WELLINGTON.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 419, 15 October 1875, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

From a Correspondent of the Press October 13. The near approach of prorogation day is evidenced by the anxiety of members to pu»h the business on at all hazards. Within the last few days some of them have displayed an earnestness for work that is perfec'ly marvellous. They offer to sit at any and at all times to expedite “ the business of the country.” Their magnanimity is really touching, but its effect upon the ordinary mind is greatly reduced when, in the small hours, talking against time is resorted to, as it Las been twice this week already. On Monday theproceedings were decidedly amusing rather than instructive. In the afternoon there was a full House, and fuller galleries, to witness the spectacle of an appearance at the bar. f here precisely at three of the clock, attended by his course! (Mr Travers) duly wigged and gowned, appeared Mr Bridges, the managing director of the National Bank in this colony, to show cause why he refused to answer certain questions put to him by the public accounts committee, before which he had appeared as a witness, which questions had reference to some statements he had himself made, and which in the opinion of the committee “ gravely affected the character of certain members of the Legislature.” The publication of the choicest portions of Mr Bridges’ evidence had raised public curiosity to the highest pitch concerning the pressure put upon the Government by the Bank of New Zealand, according to Mr Bridges. Most people expected some delightful cross-examination of Mr Bridges by the Speaker, and the seventy odd members who were privileged to question that gentleman to their heart’s content. It was really too bad of Mr Macandrew to “ blow ” at the outset, and to show where the “ pressure ” really came from ; but it was worse still on the part of Mr Luckie to play the part of the good fairy, and to have set Mr Bridges right so soon. That little “statement” Mr Travers had carefully prepared and put into his client’s hand, destroyed the Sergeant - at - Arms’ vision of a profitable prisoner, and forced the gentle public to believe “ there’s nothing in the thing after all.” Mr Bridges cut a rather sorry figure at the bar; and members were again obliged to admit that the proceeding of calling to the bar is a great waste of time. To allow MrBridges to make a clear breast of what he has to say, the Government lost no time in introducing an Indemnity Act, which protects from all consequences save that attaching to perjury, so that Mr Bridges can now have no fear of telling the truth and the whole truth. The passage of this Bill through the Lower House met with fierce opposition from one or two members, and strange to say from Mr Macandrew in particular. Seeing how strongly in the early part of the day he had disclaimed all self-interest in the Port Chalmers railway purchase negotiation, and how clearly he brought out that the pressure brought to bear by himself upon the General Government was exerted “ solely in the public interest,” it would have been more reasonable to expect that he and bis lieutenant, Mr Reid, would have courted enquiry and done all in their power to assist in carrying the Bill through. But, on the contrary, they, with Mr George M'Lean and Mr Pyke, fought against it tooth and nail, they professed to see in a measure, which simply places witnesses examined before Select Committees of Parliament in precisely the same position as a witness examined before the Supreme Court, everything that was bad. Mr Reid was so firmly convinced that under it the greatest possible injury could be done to individuals, that if there had been a chance of success he was prepared to spend weeks in opposing the Bill, while Mr M‘Lean could not find language strong enough to express his detestation of 'so “ disgraceful a piece of legislation,” For four weary hours did the member for Waikouaiti and those who were assisting keep the House —certainly a thin one of some twenty members—while they poured out their troubled thoughts. To hear Mr McLean at his best is a painful operation; but to listen to him when speaking in measured funereal tones is agonising beyond deseription. At five in the morning, when daylight did appear, this “ compact Opposition of three” thought it desirable, for “ humanity’s sake,” and out of consideration for the health of Mr Speaker, to cave in, and to allow the Bill to pass, The Upper House made short work of it, passing it through all its stages in about five minutes.

