THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 223, 4 September 1875, Page 2

THE WEEK.

Ayes 52, Noes 17. I imagine that few people were rendered unhappy by the announcement that the long-looked for division on the second reading of the Abolition Bill had come off at last, or by the large majority that voted in favor of doing away with the provinces. Plenty of good and sound arguments have been adduced against what ifc is proposed to substitute for the existing form of government, but there surely must be something objectionable to the people in provincial institutions when we find so large a number ot the representatives of the colony affirming the principle that it is time they were swept away. Sir George Grey may talk for hours on the subject, and may declaim as much as as he pleases against interfering with the rights of the people, but even he must now admit that his pet institutions are not the pets of the generality of the residents of the colony. When 52 out of 69 pronounce against them, he can no longer argue that the constitution as he framed it is still popular witb those for whose benefit he drew it up. Still ifc is.clear thafc Ministers have nofc yefc hifc upon a measure that will be generally satisfactory in lieu of what ifc has been decided ought fco be done away with, and the end of fche struggle appears to be almost as far off as ever. There certainly seems to be a greater disposition ] on the part of the opposing sides fco give and take, bufc whether this conciliatory spirit will extend itself over the whole House remains yefc to be seen. Of one thing we may be very sure that the session will extend over an unusually long period of time, and that we have not yet heard the most acrimonious of the hot; debates which will form one of the principal features of the present; meeting of fche Colonial Parliament. They seem to be funny people at the Hutt in the province of Wellington. They have a special train laid on to convey to their district the leader of the Opposition and his lieutenant, the Superintendent of their province. They meet these great; men with a torchlight; procession, cheers, and cries of Maori welcome, &c, listen to them at a public meeting and deliberately arrive at the conclusion thafc the Abolition Bill should nofc pass this session ; then they begin fco waver, and to doubfc that they have done right, and so they send for Mr Stafford to "explain" fco them the the provisions of a measure upon which they bave already adjudicated. Another special train, more torches and cheers, another long speech, and then they reverse the decision they had pronounced nine days previously. And still Sir George Grey urges the immense importance of relegating ihe question to fche people. If all the people in fche colony were like those whom the Hutt district has raised, ifc seems fco me thafc it does nofc matter a little bifc whether they are consulted or not, as it it quite clear that they have no opinion at all either one way or the other, or, perhaps I should say, fchafc fchey have a stock of opinions of varied hues, which may be brought out to suit any occasion. If Sir George Grey addresses them, they are perfectly ready to agree with him, if Mr Stafford or anyone else takes up the cudgels on the other side they are pprepared to endorse what he says. Yes, I repeat that to me they seem to be funny people afc fche Hutt. But politics form a queer study in all parts of the world. It is quite easy to imagine how Sir George Grey's eloquence and Mr Stafford's arguments can turn the tide when we learn thafc in other countries fche existence of a Ministry sometimes depends upon a circumstance of far less seeming importance. Just; imagine a Government being turned out; of office because some of its supporter*, have been wearing socks with blight colored stripes. And yet on the authority of a Melbourne paper I am prepared to state thafc this might have been the case lately. Several residents of Melbourne, we are told, probably including members of Parliament, have been laid up from the effects of the poisonous dyes used in these articles of clothing, and, says the writer from whom I am quoting, "the Conservative whip in the House of Commons was unable to attend to his duties in consequence of illness caused by the red and white socks which he was imprudent enough to wear at a ball." So in the absence of the " whip "some important constitutional question might have been carried or rejected when the reverse would have been the case had that gentleman worn white, instead of colored, socks. I hope Mr M'Glashan, the Goverament whip, will be careful of his poor feet during the next few weeks, otherwise Provincial institutions will perhaps be retained. I never take up a newspaper without looking through ifc for something that is likely to interest my readers, so it may be imagiued with what avidity I perused the following paragraph in a journal called Te Wananga which was forwarded fco me the other day, and how quickly I laid hold of my scissors for the purpose of cutting ifc out. Here it is: — Na ko te hoa o nga !Maori katoa na Ta Tanara Makarini Naiti hoa o Hata Maikera raua ko Hata Hori, i mau tetahi Pira ki te aroaro o te Pareniafca, a ko te ingoa o taua Pira ko "Te Kawanatanga mo nga Takiwa." I have no desire to take undeserved credit to myself, so I must at once admit that I had nofc the slightest idea of what it all meant, until I cast my eye further down the column, where I read the English of ifc as follows: — "The great friend of tho Maori people, Sir {

Donald M'Lean, Knight Commander of Saint Michael and St. George, has introduced a Bill into the Honse of Representatives called the Local Qovernment Bill." Now it occurred to me that those two very respectable old gentlemen of whom we speak as St. Michael and St. George would have been rather astonished if they, when in the flesh, had been addressed as " Hata Maikera," and " Hata Hori," and there was another thing I thought my readers might like to know, namely, what is the name of the measure that is to provide a substitute for Provincial Governments. lam sure, if there should be any who are discontented with the Local Government Bill, they will be more reconciled to its numerous provisions when they see it referred to as j "Te Kawanatanga mo nga Takiwa." Who would ever have thought that there was so much music in the " short title " of an Act of Parliament. I fancy there must have been a smile on the Hon Mr Richardson's lips, and perhaps a wink in his eye when he gave his reply on Thursday evening to Mr Luckie's question about the extension of our railway to fhe port. He "did not consider there was any necessity to extend the line at present, the distance between the town and the port being so short that it was questionable whether the line would be made use of." Exactly so, Mr Richardson. The fact that there is only a mile between the out-of-the-way mudflat where you have placed the station and the port, won't be of the slighest consequence. It does not at all matter that timber and other produce will have to be taken out of the wagons, re-loaded on drays, and dragged down the port road, instead of being run down to the wharf at once. The additional cost of this extra handling and carting of course will not affect the producer's pocket at all. I should have liked to hear the answer that would have been given to an Otago, Canterbury, or even a Wellington member, had his constituents been similarly placed with regard to a great public work, and he had asked such a question as that put by Mr Luckie. I don't think he would have been told that a railway from the country districts would be just as useful whether it stopped short a mile away from the port or not. But that is the treatment to which Nelson is becoming accustomed. I remember the reply that is said to have been given by a costermonger to a member of the Humane Society, who expostulated with him for thrashing his donkey. " Lor bless you, Sir, he don't mind it a bit. The more you licks him the better he likes it." I don't know about liking it, but we in Nelson do certainly get an awful lot of licking. Y.