POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2533, 22 May 1882, Page 4

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

(FBOM THE “P3ESB.”I WELLINGTON, May 21, There is absolutely nothing fresh as yet in the way of political news or gossip. It ie rumoured that a preliminary meeting of Ministerial members may be held on Monday morning, when certain questions will probably be submitted by Ministers for the consideration of the party. Notice of motion will be given on Tuesday next by a member of the Government for the •lection of a Chairman of Committees. It is not even yot decided who will be the candidate, but the choice is supposed to lie between Mr Hurst and Mr Hamlin. Mr Thomson is said to bo still in the field. The Government whips, however, believe that they are able to carry through their man with flying colors whoever he may ultimately be. Papers have bees printed relating to (1) the Governor’s visit to Fiji and the resumption of the government of New Zealand ; (2) the dissolution and meeting of Parliament. Bagardxng the former, your readers will recollect that when Bir A. Gordon left Now Zealand for Fiji before the close of last session, this proceeding was strongly protested against; but Ministers saw no objection, and Mr Maoandrow agreed with them, Mr Gisborne, however, raised a technical point which appeared of some importance, and you will remember, asked if the Governor had paused a telegram to be sent to the Secretary of State, submitting the question for bis consideration. That statement was denied at the time in certain quarters, but its correctness is now proved by the telegram and the reply being laid before Parliament, the Secretary of State advising that there was nothing in the point raised by Mr Gisborne. The Governor in hi* despatch to the Secretary of State on the subject, after alluding to the consent of Ministers, and remarking that the leaders of the Opposition agreed with them on this point, went on to add: “One of them (Mr Maoandrow) saying, as he has •inoe repeated in the House of Representatives, with more truth than politeness, that it was not of the smallest consequence whether tba nominal Governor was in Now Zealand or Fiji, so long as the true Government, the Ministry, remained in New Zealand, and had some one to sign papers put before him. No great interest appears to have been felt in the question, and the House generally acquiesced without objection. It is so well understood how purely perfunotory the duties of the Governor really are, that I doubt it much interest is felt in the arrangements, which are known to bs destitute of the slightest importance.” Of the other papers the only one of interest is that which was alluded to in the “inspired” account of the late Ministerial crisis supplied to the Press Association. It now appears that on the Premier advising his Excellency by memorandum dated Bth November last to dissolve Parliament, the Governor replied as follows :—“ A dissolution at the present moment is not unattended with some objections. The Government has, since the prorogation, entered into transactions which may lead to events rendering an early appeal to the Legislature indispensable. During the interval which elapses between the dissolution of one Parliament and the election of another such appeal is necessarily impossible. On the other hand, the Governor cannot but take into account the fact that less inconvenience will be caused to the public by a general election at tbs present eeason than at any other; nor does there appear any reason to anticipate any popular desire for a reassembling of the present Parliament, or any serious apprehension that circumstances will arise to call for such a step. Bis Excellency, moreover, is bound to assume that his advisers are sensible of the moral obligations which such a suspension of the functions of the Legislature impose on the executive authority, and he consequently sees nothing to preclude him from assenting to the proposal of an immediate dissolution of the present Parliament.” The Governor holds a levee on Wednesday in honor of the Queen’s Birthday, and it probably will be his farewell levee in New Zealand, as ho is expected to leave rery soon afterwards.

In the Legislative Council on Tuesday next the Hon. P. A. Buckley will ask the AttorneyGeneral "If the visitors named Te Whiti and Tohu, who are reported to have accompanied Mr Beetbam to the Christchurch Exhibition and several other places, are the same individuals who were recently, upon the motion of the Attorney-General, removed from the prison at Now Plymouth to tho Lyttelton gaol to await trial at the next criminal sittings of tho Supreme Court, and, if so, by what process of law they were allowed to go out of prison to visit the Exhibition and other places of amusement. If they have returned to the gaol, and, if not, ■does the Attorney-General know where they are now located or detained, and, if detained aa prisoners, under what authority are they ■o detained.”

In reference to the notorious prosecution of Chinese in Wellington for playing fan tan, and the subsequent proceedings against Sir William Fitrherbert «nd several others, Mr Levestam, the member for Ne son, will ask the Government next Tuesday whether they (the Government) will give an explanation as to the reason why the police in Wellington adopted such a different mode of proceedings under the Gaming and Lotteries Act, as in one case to handcuff unresisting citizens -while in the other case they sought the advice of the law officers before they took «ny action whatever. On Tuesday next, in the House of Eepresen. tatives, leave will be asked to introduce the following Bills : —Mr Holmes —A Bill to Amend the Law Belating to Distress. Sir O. Grey—A Bill to afford Relief under oerte n circumstances to Deferred Payment Settle- s. Mr Hutchison —(1) A Bill to regulate the Liability of Consumers of Gas in New Zealand | (2) a Bill to Amend the Liw relating to Svidanoe. Mr Swanson The Auckland Harbor Board Empowering Bill (in committee). _ | Of the papers here the “ Times ” is very oomplimentary in its review of the speech from “ the throne.” The “ Post ” says—- " The speech is neither better nor worse than the average, and on the whole is a very harmless one, containing abundance of materiel for innocent amusement, if rot very much that is conducive to the public interest.”