PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2284, 28 July 1881, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY GOSSIP.

The past week was remarkable for the political disturbance it witnessed. There was nothing in the atmosphere of the House on Tuesday afternoon that gave any indication of an approaching storm. When the debate on the Government financial and local government proposals came on, half the members were away, and the other half wished themselves away before Mr Button sat down, which he did a few minutes before the dinner adjournment. In the evening the house and galleries were full, and something spicy was evidently expected. There was none of the usual haste to take advantage of that favorite time for speaking. It was not at all clear whether Mr Ormond or Mr Saunders was to lead off, but after a few looks and nods at each other Mr Saunders rose and was soon found to be criticising the Government proposals very unfavorably. After speaking just an hour he sat down, and waß immediately followed by the usually quiet member for Olive, who never rises unless he has something to say, and then be says the most important and it may be the most revolutionary things in the same passionless tone that he would use to ask a waiter for a slice of bread. He spoke for an hour and five minutes. There are some members of the House who visibly announce their intention to speak by the extra attention they have evidently given to their toilet, and by the completeness of their " get up," but Mr Ormond's vanity, if he has any, seems to lie in the opposite direction. If the amendment had been put immediately after those two speeches the Government would, I think, have been beaten. The Opposition leaders were so quiok to see this that they kept every man of their side down, so that the question had been put and the ayes called for when a member of the Governmenthad to rise to prevent a division. Mr Johnston's speoch was, of course, harmless enough, but not so Mr Whitaker's, who followed. He had jumped to the conclusion that the whole thing was the explosion of the plot which the Opposition press had so long declared to be arranged between Messrs Ormond, Wood, and Saunders, and ho anathematised them all round in a manner well calculated to bring about what, in his hot aF.ger, he had taken for granted. That keen sighted partisan, Mr George M'L:an, who blunders aw»y in other respects, but rarely blunders in his taotics, had been sitting in his snug corner reading faces, and was the first of his party to see that the plot had no real existence. To make sure of his surmise, he sect his friend Oliver over to Mr Saunders to ask him to pair with him against the Government. Mr Saunders enjoyed the joke and the abuse too well to clear matters up at once ; but hi* declining to pair was quite enough for the cute Georgie, who, mounting at once to his legs to pour oil on the troubled waters, made one of the most rambling, incoherent, though perhaps one of the most useful, speeches he ever uttered, as it made many an angry face look almost as placid as his own. The Opposition had Bat perfectly still all the evening, bo that the six speeches that were made that night all came from the Government side of the House. At the dinner hour the Government was supposed to be perfectly secure, but when the House broke up in the small hours of the next morning its life was believed by many to be not worth a week's purchase.

The next morning there was no getting through the lobbies, which were choked xrith. little caucuses in all directions until about noon, when they had been formed into bigger and moro formal oneß. When the House met it was evident that the tactics of the Opposition were changed, and that they had decided to wait the arrival of Messrs Driver, Pyke, and Finn. Their first move was to get Mr Levestam to deolare in their favor, as it wa» very doubtful aB to which way he should vote, and he had changed his minf! more than once. Mr Turnbull was put up at his old work to talk against time, and after a few hours' speaking and smiling, he concluded by saying that ho had said all the most unpleasant, things ho oould think of in the most pleasant possible way, and that he considered the art of doing that the great secret of getting through life. Mr Wakefield did not accept Mr Turnbull'e advice, but said his unpleasant things about Mr Ormond in his bitterest style, and he did it to perfection. Mr Eeader Wood followed, and kept the House laughing two hours with his splendid acting. His speech wss a very good one tor him, and if it had been much better than it was ho would have spoiled its effect by winding up his strong declamation against borrowing money by a demand to have £200,000 spert in his own neighborhcodBut his seeing, especially cu'ing tho first part of his speech, was splendid. Some time before Mr Wood sat dowr, however, the merriment of the House was effectwtilly checked by a painful and disgusting scene, that was'calculated to remind them very painfully of tho utter failure and absurdity of cur present system of what we call Maori representation. A poor sick Maori was led into the House muffled up ic flannels,

who proved to be Mr Tomoina, who had been taken from his bed suffering from inflammation of the lungs, and dragged through the bitter wind and rain to make his appearance in the Housa and to muke a declaration. When conveyed to his soat, Mr Bheehan ooolly walked up to Mr Baador Wood and asked hiir. to sit down, which Mr Wood did in a most comic manner. Then Mr Tomoana was hoisted to hi 9 fact and induced to utter a few words. Mr Wood again went on. There rras, however, some doubt whether the poor fellow had learnt his lesson correotly, and Mr Wood was again put down, and Tomoana again put up to say something else. Some say that this was don for a wager, others that it was done to prove that. Mr Tomoana would bo able to como to vetf and therefore entitled to apiir, but from th« fact cf it being oo necessary to get him up for a second limo to make a more complete declaration it would fcxn that it wns done to fix bim securely by his own words. That the Speaker oould ba entrapped into allowing the on* interruption is easily understood. But hosr ho oame to allow a repetition of it after ho had seen how improper the first was is a little surprising to those who have seen the usually strict order that he maintains. After the second interruption, Mr Russell rose to a point of order, to know if Mr Wood could go on with another speech after having sat down and another member spoken, declaring his intentions aa to voting. In reply, the Bpeaker gave one of his beseeching rather than his authoritativo looks, and thought the speaker might proceed. The block vote of seven, being the four Maori members and their three pikehi advisers, is a great and growing evil in the House that requires a great deal more attention both from the Government and from the Press of this colony than it has ever yet received. Thursday afternoon was principally occupied by the two members for Napier, who are not oxaotly a well matched pair. Mr Seymour gave one of his neat little speeohes, which are always models of concise brevity ; after whioh Mr Taiaroa oommenced a speech, setting forth sundry grievances which it seems that he has loDg been storing up against the present Government. It had been arranged that the Premier should speak| when the House re-assembled at 7 30, and every available space in the House was crowded to hear him; but Mr Taiaroa likes a good audienoe and a blooming ladies' gallery as well as anyone else, and being in possession of the House at 5.30, he kept it for more than half an hour after the Premier's time had arrived with his sage advioe. When at last ha sat down, Mr Bunny was politely allowed to rise, as it was considered very desirable that his vote should be booked as soon as passible. When that ceremony was over, and the Premier at last rose, bell-topper and notes in hand, another head popped up as high as a very small supporting body could carry it, and another voice said, "Mr Speaker." All eyes were instantly turned to see where such an audacious interruption could come from, whan, lo ! it was seen to be something of no less importance than another doubtful vote to be proclaimed. The little member for the Grey Valley was for the moment of more importance than the Premier, so the Hon. J. Hall gave him one of his most gracious re tiring bows :

