THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 157, 24 June 1876, Page 2

THE WEEK.

' With'the 1 exception of the Governor's speech there has not yet been much wired from Wellington regarding the proceedings of Parliament which would justify the newspaper reader in throwing down his paper with the exclamation " Here are these stupid Parliamentary telegrams again." On the contrary, the messages have hitherto been more highly spiced than could reasonably have been expected at this early stage of the session. It does not often occur that, on the very day oh which a .Legislative. Assembly is opened and before five or six hours have elapsed since the delivery of " the speech," a division takes place which can be regarded as hostile to the Ministry of the day. But New Zealand is setting an example and establishing a precedent in many matters, and among these we may include what has hitherto been known as Parliamentary etiquette. Under the excitement, or on the spur, of the moment, the public have been led to regard the proceedings of Friday last in a somewhat serious light, but, on reviewing them and learning all the surrounding circumstances, one is disposed to smile at the exaggerated importance which has been attached to them. At the bottom of tbe whole affair was an able, though somewhat eccentric, member, who, loving the Ministry not wisely but too well, thought he saw a chance of securing to them a decisive victory, instead of which he brought about their defeat. Mr Andrew was the gentleman who insisted upon Sir George Grey pressing his motion, and, in a weak moment, before there was any organisation and ere their whip had time to form any idea of the strength of the force he could muster, the Government allowed themselves to be entrapped by a wary foe and misled by an injudicious friend, and hence the result. As to forming any opinion from the division list of

the relative strength of the opposing parties, it; is .imply- absurd, as is clearly shown by the fact that the member who is to second the address in reply was found in the same lobby with those who voted against the Government/ Interesting as the news from Wellington has hitherto proved, I cannot think that it has yet afforded us the slightest cue as to the probable outcome of the fight that must take place before the session closes. Still, the telegrams are eagerly looked for, and there is a certain amount of mild excitement to be derived from their perusal, and, if we~ could close our eyes to the importance of the proceedings of the New Zealand Parliament and look upon that body as a dramatic company which was performing merely for the sake of affording the public a certain' amount of amusement, many of us would be disposed to clap our hands and shout "Bravo!" when a more than ordinarily good hit was made, or we might even go; the; [length of wishing to call Sir George or Sir Julius before the curtain once or even twice to receive bur acknowledgments of .their clever acting, : ,'; '; The duties of a " whip" in Parliament, are somewhat onerous, and must require a good deal of tact and discrimination, to say nothing of a hard head not easily affected by alcohol. The gentleman who is selected to fulfil that office must lay himself out to study the ' habits: and the, weaknesses of the in- ; dividual whose rote he desires to secure. . He must wheedle himself into ' his confidence, find put whether he prefer, dancing to dinner parties, whether the -society ;of : ladies is more | agreeable, to \ him than, that of, gentle-, men, whether there is any little lQcaii, matter in which his constituents' ars specially interested, and finally whether, when he (the whip) takes him into Bellamy's for a quiet jand 'confidential chat, it would be wiser to ask him to sip a glass of old port or to shout a ;" glass of hot rum for him. . One or tw.o mistakes in : these matters-i-trifles^ as j .theymay appear — might prove ruinous to the party the " whip " represents, I and any want of astuteness^on his part I in studying the fcharacter of the subject with' which fie is called upbh to deal might, on a close division, result in a change- of Ministry -.and a complete, reversal of the policy of the Government of tho day. So it will at once be seen that the " whip" is by no means an unimportant character in the political drama. ;Still, while I admit all this, I. confess my Back was rather put iip the' other day. on learning that there is a probability of the Government " whip " receiving a salary out of the: public funds. The Opposition is just as much " Her Majesty's " — that is, the people's — as is the Ministry, and the public are equally interested in the proceedings of both, so that if they are to be called upon to put their hands ; into their pockets to assist the one there is no reason why they should not pay to help the other. With our form of Government, " Whips" appear to be necessary on both sides, and my idea of fairness is — pay neither or pay both. It may bo all very well for a. private individual like myself, who doesn't even get paid as a member, is not likely at any time to be either a Speaker or a Minister, and who cannot Bee the slightest probability of even being a " whip," to cavil at any additional expenditure from the public purse oh, any matter connected with politics, but. I think there is one respect in which a little «f the Government money that appears to be so plentiful might be J devoted to my benefit and possibly to I that of the public. . I. think that it would pay the authorities to offer me, say, a hundred a year, never to travel on : the Nelson and Foxhill railway, because, whenever I do so, something unpleasant is sure to occur. I have related on more than one occasion how, when \& long and heavy train has essayed to mount Jenkins' HillAustin's Folly, they call it now-r^-it has" igndmoniously failed, but I never: saw. an ordinary train beaten until-Wed-nesday last. Immediately behind the engine were two timber trucks, then the guard's van and the three .passenger., carriages,; then a truck of firewdddj aha\ r lastly one containing the, carcases of , a few sheep and a bullock or two,.coming into town, I b.lieve, to be sold at the lately established cheap rates. As we approached the "Folly •' some disagreeable individual made the remark, " What are the odds about our getting up the hill without stopping?" I immediately frowned him down, for I cannot bear to listen to any depreciative; comments upon our public Works in Nelson, and I said,. " Get up ! Of course we shall with a short train like this." But, after crossing the Wairnea Road, our engine began to show symptoms of distress, and puffed and panted painfully, and, to make a long story short, on arriving . at the carve we came. to a dead standstill. Something, must be let go, so the firewood and meat trucks were detached, but the satirical demon of mischief lurked in them, and it immediately started them off backwards down the hill, as much as to say, " Well, if you growl at the difficulties in the way of going up the hill you must at least admit that there is a per contra in the facilities afforded for the descent." The guard; seeing what had occurred, jumped on to one of the runaway trucks and applied the brake, but to no purpose. They soon gathered speed, and in: a short time we saw them, guard and all, travelling downwards at a headlong pace, arid with little likelihood of their coming to a stop for some time to come. But we, , felt, little anxiety regarding the guard. He had one truck of firewood and another, •■ of meat, and as he was sure to have a box

