WELLINGTON.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 553, 3 August 1869, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

faBOM OUR SPECIAL CORKESPONDgNT;) July 28, There is very strong suspicion that the. Ministry played a. trick upon the House last Thursday evening with regard to the " alarming intelligence" which they professed to have received from Waikato, but which they, for some profound reason or other, declined to give to the House* Scarcely had Dr Featherstone sailed in the Omeo on his mission to General Chute than it began to be bruited about that the. alleged frightful news was really nothing more than the same rumor which had been in circulation for a day or two— viz., that Te Kooti had arrived at the King's, headquarters and had been favorably re-, ceived by his dusky majesty. On Monday intelligence was received that it was quite, true that Te Kooti had visited the King,, but that a Royal proclamation had been issued ordering him and his followers to. leave the district. Although the position, of affairs is dangerous enough, it is not one whit more so than it has been for some considerable time, and there does, not appear to be any stronger reason for retaining the 18th Regiment now than there was at the time the late Ministry were willing the troops should leave the Colony. Therefore it is that people suspect that the House was trapped into pass-, ing the vote in favor of retaining the troops. The financial statement which, was to have been delivered last night will not be made until to-morrow. This delay has been caused partly by the indisposition of the Treasurer and partly by thft difficulty of getting in all the accounts, from the officers of the Colonial forces. It is gratifying to learn that the revenue for the year shows a surplus of L 5500 ; it was estimated by the late Government at LBOO,OOO, and it has returned L 805,500. This pleasing result is due to the wonderful increase of Customs revenue at Auckn land. The loss which Westland has sus-v tamed by the accession of Mr Fox to power was very strongly exempli6ed last evening. The Westland Public-house. Ordinance Amendment Bill, which had passed its second reading, came on for committal. No opposition was offered by the Government until half the Bill had been gone through, when Mr Main, the Government " whip," moved that the Chairman do leave the chair — which, if carried, would have the effect of shelving the Bill altogether. The chief objection. raised by him, Mr Fox, and Dillon Bell, was that the time of the House ought not to be taken up by legislation on the. purely local affairs of Westland. Mr Bell even went so far as to say that if we did not care to have powers to deal with such, matters ourselves, he would like to see us driven for our legislation to the Provin« cial Council of Canterbury ! After a good deal of wrangling, and it being apparent that the opposition to the Bill was too. strong, Messrs Barff and Harrison con-, sented to withdraw it, on the understanding that the Government would assist those members in passing a Bill giving the power of regulating public-houses 1o the County Council. This support, was promised, so that in a short time the County Council will be placed in a position to, make bye-laws of an important character. Mr Harrison will now be compelled to. withdraw his Hospital Rating Bill, and leave that matter to the Council Mr Tancred's resolutions, as also those of Mr Rolleston, relating to Native affairs were finally disposed of last evening, the former being withdrawn at the last moment, and the latter being, shelved by the "previous question." The Government wished to push the matter to a div> sion, but were defeated by a large majc^ rity. Mr Rolleston, in reply, paid Mr Fox off for his savage attack upon him by [ reading from letters written by the Premier a few years ago, advocating almost exactly the same views, which, when given Utterance to by Mr Rolleston, brought down the hon gentleman's wrath.

The Order Paper was well thinned last night, and there are the usual symptoms that we are drawing near the end of the session. There will probably be a long debate upon the financial statement, and it is not at all improbable that we shall have a Ministerial crisis. Of course, the rumors one hears with regard to the future financial plans of the Ministry are mainly pure speculations ; but from the general tone of the private discussions upon them, it may be gathered that if the Government abandon their "demilitarising" policy — or rather, as it is not inaptly called, " cheap-and-nasty policy" — they will find themselves in a fix. They got into office by Middle Island votos, given on the faith that there was to be no more borrowing and no more fighting, if possible. The Government uovr find that their professions are impossible of accomplishment, and already they have not only stopped any further reductions in the Constabulary on the East Coast, but have put about 500 Militia on pay iv the Waikato. Their L 150.000 a-year won't last six months, and they will be compelled to have a loan from somewhere. This will alienate the strict economists, and drive them into opposition. The Ministry say that if defeated they will not resign, but ask for six months' supply, and dissolve. This determination, I feel convinced, they will carry into effect, should they have an adverse vote on any question upon which an appeal to the country can be made. 1 notice by the Hokitika papers that the County Council have passed a resolution recommending the General Government to cause the Native reserves in Westland to contribute towards public works. It appears to me that the Council have overlooked the fact that already, under the conditions of section 85 of the County of Westland Act, all lands not being lands of the Crown are rateable property. There is nothing to prevent the various Road Boards levying rates upon every chain of Native land throughout the County. As to the proposal of charging 20 per cent, upon the annual rental, it is simply ridiculous, and has as much chance of being given effect to as one for making a railway to the moon. I hear some curious rumors respecting the financial position of Westland. It is said that the Chairman has applied to the Government to allow the County to borrow or make an overdraft to the extent of L 43,000, and that he has made certain allegations which induced the Government to send down one of the officers of the Treasury to instil tute an inquiry. It is perfectly true that such an officer did leave for Hokitika by the Omeo.