The Globe. SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 682, 26 August 1876, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1876.

The speech on separation by one of the members for Christchurch (Mr Stevens), is generally admitted to have been one of the most exhaustive delivered during the present session. He went further into an investigation of the financial state of the country than any other speaker has done, during the eight weeks, or more, that this eventful session has already lasted. Of course our body politic is suffering from temporary ailments, the natural sequence of the good things which have followed in the track of the Vogel policy of 1870, together with the high prices of wool which have ruled during the last few years. Increased taxation must necessarily follow the luxurious enjoyments of those borrowed millions, by which the colony has so greatly benefitted. Repletion, however, requires at times certain purgatives, which, if temporarily unpleasant, possess at all events the advantage of restoring things to their normal state and condition. Finance is the rock upon which the political vessel will wreck, if any blunders be committed by those entrusted with its management. Every representative in the Assembly who has capabilities for figures, and who stands at the same time unwedded to hot partizanship, may prove of invaluable use just now. Mr Stevens is undoubtedly one of them. His retirement from the political stage for a few years has, no doubt, been of advantage to him. Partly as one of the audience, but often enabled to have a peep behind the scenes, he has had golden chances of maturing his thoughts on public questions, and, from all accounts, he has not neglected his opportunities. His manner of speaking, it is said, has greatly improved, compared to what it was when he was formerly in parliament. On the occasion of his separation speech he waxed quite eloquent, and commanded completely the attention and interest of a full House. We fancy it will not be long before another such exposition of Mr Stevens’s ideas on the state of colonial difficulties is produced. He is evidently wearing his “ heart on his “ sleeve,” and we are glad of it, showing, as it does, his intention to work fearlessly for the good of the greatest number, regardless of political creeds and parties.

“ It is an ill bird that fouls its own “ nest,” and, from certain remarks made the other day by an Auckland member, we fancy that Mr Swanson the gentleman in question, must be a strict teetotaller. One of the most valuable institutions attached to the Houses of Assembly—valuable at least in the eyes of representatives gifted with vigorous gastric powers—is what is traditionally known as “ Bellamy’s.” —a sort of haven of rest for the listless and weary, where honourable members will congregate when some horrid bore is twaddling to empty benches. Refreshments, in solid and liquid shape of every conceivable nature, abound there. Sana

mens in corpore sano should be the motto inscribed over the door. To what uses and abuses Bellamy’s may be applied, Mr Swanson appears able to tell. He has already complained of the luxury obtaining there, of the special crockery imported for it, and descanted upon the fact that the best tipple was secured for the establishment, and so on. That he had stopped there! But he went much further. He spoke of circulars frequently sent round to members, calling upon them to pay their grog scores, and of defaulters’ names being stuck up. “ Were they Centralists or Provin- “ cialists ? ” —asks Mr Swanson. And then he went on referring to certain scenes occurring in the House, “ which “he attributed to Bellamy’s.” The gentlemen of the Fourth Estate whose duty it is to hang upon the very words issuing from the privileged lips of the people’s elect, must indeed have been kind, as no report of the scenes found their way southwards. It has certainly been stated that on a recent occasion one member of the House who has already managed to reach the apex of a kind of notoriety, upon which he i will ever remain impaled, “ seemed out of sorts or indisposed “ and very facetious, the debate being “ chiefly remarkable for his singular “ conduct and speech,” and the Premier had occasion to give him a well-deserved dressing down. But then like all impulsive young men when first footing the Parliamentary boards, his most startling efforts could only be expected when the spirit moved him. Mr Swanson should make due allowances, and remember that Legislative Assemblies are the very places where extremes are sure to meet, and where all manners of men, creeds, and opinions do congregate.