A SKETCH OF THE HOUSE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 12, 19 September 1861, Page 3

A SKETCH OF THE HOUSE.

(From the Southern Cross Summary, Sep. G.)

We asked the favour of our readers company last month to the house when the Stafford ministry were being weighed in the political balances. There was an excuse for that invitation then; there is none now. The Stafford ministry have long since kicked the beam ; Mr. Speaker has pronounced his awful “ Tekeland the executive of the hon. member for Nelson is a thing of the past. We shall endeavour to give a sketch of the house during the past month, and seek to reproduce those lights and shadows which reporters fail to convey in their formal reports of speeches merely. The first thing we remark on taking our usual seat early in August, is the subdued tone that pervades the house. The mail steamer having left, has carried with her

many of the members, and those who remain seem disposed to be on more friendly terms. There will be no more ministerial jousts ; and government will take every defeat in a good natured spirit. They will accommodate their temper to the tone of the house. Thus it was on the Provincial Audit Bill, which was discussed and re-discussed ; committed and re-committed several times. Sometimes A'ictorious, sometimes beaten, ministers wore the smiling face . of gentlemen wonderous prosperous and surpassing kind. Most measures were fortunate, except Mr. C. W. Richmond’s second bill to control the expenditure of unappropriated public money, which was opposed by the government, and thrown out on the second reading. Mr. Richmond gave a Roland for his Oliver, by defeating the second reading of Mr. Fox’s duplicate Audit Bill, providing pains and penalties for the Colonial Treasurer in case he dealt with the unappropriated funds of the colony. It was evident the government never intended to carry this bill; Mr. Fox acknowledged he brought it in to redeem a pledge given to the house that he would introduce a bill providing the same penalties for the Colonial Treasurer’s political offences that were deemed requisite to punish the intromissions of provincial treasurers. Mr. Reader Wood spoke against the bill and voted for it; the majority of the house negativing the absurd proposition. Still the farce must be kept up. Mr. Fox is followed by some men who do not see “as far ■ through the mill-stone as the man who’'made it,” and for the sake of consistency he must appear to make an effort to cany the measure. A notice of motion to renew the second reading of the bill is therefore given, and with grave solemnity, when the day arrives, the Colonial Secretary withdraws his motion out of deference to the expressed wish of the house ! One at least of the hon. members for whose especial sat-, isfaction this transparent trick was played, elevated his eyebrows, looked wise and selfsatisfied, and turning his face to his leader smiled approval. No doubt Mr. Fox mentally exclaimed with Lear ;— Get thee glass eyes ; And like a scurvy politician, seem To see the things thou dost not. The hostile lines are now broken through, and members exchange visits without suspicion of political inconsistency. Ministers may often be seen chatting familiarly with gentlemen on the opposition benches. Mr. / Fox is the greatest visitor. He is the very beau-ideal of a ministerial conciliator ; and, judging ironi appearances, lie has lately been putting himself in training for the office of .chief negociator among the Waikatos. The Colonial Secretary usually selects the moment when Mr. C. W. Richmond rises to address the house for the purpose of making a morning call. He listens to the first few

words, seizes a pen, pauses a moment, replaces it on the stand, and with his fingers in his waistcoat pockets, approaches the chair of the venerable Serjeant-at-Arms. Does he mean to leave the house ? No : he is merely bent on refreshing his nose with a pinch of the best Lundyfoot snuff, kept on a stand at the door for the use of hon. members, doubtless in imitation of the custom at Irish “ wakes,” where the primest Cork brown is served round in saucers to “ keep the boys from nodding.” Having titilated his nostrils, he replaces three fingers of the right hand in his vest pocket, still retaining a “ pinch” between the index finger and thumb, and bowing to the Speaker crosses the floor with a springy step, salutes his friend through his shut teeth, and before the salutation has ended subsides on the bench, looking, if possible, more amiable than before. In a few moments he returns to his place ; to leave it repeatedly during the day on similar rounds of conversational “ gammon.” The Postmaster-General, Mr. Crosbie Ward, is also frequently on the move, repeating as he passes the Speaker’s chair the graceful bow which he has evidently been at some pains to cultivate. The Colonial Secretary evidently had an eye to personal elegance in the reconstruction of his cabinet, and we congratulate him on his success. The Colonial Treasurer, Mr. Reader Wood, is the worst visitor of all, except the Native Minister, who is seldom in the house. Mr. Wood is making a reputation for work ; and w'hen he indulges the house w ith any remarks they have an air of authority, which leave no doubt on the mind of the listener of the import,ance attached to the opnnion of the custodian of our colonial revenues. Sometimes even Mr. Wood may be found in the enemy’s camp, when he is free from the perplexities of “ supply.” We have said the Native Minister, Mr. Mantell, is not a regular attendant; but should he be in the. house, and a Maori enter the gallery, he invariably walks from the ministerial tabic to the low r er cross-bench to hold a conversation with the stranger. The Attorney-General, Mr. Sowell, might have been seen almost any day during the past month, leaning over the bench behind Mn Speaker, or reposing at the roar of the chair. He was not a member of the bouse, but seemed to take a lively interest in ali that was going forward.

