INSIDE THE HOUSE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 197, 16 August 1873, Page 4

INSIDE THE HOUSE.

The Wellington correspondent of tbe Auckland Star writes as follows :— Curiosity appears to he a failing with members, for never have I seen ao Order Paper more loaded with *' want to know, you know," than was that on the night of my first sight of Parliament. Nor does this inquisition into publio affairs appear to be the only object, for to an extent certainly peculiar to this Assembly, tbe enquirers avail themselves of the opportunity of ventilating their own opinions, and each question generally results in no inconsiderable debate. A large proportion of time was consumed in this irregular way wheD Mr Yogel, in response to the Speaker's call, placed on the table the piece de resistance — tbe Telegraph Subsidy Agreement Ratification Bill. And deny it I cannot that there was something imposing in the Minister walking forward into the ring, and deliberately taking his seat on the floor of the House to be bearbaited. Mr Yogel bears the traces of illness upon his face, and wearing a muffler closely folded round his neck, he appeared scarcely in a fit state for the sharp conflict in which he was soon involved. The greater portion of his speaking ifl wholly inaudible in the gallery. After he had concluded, a succession of speakers assailed him and his proposals with a methodical order and sting and pungency that revealed the existence of an understanding among the Opposition, as it also revealed the Minister's knowledge of the same. With hand behind his ear, and leaning forward on the table, Mr Yogel usually listened with much earnestness to the leaders of debate, and a stinging remark was usually followed by a pained and quickened turning round, exactly as if the bear had been bitten on the hip by an unexpected cur behind. His position was evidently not a pleasant one, but hie pungency of retort, and occasionally crushing rejoinder showed him thoroughly equal to tbe occasion, although unmistaka-

bly uneasy, and manifestly relieved when the ordeal was successfully passed. From time to time he was waited upon by officials, who, unsummoned, laid beside him open hooks and documents and notes of information, which revealed that the battle was really being conducted from the room behind the ministerial benches, and that Mr Yogel was merely directing the thunder made ready to his hand. Colleagues in the Ministry, as well as lesser satellites, performed this work of ministering angele, and but Httle observation was requisite to see how the Wizard of the South towered intellectually by the heed and shoulders over his brother Ministers. It was pleasant to observe the gentlemanly way in which honorable members said the nastiest things to one another — Mr Rolleston the chief magistrate of Canterbury, charging the Minister with " impertinence," and giving it to his " honorable friend " with an unction that if given outside among ordinary people, and stripped of the conventional jargon of Parliamentary politeness, would have been replied to with a blow in the mouth, Mr Yogel replying with a forcible but nicely rounded allusion to the habitual iil-temper of the enemy, which, in Parliamentary language, was the "unhappy irritability of my honorable friend," while he was himself writhing in agony from tbe provocations with which he was being stung frora every quarter of the Chamber. It did one good to see the great broad face of the " smiler," Mr T. L. Shepherd, ns with a loyalty to Ministers of the most unpromising kind, he defended everything in them, whether defensible or otherwise, and then to watch the change that came over the countenance of tbe big " Pbatt boy," rivalling the scarlet tapestry on the walls, and to Bee the wriggling of impotent and fetttered rage as Mr T. B. Gillies smote him under the fifth rib. Such little pleasant episodes are of frequent occurrence, and I could not resist the conviction that it would conduce greatly to the healthfulness of the socio-political atmosphere of the Chamber if from time to time the House would adjourn to the green without, and each honorable member drag his coat along the ground inviting any or all to tread on it.