The debate on the San Francisco contract, which occupied the greater part of Monday night’s sitting, was in many senses disappointing. There was not a good socech made on either side of the House. The Opposition seemed influenced by the foregone conclusion that it was hopeless to carry anything they proposed ; while the Government supporters were in anything but a pleasant frame of mind, consequent upon the position of the contract itself and the amendment which the Treasurer had given notice of during the day. This amendment really embodied one Mr Stafford had given notice of during a previous discussion ; and though Ministers disclaimed any such intention, it impliedly censured Sir Julius Vogel’s action in sanctioning a contract which, in three material particulars, was at variance with and exceeded the express terms of the resolution adopted by Parliament last session. The argument of Ministers was that it was absolutely necessary that the words ‘‘approved of,” in the original resolution, should be omitted in order to allow them to negociate for such modifications of the contract as would bring it within the Assembly’s appropriation of £40,000 a year. From what fell from Ministers it would seem that the Government are disposed to abandon the coastal portion of the service, in which case there would be little difficulty in obtaining a reduction of the subsidy. One of the most noticeable features of the debate was the unusually strong language used by some of the Government supporters. Sir Dillon Bell led off the attack. With characteristic consistency he spoke on ail sides, and voted in the middle. He blamed Sir J. Vogel as the case of the departure from the terms of the resolution of the House, and declared that the persistent disregard and contempt with which &ir Julius Vogel had treated the House, called for a strong expression of opinion from the committee. Then Mr Cuthbertson, usually so docile, openly charged the Government

with suppressing information which should have been conveyed to the House before it \ ise last session, and with vdating the authori' y of Parliament ; for which reasons, and on account of the unfair way in whicli the House had been treated in this matter, he flatly refused to entrust Ministers with any further discretionary powers Then Mr McLean could not see why the negotiation of such a contract required the joint services and attendance in England of both Sir J Vogel and Mr Russell ; while he did not hesitate to assert that the contract itsdf bore a rather shady appearance. Altogether the Government did not enjoy a pleasant time of it, being hit hard by friend and foe alike. Nor ;waß their situation improved by the bungling explanation made by the Postmaster General regarding Sir Julius Vogel’s letter of instructions to Mi Russell. Mr Stafford certainly came to the rescue of Ministers, but his defence was almost of a negative character, and certainly was a poor set off against the combined attacks of Sir George Grey, Messrs Fitzherbert, Montgomery, Reeves, Sheehan, and J. E. Brown (the latter appearing to have gone into Opposition entirely during the last week). There was a good deal of this kind of skirmishing, and shortly before midnight the committee set itself to dispose of the numerous amendments before it. That brought forward as the emanation of the Opposition in caucus assembled, and moved by Mr Reeves, was negatived by 48 to 16, which was the test vote, for on nearly the whole of the remaining amendments, the numbers were similar. A stupid amendment, moved by Mr White in a would-be-funny speech, found eleven supporters, and the irrepressible member for Bruce evinced, as the small hours advanced, a desire to increase the number of recorded divisions, as if there had not been enough ; but he was sat upon by his party. On the Treasurer’s amendment the voting was rather close —HO to 24—a good many being of opinion, that as the main resolution had been carried the amendment [was practically of no service, which opinion I believe was shared in by the Government themselves, and theyjdid not vote in consequence. According to Mr Waterhouse, the Lords would have liked to have had their say upon the contract; but the Premier could not indulge them, “as the voting of the money and the ratification of the contract by the other House were quite sufficient authority to carry out the contract.”

On Tuesday night a little progress, but it was very slight, was made with the Represensation Bill. There was a general disposition shown for individual members to do the best they could for their own district. Thus Sir Diilon Bell wanted another member given to Mataura in preference to the Waitaki; Mr Ormond made out a strong case for Napier . Mr Bryce had something to say for Wanganui, and Mr Kelly for the East Coast. But for the impatience of the committee to get on with the Bill, against which feeling Sir George Grey could not battle, we should have had the principle of the measure discussed ah initio. Mr O’Neill fought hard but unsuccessfully to get three members for the Thames. He had the support of the Auckland contingent and of Mr Stafford, but the furious zeal of Sir George, which betrayed him into threatening to talk for forty-eight hours if necessary, if the Government did not promise to give the Thames a third member, didn’t do the cause of the member for the Thames any good. Of course the Government did not return Sir George a favorable answer, and the latter didn’t carry out his threat. There is one section of the House desirous of limiting the increase of members to one for the Thames, one for Dunedin, and a native member for Waikato; and a second section exceedingly anxious to lop a member off Taranaki at any price; but I incline to the belief that the Bill will pass through much as it stands.

