nelson lias Curtis ; well, he is the smallest man in the House and the smallest Superintendent in the Colony. Macandrew could put him under his arm, and walk away with him without inconvenience, as Otago could with bis Province. There are a few gentlemanly, well-behaved men belonging to the Province in the House ; but, as a rule, they toil not, neither do they spin—leaving all the talking nearly to the “Buller Lion,” the voluble swivel-eyed member for the Southwest Nelson goldfields, i think after Shepherd he is the greatest nuisance in the House. He is one of the pachydermous genus. He is scarcasm proof ; nothing daunts him; he has a brow of brass; unhallowed ambition enough for an able man ; unscrupulousness enough for a courier or a Russian spy, and can talk against time or sense with any other representative of any goldmining constituency on earth. All men have heard of sleepy Nelson. Will it be believed he hopes to catch its inhabitants in their lethargic state and get elected for the Superintendency of the Province ? Nelson deserves well of New Zealand. It was founded early ; had to endure hard times ; has not stooped to ask or receive charitable aid like other Provinces ; has preserved a sturdy, though quiet independence; has gardens full of mellow, luscious fruit, and households full of the fair daughters of j'Jve ; it has the finest climate and scenery in the Colony, and though at times we may rail at its inertia, we certainly are not prepared to see it handed over to an O’Conner rcf/h/ie, while a man is to be found in its midst. Look at Canterbury ! Read the roll of the members—not a cad among them and there are Stafford, Rolleston, Richardson, Reeves, Wilson, and others to the fore. Coming home, I believe we are better off than some of the other Provinces. We have Mac and Donald, Tolmie and Steward, Reynolds and Bathgate, Gillies and Pyke, Webster, Bell, and M'Glashan ; but yet our representative garden wants weeding badly. If the Clutha people like to keep their representatives, I | can tell them there are no two more hard. I

working, untiring, attending member* in the House of Representatives. I only hate their politics. M'Gillivray should getanotherpulpit and stick to the “ drum ecclesistic ”; he may go down in a Puritanic but he is a hard pill to swallow in Parliament. What earthly use to Otago are Mervyn, Brown, Bradshaw, Cuthbertson ? Two are inane. Well, I like Bradshaw, but he is an incapable; and Cuthbertson gushes and is unfledged. Shepherd is not only a disgrace • to a constituency, but to a Province ; his constituents should say to him, “ What, so strong and big ?—are the stones all broken—the railways all made ” ? Our Maori man is as good a specimen of Maori representation as the Home possesses, He has a pretty general idea of all that transpires, and forms his own conclusions on nearly every subject that comes before the House. At times, however, he tries to follow the dreary platitudes of some weary speaker, and, like many other members, sleeps the heavy hours away. When an additional LIOO a year was given to the Native Ministers and L2 2s a day travelling expenses, instead of 10a as heretofore, Karaitiana T*kamoano told them they were only quarter Ministers before, and he hoped the increase of their salaries would increase their usefulness and their power pro rata. I don’t call this bad for a Maori. He is a bit of a cynic in his way. Speaking of white men, the other evening, to your reporter, he remarked, “There may be honest white men, but I have never met one.” All their lands in Hawke’s Bay have nearly passed away from them, and they feel sore and irritable on the subject. In some cases thirty per cent, of their lands have been paid for in spirits. It is astonishing what a number of leading Natives congregate here during the session—over sixty chiefs sat down to a dinner on Saturday evening, to which Messrs Stafford, Sheehan, and Swanson were invited. The same remark applies equally to the whites. The number who have petitions to present, Bills to charioteer, appointments to obtain, grievances to get reduced, subsidies to hope for—can be only imagined by experience. All the Micawbcrs in the Colony here congregate at session time. We have had three fine days in Wellington daring the session.