v of matches^ in- his pocket- he was not likely to starve for a\day or two at lieast. Then we made, another attempt io climb, while some of fchosa who had charge of the train were; putting stoves ■under the wheels\of the hindermost; carriage :.n order to assist the engine in its endeavors to counteract our backsliding tendencies. No good. We couldn't get on at all, and so the passengers in the .last carriage were requested to move into those in "front, 1 and this being done we managed to get under way again. To a spectator stationed on the sumffiit of one of the hills over , which it. has been deemed advisable to take the line the sight must have been full of interest, flying away in the direction., whence they had so lately come .were" what recently formed the ultimate and penultimate portions of the, train, laden with meat and manuka, and in charge of a guard ; the antepenultimate, blocked with the brake, and stopped with stones, stood stationary, while the residue of the train was slowly proceeding up the incline. Car•ruthers, Blackett, Austin — all, indeed, who have had anything to do with laying out our railways — ought to have been there to see, and if they had waited a few minutes longer they might have watched the engine, after depositing what it had been able to drag up the h'ilj, returning from town to pick up ? the pieces it had left behind. "When, ;;wh;ere, or whether it found them at all lam not in a position to say. One re"mark..l would make, namely,, that the sooner the authorities recognise the huge, mistake -they: have made in laying out thia line, and endeavor, as far as to remedy it by supplying mcjra powerful : engines, the less likely is the Nelson and Foxhill railway to become an object of ridicule throughout the colony. ■- I s am not pne of those who have freely applied suchepithetsas " lunatic," " matiiac," ," madman," to.Sir Gr. Grey, j.because I regard him as one who, however :he may be mistaken,, and inclined to go 'to extremes, \ is, yet thoroughly in earnest . and \ honest of purpose. ; But I cannot understand a man in the full possession, of his senses writing as ; follows to the Secretary of State lor the Colonies:-^— : : . - '.' On the 3rd instant, to my great regret, I heard ihere waß a probability of lour not being allowed to 'pursue (he peaceful and proper course we i proposed to adopt. I heard that in two parts of the cilony reports had beea r cirou'at(d that her M jesty's seameri . and marines are to be use i to put jrio\vn by; armed fores all opposition to the Ministry; and Ifind it stated in' a local newspaper of thjs njorning, « that, within' the last few weeks, the people -of Auck'and Inve.been warned by the; Burporters of the Ministry in Auckland that opposition to the Ministry might. involve the city being cannonaded by, the ra,en-of war in the harbor/ — I am so entirely satisfied of the honor and good faith of the paper from wliich.l quote, that I feel sore there are substantial grounds for the statement it contains. -Such allegations of the intentions of the Imperial • authorities, circulated as they are here, do ; much harm. The psople are so loyal that ' no resistance would be mi\le to any" force clothed in the British uniform. The mere apprehension of such events damps their energies in defence of rights which tbey v*lne; and 1 earnestly request your Lordship, ia.tb.rt spirit of justice and fair play which, I am confident, animates y0u,,, t0. 'seni a telegraphic message to the Governor, which -will dif pel nil apprehension of her Majesty's forces being used for auch a purpose. This message will reach New Zea- | land during the approaching session of the General -Assembly, and will satisfy the public mind in this province'that its inhabitants will be fairly le(t to p-otect their rights by all lawful and constitutional means." The;;above is an extract from a letter addressed, by Sir' George to ] the Earl of Carnarvon. I shall make no 'comments upon it, lest I should be tempted to become serious, in attempting which I would be' as much out of my element as though I essayed to rival De Murska in her flights at' the upper ; F. ;

(For continuation of News see fourth pfige.^