The Tairua committee has reported, and as I anticipated, Sir George has doue the State some service, but missed his mark in trying to fix dirt iupon Mr James Mackay, En passant , if Sir George and Mr Mackay are both returned to the new Parliament, which is very probable, there will be some edifying discussions upon native matters next session. There are only two committees of any consequence still sitting—viz, the Public Accounts audthePiako Swamp Sale. The latter should be in a position to report about Friday, or Monday next at the latest. In this latter matter Sir George has only partially succeeded, if report speaks truly. In making the sale to Mr Thomas Russell, the Government have not acted within the strict letter of the law, but as a matter of public policy the sale was a most advantageous one to the colony. The Government have obtained a good price for the land, and whether or not the drainage works turn out profitably to the company, about which the weight of evidence is much in the negative, the immediate district will not only have benefitted by the large expenditure that has been going on upon the works, but will have a fine road made through it. Apropos of the Tairua committee, there is likely to be another enquiry arising out of it, and in this second enquiry two of the principal witnesses in the first, the chairman, and some members of that committee, are likely to figure. On the 20th of last mo"th a letter addressed to Mr Brissenden, “ gentleman,” by Mr J. S. Macfarlane, was delivered at the Wellington Club, and from there was removed by some one. Certain it is that Brissenden declares that he never got it, though several gentlemen staying at the Club saw the letter while it lay there. A day or so afterwards the identical letter was mysteriously put into the hands of Colonel McDonnell, at his lodgings. It was addressed in pencil to himself, opened by him in the presence of others, though he did not notice the envelope nor preserve it, and it was not until he had read the letter through that he discovered that it could not have been intended for him. But he did not return it to Brissenden. He kept it and showed it to Sir George Grey, as chairman of the Tairua committee; made a copy of it for himself, and, acting upon Sir George’s advice, consulted Mr Sheehan, also a member of that committee, as to what course he should pursue. Hero there is a wide difference between the parties. On the one hand, the Colonel declares he was recommended by

both Sir George and Mr Sheehan to lay the let > r before the committee; ou the other, Mr -h tehan asserts tlipt he advised the Gol o'u j l to at once retfi’t'h it to its owner. Fact t tie second is that the letter was not immediately relumed to Hrisseuden ; but I believe he received it some days afterwards. Ihe letter is said to have been peculiar in style and particular in its matter. However, Hrisseuden complained to the Defence Minister of McDonnell’s conduct as “unbecoming an officer and a gentleman,” and the latter has demanded a court of enquiry, which, if granted, and thrown open to the public, as McDonnell asks it should be, may lead to soma interesting things coming to the knowledge of the public. Seeing that the Employment of Females Act Amendment Bill was admittedly brought in to further the interests of the Mosgiel woollen factory, it was not surprising that that establishment should have figured as largely as it did in the discussions upon the Bill last week. At the outset Mr Reid stopped a good deal of discussion by limiting the operation of the measure to woollen and cloth factories, and as evidence of the necessity for an amendment of the law, as affecting these establishments, he read telegrams from Mr Hallenstein, of Dunedin, in whose factory 160 females are employed, and from Mr Smaill, manager of the factory at Mosgiel, which employs thirty females, most of whom are young women. They telegraphed the following memorial, which was presented in time to be of service in the other House :—“ We, the female workers of the Mosgiel woollen factory are perfectly satisfied with hours we are working at sent—viz, 57 hours per week, and to reduce our time of work to what is the Factory Act here would be to reduce our wages by nearly one-fourth of the money that we are at present paid. The work that we are employed at is easy, light work, and we are always so employed that we can walk about so that we may attend to our