PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 175, 9 August 1869, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

(From the Evening Post, August 6.) The House was in a very disorderly humour yesterday, and several little rows took place, Mr. Wilson declaring that, during the ten years he had sat in the House, he had never seen such proceedings before. At 7 o'clock the debate on Mr, M'Lean's resolutions was resumed hy Mr. Hall who tried to be very funny about the "peculiar '" course which the Government had adopted in bringing down first one set of resolutions, then auother, and going outside of their own body for brains by accepting still a third set from a gentleman who like a certain nobleman at home in the time of the Melbourne administration, was earning for himself the title ot the Newfoundland dog of the Ministry, his function being to rush in and drag tbe Government out by the skirt whenever it was in danger of being drowned. The Government had first thrown overboard' their own resolutions and 500 men, and the proposal to use the troops for field purposes ; now they had intimated their readiness to throw another 500 men and the Goorkhas overboard when they found their ship still laboring and in danger, and he wanted to know if there was anything which they would not throw over to save themselves. Goorkhas, 1000 men, and economy in defence expenditure, had been sacrificed, and now all that was left was two commi;sioners. Surely they would not allow these to sink the ship, and if they threw them overboard then they might fairly accept Mr. Stafford's amendment, and so save a division, as the Opposition did not care about turning them out, and only wanted to prevent their doing mischief. However, after the series of humiliating sacrifices which they had already made, the Government, even if ifc carried its commissioners, was virtually beaten. The House and the country knew it, and Downing-street and the English public would know it, and give but little weight to the resolution of a bare majority. The Government was really beaten, and, what was of more importance, self-reliance had triumphed. Mr. Hall then spoke for upwards of two hours on the proposals contained in the Government resolutions, strongly opposing altogether the employment of even a single regiment, showing from various documents how unfitted a regular military force was for our fighting, aud dwelling at length on the few advantages _ and many disadvantages of our remaining connected with Great Britain, speaking of the danger we would be exposed to in case of a war with a naval power, and intimating that the time was fast coming for us carefully to consider the subject. He also spoke of the House having passed the resolution for the retention of the 18fch Regiment under a feeling of panic, entirely unjustified by the news from Waikato. <. Mr Vogel, who rose next, said tbat if native matters looked better now than before, it was entirely owing to the presence of Mr M'Lean on the Government benches, and the confidence thereby inspired amongst the natives. The tone of Mr Hall's remarks (to which he replied in detail at considerable length) showed that gentleman's intention and desire to be the creation of a complete breach between the Colony and the mother country. Mr Stafford, afraid to take an issue on the real question of whether we should have troops or not, brought down an ingenious amendment, which, by reducing the majority who would otherwise have voted with the Government, would considerably weaken the effect of the resolution which might be passed. He appealed to members to remember this, and. not be led away. Noticing Mr Hall's remarks comparing Imperial with Colonial troops, as to their fitness for our work, and his censure of the Premier for having sneered at and maligned the men whom it was hisduty to defend — those who were fighting for us in the field — Mr Vogel went on to speak of the Colonial troops at present employed as being comparatively useless. ' When he used this phrase he was interrupted by loud cries of " Shame, shame," and Mr StafiEord cried out "It is false." Mr Bell moved that the words be taken down, and Mr Stafford seconded the motion. "Several members appealed to the chairman to keep order, but he said he was unable to do so unless supported; by the committee. After somemore squabbling, Mr Bell withdrew, his motion, and Mr Vogel went; oh to; show, that Mr £ ./Stafford's professions .of/ desire tb .keep, the . 18th Regiment .were npfc^genuine, and that if he got into power againihe would defeat;

Tl. ■1.111.H11 lillil— tMa— — —^— the wish of the House. After several other interruptions Mr Vogel sat down. Mr Stafford got up and, at considerable length, went on to show that he waß not insincere in .proposing his amendment, and his action in the matter was perfectly consistent with his past conduct. Mr Vogel had accused him of being insincere in asking for the troop's, and also insincere in his professions of self-reliance. He did not believe in self-reliance in 1864, because he thought that the -troops were rashly dispensed with, and that one might have made very good terms then with the Imperial Government, instead of unreservedly releasing them from obligations more theirs than ours. What was possible in 1864 was not, however, possible now. Talking of insincerity, he was surprised to see Mr Bell on the Government benches, when that gentleman had openly stated himself to be totally opposed to asking for troops. Mr Bell here jumped up and denied that he ever had done so, at which several members cried "Oh! Oh!" and another battle scene ensued. When it subsided, Mr Stafford said that the Government resolutions on the paper were not the production of the Government but were written by Mr Whittaker, who, more than a week before the Government proposed them, had shown the resolutions to him, and asked him to move them •as an amendment on the Government original proposals. Only in one line the Ghoorka and commissioner clauses differed from Mr Whitaker's draft, whicb ho had carried in his pocket for a week. As the Government was so very willing to accept resolutions from anyone aud everyone, the best thing they could now do would be to accept his amendment, which could then be carried unanimously, and would really have weight at home. The House would never consent to sending one or two men home, with power to bind the Colony to anything they liked, and for any period. Before the House did consent to commissioners at all, it would require to know who they were, and what would would happen if, when they got home, the comissioners differed in opinion on some of the points which would arise in the negociation. Either three or five commissioners would have to be sent, if any were sent at all.