PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1243, 24 July 1872, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

[COBBBSPOKDBNT OF NMSON COLONIST.] Wbliinotox, July 16. The Parliament was opened to-day with the customary ceremonials. Several formal propositions were made in the House of B presentatives, and new members were sworn in, Mr Sbeehan, of Rodney, being presented to the Speaker by Mr Swanson and Mr Gillies ; and Mr Lucliie by Mr Curtis and Mr Shephard; and Major Jackson, of the Waikato, went through the same ceremony. The oath of allegiance was administered and signed. I After swearing-in of Mr Sheehan, who is a bright looking young man, and one who is likely to make hss mark, the Speaker, in a few veiy well placed words, congratulated the House on the fact that Mr Sheehan was the first person of European descent born in this Colony who had been elected a member of the House, a statement which elicited numerous approbate ejaculations. Who shall say at the beginning o! a Parliamentai/ session in New Zealand, what might be the fate of the Ministry before Us endi That shall not be I. That is, not positively ; but one may judge somewhat from lobby talk and from new light thrown on individual opinions of members, regarding whom, definite expectations of opposition, or otherwise may have been entertained, without that just calculation which is necessai/ in estimating either in the dark, or simply" as "outs" might desire. When the phlanxes which are to be " serried", newer light comes, and in judging from a few outward indications snndi/ members reckoned on as potential Oppositionists, are found to be not reckonable '•) that direction ; and it does not seem, at present at least, that the hopes of those who linger sadly in the valley and shadow of Opposition, is likely to be fulfilled speedily; though, perhaps, when unauthorised expenditure comes up for discussion, some warm work may fairly be expected. Still, from the little opportunity available as yet of gathering a few straws amidst the breezes of politics, it would appear that the Opposition have been counting noses a little too confidantly, at least a little too prematurely, and a pretty general feeling exists at present that the Ministry are safe for the session, but it is hinted that some changes are probable, but not such as will cause a new administration. In the first place, the "Lords" are restive, and will not proceed to business until the Ministi/ v represented in the ■" Upper House" (which is a misnomer as to position, as it is on the same floor as ; the "other place)" by a member of the Cabinet. Mr Waterhouse, who represented the Ministi y there last session, suffers from ill health and declines again to take office. He is able and intelligent, and did his work well, but his resolution is fixed, and Ministers have had to look elsewhere. The adhesion of Mr Hall will tend to disconcert Opposition plans. Mr Stafford's notion was, I believe (lobby rumors again, mind), that the Ministry would go out, and he based this .belief on these grounds. There are, he calculated, three parties in the House— the Ministerial supporters, the old Opposition, and the new Opposition, who, he presumed, had " drifted " from the ranks of the Ministers ; the two latter are, he supposed, stronger, together, than the Ministerial party. That final deduction has to be taken with a grain of salt, because of the mistaken nasal reckonings before referred to. In the scond place, member are talking a little about the position of Mr Ormond, who, while still holding his office of Superintendent'of Hawke's Bay, also holds the offise of Minister of Publio Works for the North Island, a dnplexity or plurality of offices which is not deemed either cus•ioaiary or oongruous; and, with Mr Reeves as Minister of Works for the Middle Island, and Mr Hall in the " Lords, 4 ! people are beginning to think that, eveii with a good Ministry, there may be too much of a good thing when the numbers swell so as, to put it mildly, to crowd the Ministerial benches incon fonientlf.