WELLINGTON.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 391, 13 September 1875, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

{From a correspondent of the Press.) Sept. 10. By way of introduction to the farce which was to commence in the evening, and to be continued till no one knows when, the House was yesterday afternoon treated to a few matters of privilege with which to while away an hour or two. Mr T, L, Shepherd brought under the notice of the House what he considered to be a very strange proceeding. It appears that the members for Tuapeka and the Buller have had the nous to' strike a bargain with the Government printer, and to obtain from him at a very nominal cost copies of their speeches issued in supplement form, which they distributed along with the papers in their respective districts, A double question was raised by the member for the Dunstan : first, whether the Government printer had not rendered himself liable to the penalty imposed by the Printers Registration Act, by reason of not having put an imprint to the publication ; and in the second, whether such an advantage would in future be extended to every member of the House, It is as well to state here that the member for Buller owns the Buller Neivs, and the member for Tuapeka is reported to be connected with the paper of that district. That they should have been able to devise means for getting their speeches, both of them very long, printed at the cost of “ imposing” and working off, instead of having to pay £lO or more for “ setting” them up for their respective papers, does credit to their ingenuity ; but the member for the Dunstan, and I am inclined to think a not inconsiderable portion of the House, fail to see why the country should pay for what is really private work. The members for Buller, Gollingwood, Taieri, and others do not see it in that light. They allege that Hansard is of no practical use ; that the newspaper reports do not do justice to members ; and that it is absolutely necessary that the constituencies should know everything their said and did ; for all of which reasons they contended that the practice of obtaining copies of speeches from the Government printing office should be continued. Mr O’Gouor went a little further, and insisted on it as a right, and questioned the power of the Chairman of the Committee, acting under instructions of the committee, to take steps for the discontinuance of the practice. He even went so far as to charge the member for Waitaki, who is Chairman of that Committee, with bullying him, but the House quickly resented such an uncalled-for attack. Mr Reader Wood chimed in with those who complained of the inability of the newspapers to do justice to hon members ; saying impliedly that it was oftener the rule than the exception with fhem to distort speeches. Mr O’Conor was very anxious to press an immediate settlement of the matter, but the majority admitted the injustice of considering it while the mouths of the Reporting Debates Committee were closed, as they were in the absence of a report. Mr O’Conor gave way, on the understanding that the whole question will be re-opened on the committee’s report being brought up. Shortly before four p.m, the House went into committee on the Abolition Bill. Mr Rolleston led off by questioning the Government as to whether the lobby rumors were true that they would be satisfied with carrying the first four clauses of the Bill, to which he received a decided answer from the Native Minister, whose allusion to the habit of the member for Avon to listen to everything that passed in the lobbies was anything but pleasantly received by that hon gentleman. The member for Avon then poured a .broadside into the Treasury bench, and told the House what it has heard more than once already during the last month, that we were on the road to financial perdition. Next came Mr Dignan, who, in asking that the Bill should be read clause by clause, delivered in the richest of brogues a very strange speech, in which his ideas were shown to Ibe very mixed. He was affected almost into tears in pourtraying the wrongs that were about to be inflicted on the hardy settler, in robbing him of that which most contributed to his happiness—his. liberty. The ball was then set rolling by Mr Sheehan, who moved the previous question, in a couple of hours’ speech. He was followed by Mr Fitzherbert, who humorously described himself as being in the position of an athlete ab®ut to commence the task of walking a thousand miles in a thousand hours, on whom devolved the necessity of husbanding his strength, and within whom there rested that consciousness of ultimate victory which materially helped to lighten his task. And anyone listening to the member for the Hutt, and knowing his power of endurance on occasions of this kind, could well believe his statement that he felt himself good for a couple of months. After him came Mr White, Mr Sheehan, Mr Reader Wood, and Mr Stout, the latter of whom starting at a little after two, kept the game alive till daylight did appear. At 6.30 the Speaker took the chair, according to arrangement, and adjourned the House till 10 for breakfast, and at the last-mentioned hour Mr Sheehan was in his place to continue what he called his narrative. And now at the hour of writing—noon—Mr Reid has resumed the thread; and we know there is a strong reserve. The question in everyone’s mouth is, which side will win ? Ministerialists tell you if the Government only remain firm, they are

bound to carry the day ; on the other hand, the Opposition tell you, “ we are a strong band, and are certain of victory .” I confess I cannot see my way to determine which side will succeed, though to my mind it appears that the chances are in favor of the Opposition. Their task is by far the lighter one. The Government are bound to keep, a House together, which means that they must have seventeen members constantly in the House, or within hearing of the bells. The Opposition’s shift comprises no more than six men. I cannot tell you the number of times the bells have been rung during the last ten hours in order to secure a quorum. The people most to be pitied are the Chairman of Committees, who has to listen to every word that is said, and the reporters who have to take down everything. This was the instruction of the House to the Hansard reporters before the Bill went into committee, and is being religiously carried out, tha staff being told off in shifts, as the other press representatives have done. Efforts were made to get the reporting debates committee to recommend the necessity of cessation of reporting while the talk was avowedly against time, but the Government objected, on the score that it was tight the country should know who are the obstructionists, and so the thing goes on. The cost of Hansard this year will be great, and its size prodigious. It is proposed to take compassion on Mr O’Rorke, and probably Mr Bryce will be put in the chair while Mr O’Rorke gets time to recruit. The Upper House continues to have easy times of it. They have only had two and a half meeting days this week, and three parts of that time has been occupied with the consideration of the Wellington Harbor Reserves Bill, to which strong objection is being raised, and unless the Provincial and city authorities agree to vest the proposed harbor reclamations in a Board, the measure is pretty certain to be thrown out.