Take ministers as a whole, they are less attentive to the business of the house than their predecessors, whom it was impossible to take by surprise. Mr. Stafford has not been so plodding as when colonial secretary, and often indulges in a, loungo, or possibly a “ nap” during the interminable harangues of Mr. Colenso. Mr. C. W. Richmond works as hard as ever ; and Mr. Weld sustained, during the past month, the high character he has already acquired for political consistency. His conduct was intelligible and politic on the two most important measures of the session—the Provincial Audit Bill and the Now Provinces Act Amendment Bill, both introduced by the ministry. This remark is more than could be truthfully applied to his late colleagues in the government of the colony. As for the rank and file of the House of Representatives little can be said. Our readers are well acquainted with their ordinary habits, and know that but one hon. member worships at the shrine of Harpocrates. This is the hon. member for Marsden, Mr. John Monro, who only spoke twice in the session—once, when presenting a petition, in to low a tone that the Speaker had to inquire from the clerk of the house what the hon. gentleman wanted, although lie stood within five feet of the chair ; and on another occasion when, having voted with the “ nocs,” he made the circuit of the house and recorded his vote wifh the ..“ ayes.” The hon. gentleman seemed unconscious of tlm impropriety of giving an ambidextral vote, and it was not until called oh by Mr. Speaker for ‘an explanation that be succeeded in muttering—“ I’m with the noes.” Everything in nature has its contrast; and the silent member for Marsden has his antithesis in the loquacious representative of Napier. Mr. Colenso arrived late in the session, and attracted considerable attention from certain personal peculiarities, which gave character rather than otherwise, to an unquestionably handsome exterior. His black flowing beard, closely shaven chin, and carefully trimmed moustache, when combined with regular features and an eye not deficient in fire, fixed attention on his face, and the precisely arranged ringlets of dark hair that touched his shoulders, added to the white cravat and amide skirted surtout which he wore, gave an air of mysterious originality to the man, that would lead a stranger at first sight to conclude he was the apostle or high priest of some new found and romantic creed. He was silent, for the first day,

watching the forms of the house, and no doubt lion, members concluded they had acquired, in the mysterious looking member, a counsellor as wise as Ahitiiopiiel. But ou the second day he spoke,—and the illusion was dispelled. From that time till the present moment the hon. member for Napier has talked on every subject before the house, and as frequently as the forms of the house would enable him. His unconscious innocence of this fact was manifested on a late occasion when he gravely assured his fellow representatives that' he had “come to an understanding with himself that he would speak on no subject which he did not understand.” Boars of laughter greeted this confession, but the hon. gentleman proceeded, nevertheless, to deliver a harangue having little or no ralation to the question in debate. Few hon. members have made greater shipwreck of very considerable talents than Mr. Colenso, for the decided hits he has made have been buried for over under the pyramid of words on trilling topics he has reared above them. The Speaker has been called upon to decide several points of form since our last. One was, whether the gallery is or is not in the house. This question was raised by the conduct of Mr. Dillon Bell, who, tb avoid voting on a question, had crossed the backs of the benches and took his place in the strangers’ gallery. The hon. gentleman was taken to task for this. He had crossed after the doors were closed; and Mr. Domett contended that, as he was leaning over the front of the gallery, at the time of the division, the “voting part was in the house.” Mr. Bell requested the hou. member for Nelson to prove that “the head was the voting part of a man.” This question appeared hopelessly to puzzle Mr. Domett, and the hon, member for Wallace got off without recording his vote. Mr. Speaker ruled that the gallery, for the future, should he considered part of the house. Mr. Dillon Bell, no doubt, followed the example of Mr. Mantell, who had crossed into the gallery a few evenings before, alter tiic doors were closed, to avoid voting against the introduction of Mr. Ormond’s bill for the adjustment of the public debt of the old province of Wellington. The hon Colonial Secretary and Mr. George Graham were more successful in escaping from the house on the occasion of the vote of thanks being passed to the Governor. But the agile member for Newton anticipated his leader, and managed to secure his retreat the first. On this occasion Messrs. Carletou and Fitzherhert also withdrew from the house ; and Mr. Waring Taylor divided it. There certainly was more consistency in Mr. Taylors conduct than in the speech and action of the other members who dissented from the vote of thanks.

During the past mouth a vote of thanks was passed by the house of representatives to the legislature of Victoria for the munificent contribution of V'looo to the Taranaki Relief Fund. Grateful mention was made by Mr. Stafford, in seconding the vote, of the liberality of the people of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, to the suffering settlers of New Zealand. Votes of thanks were a]so passed by both branches of the general assembly to his excellency Governor T. Gore Browne, C. 8., to which suitable replies were made by his Excellency. The legislative operation, known as the “slaughter of the innocents,” has beendess sanguinary than we had anticipated. The greater part of the measures before the assembly were despatched with unseemly haste through a variety of stages, in the house of representatives on Wednesday night last; and the legislative council were in waiting to give still more summary effect to the legislation of the lower house. Standing orders were suspended; and by mutual consent silence was generally observed by hon. members. Still, it must not be supposed that the talking faculty of the house has been impaired. On the contrary, greater signs of vitality were manifested on Tuesday and Wednesday than had been observable for weeks past. Mr. Colenso was jocose for once, and Mr. George Graham succeeded in getting the laugh.with, instead of, against him. Mr. J. C. Richmond had a passage of arms with the Colonial Secretary, on Wednesday evening, in which the hon. member for Omata showed considerable skill in attack; but as the hon. gentleman who provoked the reprisal was precluded from replying, the eifect of the speech was not apparent to the house. Mr. Carleton’s question about the never-ending Waitara affair, led to a warm personal debate, in which Mr. C. W. Richmond charged the hon. member for the Bay with attempting to foist an unfair inference on the house by the means of questions which precluded discussion, and with choosing to disgrace himself by becoming the channel of conveying lying reports of rebellious natives to the house. Mr. Carlcton retorted the charge of “hon.

members choosing to disgrace themselves,” on those who professed to give complete information to the house on the Waitara question, yet left hon. members, with great pain and labour, to elicit information for themselves,