Jjlattitttiittu Ifwili SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1894. Our Parliament.

Manawatu Herald, 4 August 1894, Page 2

Jjlattitttiittu Ifwili SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1894. Our Parliament.

Fhom the reports in the Wellington papers it would appear that Ministers are apt, far too apt, to let their little angry passions rise. On Friday the Minister of Lands lost his temper and said things it would have been far better to have lefc unsaid, and now on Wednesday evening the Premier is Bdid to have followed in his footsteps. E.A.L. in the Times asserts that " when the Premier gets up it is easy to see that he is in a rage," and during the whole hour's speech he " yells at him, (Sir R. Stout), wavbg anna, working shoulders, swaying trunk, shaking head, jerking body, blazing eyes, purple complexion," and, so it is further said, when the Premier had finished " it is by common consent a marvellous feat of physical endurance."' This is not pleasant reading and must lead to a distrust in the guidance of Ministers who can so little control themselves. ! It was the speech of Sir Robert Stout that so upset the Premier, and the exhibition of that temper appears to be a confirmation of the strength of the case Sir Robert made out against the Government. It must have been aggravating to the Ministry to have the very man whom the late Mr Ballance is said to have desired to hare succeeded him, pulling their Financial Statement to pieces and characterising it as " simply a puzzle of figure?, entirely fallacious, entirely misleading " but if he was mistaken it might have been shown in a quieter manner. The idea of an up-to-date Liberal desiring purity of administration is startling and Sir Robert plainly charged the Ministry with the want of it, in fact he said that the American principle which has ruined the fair land of America has I now reacbtd here, that of granting

the spoils to the victors, j The wiirst c.4nie eiter&arcls When the story of the pressure brought by the railway vote enme to be told. Quoting from (he same report we find " Some two membors of the Ministry met solne railway men in Chrietcburch during j the election. Tuoy arranged the retirement; of two Itailway Commissioners ; they bad a list of names of officers who won to go and tp" be replaced. That x??.a the pride of the Political support of the railway men. When the election was over and the Commissioners had been removed, one of the new ones took that list uji to the Board of Ooniniissione'rSj presented it» dnd said the bargain must be carried out. He wag told the thing could not be done, so^ they determined tp retjiiee. the salaries of those men in the hope that they would resign." "Is this true or false ?" thundered Sir Robert. " I am prepared to prove that it is true. Let's have a committee." For the present he mentioned no names of those implicated. "It would not be fair to men who at this stage oould not defend themselves." At the conclusion of the Premier's speech Sir Robert Stout made a personal explanation about the Christchurch incident, and the Premier challenged him to name the Ministers. Sir Robert said one was the Minister of Education and the other he believed was the Premier. The Premier denied being there but the Minister of Education said he was present, and he thought two of the Commissioners ought to be retired. By degrees the public are learning of the many arrangements made, at the risk of officials, to placate the labour vote at the last election, and if a committee were to be granted for inquiring into this charge, which of course will not be granted, the very lamentable state the public service has fallen into would easily be accounted for.