And down he sat, for loss of time, Although it grieved him sore ; Yet loss of votes, full well he knew, Would trouble him much more.

For TiO loss than three-quarters of on hour 1h.3 little ex-Judge kept the patient Premier and the crowded House waiting whilst he summed up the evidence on both aides with the moat laughable deliberation and impartiality. He had betn for two days worried by advice sides, and now both sides eugerly listened to hear his impartial decision. He cleverly avoided letting his Beoret out for the whole three-quarters of an hour, and resented with great dignity his "colleaguo's" attempt to force on his decision. He spoke vary nicely, much too nicely in fact, but rose to fervoncy when resenting Sir G. Grey's attack on the Judges. When at last he let the secret out there was a roar of disgust. Hia rough colleagues would hear no more of him, and he had to sit down looking horrified at their vulgarity. At last the wearied Premier is on his feet. And what is he talking about ? Is he defending his policy ? Not a bit of it. He is talking about Grey's red deer, and the liberal provisions Sir George has made for his pet provinces and the faulty wording of his Provincial Bill. When will the Premier remember that he is the Premier of New Zealand. When he left these unworthy subjects and came to the point, he spoke very well. But he was modest to a fault. His colleagues and his supporters were defended, and were proved to have done wonders, but he himself was very aorry that he could not do more. All the while both all his friends and all his enemies sincerely wish that he would not do half so much. The Premier sat down, and Sir Georgo rose up and rushed forward to his accustomed platform, shaking both fists, " With anger insignificantly fierce." But what a change had come over him. His locks were shorn. His voice was no longer omnipotent, and the House, ladies and all, ran away to supper, leaving him standing there, and exclaiming " That is cruel! that is oruel!" " Yes, Sir George, it is very cruel, and, what is worse, it is very ominous. It shows that both the members of the House and the Civil Servants of Wellington have ceased to look upon you as a possible rising sun. But take courage, your best friend is still left, and is still working hard for you. That' Press Association ' which you established when you had the chance has done more for you than all your own folly has been able to undo. It still makes the people of New Zealand believe in you. You see the papers did not publish the angry folly you uttered on Thursday night, and yet they have given you a longer report than the Premier, though your speech was not half as long nor one-tenth part so good, and, of course, not one-thousandth part of the same consequence to the country. Then every word of what was afterwards said, and which drew so much laughter from the House at your expense wbb entirely suppressed," However, after attending to their bodily wants, some of the members came back, and a few persons were left in the gallery, and Sir George came forward once more. He looked evidently puzzled for something to say to to an audience so different to that ho had hoped for. The Press Association had sent every idea he ever had in his head all over the co'ony, and there were now only reporters and members to hear him, and they had both heard him ss.y a hundred times that the Premier and his friends have swallowed up all the land in New Zealand, so he tried a little variety by comparing the Premier to a barcaid, and by turning fiercely on the " sour grapes " from the Grey valley, declaring that if the ex-Judee went into the Opposition lobby he (Sir George) would have to vote for tha Government rather than be seen in the same lobby with a man so ignorant of law and so rightly dismissed from his place by the present Government. But after all, there was not a thing a-\id worth answering, and Mr Saunders, who followed him, took no notice of a word he said, but simply advised the " groat Liberal party " if they would get rid of the present Gavsrnmont, to ship off their presont leaders to Japan, and lot the House and the country fsil oome secutity that a vote of censure on the present Government would not lead to the irretrievable ruin of the colony by replacing such wild reckleea spendthrifts as the late Treasurer and Pi-emior, the late Native Minister, and the lato Minister for Works, who still tells them and his constituents that a bale of paper and a printing press is all that ia needod to enable the oolony to carry on public works as rashly as over. My letter is already too long, and I must say little about Friday's work. It was only distinguished aa a very busy duy with the whipa. Mr Hursthouso got ao tired of trying to whip a House together that he left off and wont inside to try and draw one, and talked some amusing nonsense for two houra and a half. Bat he was paid out for it afterwards, for Messrß Gisborne and Moss followed him, the latter keeping on till past midnight, and defying all the whips' efforts to keep a quorum in the House. Mr Gisborne was not bad fun either. He had learned the first as well as the last part of h:a speech this time ; and there was something bo ridiculous in the sudden contrast between the superfine learned bit and the very commonpiaco filling up in tho middle, which was rendered absurdly conspicuous by his being obliged to suddenly exohange a defiant backward strut and the highest possible fling of his arms for a humble, quiet, stooping posture, oa he tried to read hia voluminous notes. I

Before you get this you may probably know the reoult of tho division, but I have no daabl; about the Government getting a majority, nor have I any doubt but that they wiii again resume their good working majority ■in tho Houea for all ordinary busiaeus. Wellington, July 25th, 1881.