work. The Factory Act at home is 60 hours per week for female workers, and they work sixty hours per week in Victoria. Seeing that the reduction of our hours of labor would be so hurtful to our welfare, we sincerely trust you will try your best to let us work the hours as at present, viz, fiftyseven hours per week.” The trial of strength was made upon the motion to go into committee, and but for the confusion that resulted on taking the division the Bill would have been thrown out. As it was, it was only taken into committee by a majority of one. Takomoana intended to have voted with Mr Bradshaw, but by a mistake found himself with his opponents at the critical moment. The opponents of the Bill were Messrs Rolleston, J. C. Brown, Parata, C. Parker, G. B. Parker, Ingles, Ward, Ballance, Taiaroa, Katene, Shephard, Richmond, Curtis, Thomson, O’Conor, Gibbs, O’Rorke, Reeves, Stafford, Bowen, Tribe, Brandon, Webb, and Bradshaw. It w r as immediately after the division being taken that Mr Rolleston caused considerable fun by reading out a telegram that had been put into his hands, and which, when reading it hastily over, he thought favored his view of the matter. It came from Dunedin, and was to this effect—- “ A strong feeling here against the Act, especially among the factory women.” When the name of the sender of the telegram transpired, it was only too apparent that his intention was to lead the House to believe that the Act was not kindly viewed in Dunedin, and the House fairly enjoyed its laugh at the expense of your Superintendent. Mr Reid tried very hard to get the hours extended from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., to enable the factory to work its employes in relays of seven hours each, but the committee would not sanction an extension beyond 6 p.m. Such a strong feeling was shown in favor of exempting saleswomen from the operation of the Act, that despite Mr Bradshaw’s assurance that they were already exempted, the committee made assurance doubly sure by stating so in the clause. At the request of the Auckland Star, which employs seven female compositors, the Act was so far extended as to allow them to work on Saturdays up to 4.30 p.m., the customary publishing hour. When the Bill was reported to the House by the chairman of committees, as being without “material” amendment, great objection was made by Messrs Bradshaw and Rolleston to the Bill being pressed through at that sitting. But Mr Reid, supported by a strong majority, carried things with such a high hand that Mr Rolleston fairly lost his temper, and took advantage of the third reading to characterise the Bill as “ a wretched piece of petty localism, and one of the greatest triumphs of local muckery it had ever been reserved for the House to witness.” The Bill had now gone to the other House, where it is pretty certain to receive favorable treatment. Mr Bradshaw is strongly of opinion that this is but the thin end of the wedge towards the total repeal of the Act of 1873, in order to save which he has determined to make the labor question a test one at the approaching elections. In a speech the other day, he said the working men would be obliged in self protection to form trade unions, the influences of which would make themselves felt at the elections. The Maori members did not succeed in their effort to get increased representation. In asking for three additional members they wanted too much, and had Tairoa at once taken Mr Rollestou’s advice, and accepted the Defence Minister’s offer to give one member to the Waikato, there is little doubt the House would have been with him. But he persisted up to almost the last moment in clinging to the hope of being able to push through his Bill, with the result that many members who would have supported a member for Waikato, voted with the “ Noes,” under the impression that the Bill and nothing but the Bill would satisfy their dark-skinned fellow legislators. It is understood that the session will close on the afternoon of Thursday, the 21st. But for the prolongation of Monday night’s sitting, the prorogation would have taken place a day sooner, as was originally intended. It is the talk of the lobbies that the elections will take place early, in order to prevent the “stumping,” Sir George, Messrs Macandrew and Fitzherbert are going to undertake. It is positively stated that Sir George and Mr Rolleston go to Dunedin to attend the banquet to Mr Macandrew.