The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1876.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 244, 5 October 1876, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1876.

That the current session of our Colonial Parliament has been utterly barren of results beyond the extension of Hansard to extraordinary limits is universally recognised; that the people generally are thoroughly disgusted with the legislative farce lately enacted in Wellington cannot be denied; but it is questionable whether the many are fully aware of the very little that has been done. Sneers and ridicule are to be heard on all sides when the proceedings of the Assembly form the topic of conversation, and numerous are the mild jokes perpetrated on the plethora of talk, but absence of anything approaching real practical work that have formed the chief characteristics of the four months sitting of Parliament. Nowhere, however, have we seen these proceedings more pithily and at the same time amusingly summarised than in the Lyttelton Timts, which in a recent issue thus describes " the situation ": — " A dozen unimportant Acts, half of which were not introduced by the Government, have been passed. That is the miserable total of the legislation passed in the course of three months. The political measures are in a state of the direst confusion. Some are withdrawn, some are to be postponed, others are to be emasculated, and the rest are to be rejected. The Estimates are scarcely touched and the Finances, the most vital of all questious, the crucial test of the usefulness of our representatives, have not eren been discussed. The Constitution is in chaos, and we do not believe that there is one legislator who can form the slightest idea of what is to be the result of the session. We have a Polyglott Parliament, and no one member understands another's speech. Then who are our political leaders? The generalissimo has bolted. 11l health and urgent private affairs suddenly cail him away from the seat of war. We have series of dissolving Ministers. Matthews "at home " never changed his parts with the rapidity with which Ministries of late have reconstructed themselves. A Premier — limited— presents himself to the public view. He is a subordinate leader. He plays first fiddle in the orchestra in the Houses of Parliament, and second fiddle in the same orchestra in Government House. He acts the part of master in political life, and of follower iu society. He is, in short, a PuisnePremier. This bi-lateral gentleman formed a disqualified Ministry, and appointed an unlawful Attorney-General. All his colleagues were obliged to resign,and he amends what was already an amended Cabinet by re-forming them with/the elimination of two of the best men."