WELLINGTON.

Grey River Argus, Volume VI, Issue 434, 24 October 1868, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(FROM QUB SPSCIAI, CORRESPONDENT.) October 15, In a few days the session of the Assembly will be over. The result of the session can hardly be said to be satisfactory to the colony. The chief portion of the lengthened period over which the sitting* of the Legislature has extended has been, consumed in profitless party struggles and wearying debates, the value of which can* not be said to be worth the expense they have cost the country. The last fortnight is about the only time that the Parliament has really devoted to practical business, and it is an unsatisfactory commentary on bur representative institutions that, thct real work of the session has been left to the few members who consider it their duty to remain whilst there is worfc to be done. Immediately after the termination of the great party fight on Mr M'Lean's "No-confidence" motion, many of the leading members of the House of Representatives left for their' homes, although there were about forty Bills to be disposed: of — many of them of an important T-and the Estimates to be passed. This gircumstahce 'goes a long way to induce the opinion that 'many of the so-called " leading members " — such men as Vbgel, Dillon Bell, Stevens, M'Lean, and others —really care very little about the real business of the country, and that all their high-sounding declamations in support of the best interests o|.the people amount to nothing but a bid for place and power. It is a singular fact, but not the less true, that bow, just the time when it behoves members to be watchful over the interests they represent, the Provincial Party i* indebted to members of opposite political opinions for the prevention of any injustice in the shape of expenditure charged against the provinces. More than one item of this nature has been challenged by hon. members who had no personal interest in the question, and has been amended. The House is now very much denuded, and each' day sees a further diminution in the. number of members present. The dull process of voting supplies, and disposing as rapidly as can be with the Bills still on the Order Paper, are not very exciting labors, but they are very onerous, the sittings of the House now extending far into the small hours of morning, The Estimates are now almost entirely through ; and when the voting of money is over, the " slaughter of the innocents" will be ruthlessly perpetrated. Already the. Upper House has shelved several Bills, on the ground that they cannot properly consider them at this late period of the session. The Ballot Bill and the Road Boards Bill have been thus dealt with, and probably out of the large number of Bills still to be sent to the Lords, the majority will be kicked out. Westland has good causp to be thankful^.

for every measure brought in by its members has managed to escape the fate which has overtaken so many Bills. The new County Act has passed the Upper House, with a trifling amendment ■>— fixing the period of the existing land regulations for one year— and lam happy to inform you that the Debt Appointment Bill brought in by Mr Harrison has, in the face of great opposition, passed its second reading in j the Lords to-day, and will probably get through Committee, and be passed before I close this letter. As you have been already informed, this Bill was from the first met by a strong and determined j opposition. A most unusual course was I taken on the question of leave to bring in I the Bill, a regular discussion being raised pn the question. Mr Harrison expressed ' his surprise and indignation in no measured terms, and complained, with reason, of the discourtesy of the opponents of any alteration in the present arrangement of the charges on the Canterbury debt, in objecting to this Bill, when he had all through the session forbore pressing his motion for a Committee out of deference to their wishes. On the second reading, the Canterbury members, of course, did their best to defeat the Bill ; but as the arguments of tho Westland members had clearly secured the sympathy of the House, they did not press their opposition to a division. An amendment was carried in Committee fixing the time from which the award shall take effect, at the date of the award. The Bill, as read the second time, fixed the date at the Ist July, 18G8 ; but the Westland members thought it the wisest course to accept the compromise rather than risk the fate of the Bill. So, at last, and after a hard fight, the people of Westland have now some chance of being relieved of a great share of the heavy pharges which have since their independence been swallowing up their revenues, and preventing the work of opening up the country, which is so necessary to the development of its resources. The other night, Mr Harrison succeeded in carrying a motion, fixing half the cost of the Customs establishment at Greymouth upon the Province of Nelson . The Nelson members strenuously opposed it, and protested that Nelson was really entitled to three-fourths of the revenue collected at Greymouth. The question came to a division, and the motion was carried by the casting vote of the Chairman of Committees. The question cropped up again last night, when the sum charged to Nelson in the additional Estimates came to be voted. Mr Well 3, of Nelson, moved that the amount be struck out ; and an animated discussion ensued, in which the Westland members clearly proved the reasonableness and justice of the charge. Another division took place, and the item was carried by a large majority. It was currently rumored this morning that the Upper House intended to throw out the Debt Apportionment Bill, trnd I took carp to be present at the discussion. The Bill was introduced by Dr. Pollen, the Ministerial member of the Upper House, this course having been adopted at the instigation of the Westland members, in order to secure for it the extra consideration which is always given to Bills introduced through the Government. The Hon. Mr Bonar made an excellent speech, and must have made a favorable impression on the Council. The Hons. Mr Domett, Mr Mantell, Colonel Russel, and Dr. Pollen all strongly s\ipported the Bill, the second reading of which was carried by twelve to four. A new Westland Public-house Ordinance has been passed, but it is not at all the measure that was needed, many of the recommendations of the County Council on this subject not havingbeen followed. The reason assigned by the Hon. John Hall was, tnat it was unwise to import into the Bill any questions that might raise a discussion, and thus jeopardise the fate of the Bill. The important suggestions of the County Council respecting short-dated licenses and bush licenses have been shelved for the present, and a new aud more complete Bill will have to be brought in next session. Excepting the local measures I have referred to, little of interest to your readers has occurred. To-day, the question of holding the next session at Christchurch or Nelson was brought forward. The reasons in support of the change were chiefly the extreme incommodiousness of the present chambers and the very unhealthy state of the city of Wellington — a city not inaptly called the city of smells. Already one member of the House— Mr Macfarlane, of Lyttelton — has fallen a victim to the typhoid fever, which lurks in every court and lane in Wellington, aDd Mr Rolleston, the Superintendent of Canterbury, is dangerously ill of the same disorder, whilst scarcely a member of the House has not suffered from illness of one kind or other. The motion was lost, chiefly on the ground of the expense, and the risk to the safety of the public records. I see by the Gazette that your new Mayor and the Mayor of Hokitika have been made Justices of the Peace. Ther weather here is frightful, a regular hurricane of rain and wind having raged with little intermission for two or three days.