TIT FOE TAT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 223, 11 September 1876, Page 2

TIT FOE TAT.

v In the debate on the separation question, Mr. Wakefield, whose forte appears to lie in finding fault with and abusing his fellow-members, made a violent attack upon Mr Pyke, the member tor Dunstan, who, as well as Mr Kelly, the member for New Plymouth and Chairman of the Public Petitions Committee, ia a Government Whip. Mr Pyke, having already spoken, was not entitled to reply, but he appears to have been quietly biding his time until an opportunity occurred for retaliating upon Mr Wakefield. Such an opportunity offered one day iast week, and that he did not fail to take advantage of it will be seen by the following extract from the New Zealand Times' report of the Parliamentary proceedings on the previous evening. In explanation it may be stated that Mr Wakefield is generally supposed to be the correspondent of the Timaru Herald : — Mr Wakefield moved —That in the opinion of this House, the position of a Government Whip ia incompatible with that of Chairman of the Public Petitions Committee. Mr Pyke said he could scarcely understand what had caused the honorable member for Geraldiue to bring forward such a motion, but he would suggest a slight amendment, viz., that the words " this House" should be struck out, and the words " the member for Geraldine" inserted in lieu thereof. He was certain, if it was put in that shape, the phrases being synonomous to the hon. member for Geraldine, it could not make any difference to him; but it would make a great deal of difference to the House. The hon. member reminded him of the Nasmyth hammer, which could crack a nut or weld a ton of iron with equal facility. He came down to the House and lectured Ministers, he ventured to patronise veteran statesmen who were old in the art of poHtics before he was well out of the swaddling clothes of infancy, and then in the same breath he stigmatised the honest working men of Wellington as loafers. Mr Wakefield submitted that the hon. member was out of order. The Speaker said the hon. member was clearly out of order in referring to a former debate. Mr Pyke was not referring to a former debate at all. He was merely referring to the eon. member's versatility, and the hon. member immediately sheltered himself behind the privi'eges of Parliament, to refuse satisfactory apology to the men whom he had insulted. The hon. member, who occupied a seat in that House by the unhappy accident of the returning officer having a casting vote, attempted to take both ends of the political role —nothing was too vast, nothing was too small for his comprehensive genius. His present desire was to crack a nut; but he had no doubt the hon. member could just as readily weld a ton of iron. Having exhausted his vocabulary of vituperation on the ex-Premier, he now attacked a Government Whip. There was another little matter he (Mr Pyke) had to mention to the House. There was a document missing from the library. It was a copy of the Timaru Herald, in , which the duties of a " Whip" were defined according to the views of the highly talented gentlemen for whom, no doubt, the hon. member for Geraldine entertained the very highest respect aud reverence — namely, the Parliamentary correspondent of that journal. But what had he to do with the hon. member for New Plymouth (Mr Kelly) either as Government Whip or as Chairman of the Petitions Committee? That was a position entirely unknown to outside persons. It was a matter between the Government and their friends, and the hon. member had no right to offer an opinion upon a question of the sort. In fact, when he spoke of the hon. member he could not help remembering a character who was described very tersely and very lucidly in one of Shakspere's comedies. It was that of Don Adriano de Armado, who was thus depicted : — His humor is lofty, his discourse is peremptory, hia gait majestical, his tongue biled, his eye ambitious, and his whole behaviour vain, ridiculous, and thrasonical. ; That was the picture drawn by the Sweet Swan of Avon of a conceited, prating, pragmatical coxcomb of his own time. But as Fiuellen put it, " There is a river in Macedon, and there is also moreover a river in Monmouth, and there is salmon in both;" and he might say there was an Avon in Warwickshire and an Avon in New Zealand " also moreover, and there is a swan in both." He did not think that the Sweet Swan of Avon could have had any foreknowledge of the New Zealand rivers; but if he had been acquainted with the latter: and had known some of the things which by the inscrutable decrees of Providence were permitted to crawl between heaven and earth in the vicinity of the New Zealand Avon, he would have discovered the exact counterpart of Don Adriano in the hon member for Geraldine.

\ A: lamb wa«. dropped. at "Wanganui. the other day having eight legs, lour, ears, one> eyej and two. tails. They are always doing- something, funny at Wans nUi - V-tK ■*■*.... ~.\ - .-•: :.*«■; The Jackson's Bay '"Fishing • Com>"' pany, an enterprise undertaken about a year ago, has not yet proved much of a success, but the fishermen, who have shifted their quarters, say good prospects are ahead. The Union Company have offered to convey the fish to market free of charge for six months. A meeting of the supporters of Sir George Grey was held yesterday. The proceedings thereat, and the result thereof, may be briefly told. Sir George said he intended to persevere iv his efforts for universal justice and the amelioration of the human race. Hon members wanted something more definite. They did not get it. The meeting broke up, in most admired disorder, it being- informally agreed that for the future each man, like an Israelite in the time ot the Judges, might do what would seem best in his own eyes. — N. Z. Times. A visitor to the Kumara rush, who has returned to Westport, states that the rush looks well both for gold finding and business ; but, both as regards miners andj tradespeople, there is enough of either class already on the ground, until a better water supply is available, an event which will not ensue for three dr four months to come. Hokitika, Ross, Reefton, and Greymouth are all largely represented at the rush, and there are also a large number of new arrivals from the Buller district.*— Westport Times. The following is from the Post of Wednesday :-— It is now distinctly understood that Sir Julius Yogel will take the Agent- Generalship, and go home at once. He il? already packing up with a view to a speedy departure. His resignation of his seat for Wanganui will probably be placed in the hands of the Speaker ih a few days, and a fresh writ for a new election will be issued soon afterwards. Dr Buller will put up for the seat, and probably also Mr W. H. Watt, of Wanganui. Mr Fox would probably be inclined to do so, but he will not arrive in time for the election. Mr Hutchison would be inclined to try the Wanganui constituency -afresh, but he has no show. Mr G-isborne is talked of, but his chance would be very dubious. We should very much like to see paragraphs in the Nelson papers similar to the following, which appeared in the N. Z. Times of Thursday: — The purebred, shorthprned bulls, Lord Brilliant and Duke of Edinburgh, were landed from the ship Waikato yesterday morning. They are splendid animals, ahd considering the hardships of a long sea voyage^ are in splendid condition. Information was received in Blenheim late on Monday evening (says the Express of the 6th instant) of a fatal accident by which three lives were lost. It appears that on Monday afternoon, as a boy in the employ of Mr Stevenson was crossing the ford leading from Hillock's farm, a little below Vickerman's Ford in the Wairau River, to take a horse to Picton, he saw a horse and trap on the bank of the river, and a bundle lying near it; he at once conjectured that the occupants of the trap had met with an accident. The vehicle was recognised as that belong- s ing to Mr Furby, farmer, of Tua Marina, and enquiry proved that Mr and Mrs Furby, with a Mrs Bassett, had left Blenheim in it about mid-day, and no doubt remained that the three were drowned. The bodies of the two first-named were discovered yesterday morning, and the police went out in search of the remaining body > but after continuing all day their efforts proved fruitless. It is stated that the horse had a nasty trick of rearing, and also that the ford in question is somewhat uncertain, consequently it is conjectured that the horse having stepped into a hole had! reared and flung out the occupants of the trap, who being unable to help themselves were thereby drowned. The Furbys have left no children, but Mrs Bassett leaves a husband and three children tp lament her loss. *^ w * M ***'^"**^* EM^* a^"^^ M *" . 'i BEgBE-gggg^gga (/•Vv continuation of Newt see fourth page.)