THE NEW MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 9, 10 January 1880, Page 5

THE NEW MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.

[From the 'J Press " Correspondent] [Concluded,] Wakatipu has changedits lymphatic, indulgent looking Zanders for a nervous, sharp featured lawyer — Mr Einn — who comes to the fore in any legal discussion, and objects to being confined to one speech on. such occasions. But his learning has not extended to politics, and he does not cut a very bright figure in that arena, nor does he appear ambitious to do so. The junior Whitaker, who represents Waipa, is already nearly as bald headed as his father. He would evidently be more in his element if he were in Opposition, as 'he is not a member of the peace society. He is bright and witty, though not often forcible. His voice is not gop4,,and he talks so rapidly that it takes very sharp ears to catch what he says. He is an ultra-radical in his views. There is no love loßt between him and Sir George Grey ; but however, much as he hates the sins he loves the sinner Sheehan, with whom he was a schoolfellow, and, in the hottest fight, he will never hit him hard. The member for Invercargill, Mr Bain, is both a thinker and a talker, but had avoided as much as possible speaking jn the House. I should take hitb ; £y -no means to ib'a a srtong partizm, and quite able to 868 faults and merits on either side of the House, and a man whose good opinion would be valuable. In many respects he is a contrast .and certainly a great improvement on his predecessor. I think there is no new member io the House who has puezled all who sit io judgment on him so muoh as the hon. member for Lyttelton, He keeps hf. hat on, and wherever he can he keeps his pipe in his moutb, and there is a sort of knowing look about him that may or may not mean much. It is ; evident that the selectors or rather the : rejectors for Sir George Grey's E.ec- , tion Committee, did not rate him. highly when neither party struck him off as a I dangerous opponent. But he there > showed a will of. bis own aud a spirit above flattery and influence that no one , had calculated on, and in every vote be ; gives he appears ac much guided by \ principle, and as determined to keep out of anything unjustifiable as aoy member of the House. He has spoken very little, and will evidently ha.c sufficient respect for his fellow, members to know what he is talking about before he begins. One of his colleagues on that election I committee was Mr Ireland, who succeeds Mr Bastings of Wnikaia. -If he has anything in him it is exceedingly difficult to discover it. He often rises in the House, and looks as if he were speaking, but as he sits very near the Speaker, he literally obeys the Standing Orders, and the chair — and tbe "chair only. Those who sit close to him overhear a little of it, and they cay that tbe rest of the House does lose much. His other European colleague who was left on that committee is Mr McCaughan. He looks more like an athlete than a legislator, and would evidently like to take a talking member under oaoh arm, and lodge him in the lock-up for the remainder of the session. He has only spoken once,, and I think that was in committee, so that he will compensate tbe colony in the course for tbe undue share of " Hansard . whioh his predecessor (Dr Hodgkiosoo) monopolised. He roves about irom seat to seat, and ia three senses I think I may say lhat he has no abiding place in the House. Major Harris, who has supplanted Mr Hobbs for oue of the Franklin seats, does not look at all like a military mau, being short, with ample circumference, and has certainly not suffered any recently military hardships or privations. He has plenty of languige, with a rather whining, though not disagreeable, voice, and his sympathies do not extend far South. He is most liable to rise to his feet during the small hours of the morning, when hi. friead Hamlin is snoring loudly at hi. left hand. The cause is s.id. to be that Hamlin has heard all his jokes and does not care to hear them again. Mr McDonald, on whose behalf so many telegrams we. a sent by the late Government to Gast Coast, id uot a retiling or a quiet man ia v general way.

! I ■•.. • . v r i '. '■ ;•".•- v. I but in the House he deals more in ejaculations than speeches, and his reI marks on the various speeches, of other ; members are not often Complimentary. He is by no means a- slave to his senatorial duties. On Sir George Grey's left hand sitß the P.G.G.W.G., Mr Speight, who is not by any means the " Learned Black- ; smith," but the "Talking engine drij ver." He looks .about thirty-five years |of age, with a. pale beardless face, that ■ often carries >*__ expression that makes ; one feel disposed to pronounce the name without the c. Like his patron he is a great grievance-monger, and can discover a bad motive for every possible proposal or action. His words flow as if he had swallowed a diction-: nary, but his voice is unpleasant, and his manner insolent. He keeps himself very fairly informed of what is going on, and often jogs Sir G. Grey 'b very defective memory. He is .by no 1 means such a perpetual bore as some of his inferiors iv ability aDd equate in ' education. On the other side of Sir George,, as his right hand friend, sits the celebrated John London. He looks a little over, fifty, of d_ rk complexion, with a very handsome forehead, arid very unhand-; some month. He is a man of great natural ability, witty and shrewd, who tries to pass himself off as an innocent simpleton. He will rise and speak incessantly, but no one but a native Irishman oould understand half of what he says. So far as I can judge, his speeches are quite in the tittle-tattle strain, as I could hear a oonstant repetion of the words, "He says, and' so says I." His general objaot seams to be to obstruct business at the order of i his chief. There was a great laugh in ■the House when be informed the Speaker that he never corrected hii ; speeches in " Hansard." But the arch obstrarctor bf business, . sometimes by order and at other times iby cnbice, is one of the new members >: members for Hokitika, 'Mr S.ddoo, ! whose talk during his first session will I have cost the country twenty thousand pounds, without,. estimating the mem- ■ bore's time at a high rate, or the amount |of business that he has made impossible. He is a good. teaipered. digger, land a fine specimen of the purely sanjguine temperament. At one time it Uooked as if be would make all business impossible, and have the whole i bouse to himself, but at last he came to be satisfied with about six speeches a day, and took some evident trouble to igive the House fewer h's than he began , wi.th. Next to him as a time waster comes tha, new, member' for Christchurch. i don't think he often spoke to order, but no subject ever caoaa up upon which ihe did not feel that he could enlighten the House. N.tive' difficulties, legal iopininn., intricate accounts, . political : ecouomy,.thedefence of the oblony,_he~ honor of the Mini-try, the rights of the Crown, or higher educotion, were all equally familiar to him, and were all ;tre»ted of in hia speeches in au equally instrucive way. It never seemed to loccur to him that there were other members iv the House who could read and write. His manner is very patronising, and as you hear him you natural'? look about to see where tbe ,sm.!l boy. are tbat be is talking to. If you ad I Turnbull's name to these three last nvoed new members, you will have the four members who take up more than half the time of tbe Hous _ without ever adding one atom to the knowledge, the interest, or the i amusem-nt of its members, or ren lering the slightest service to the colony. They are the four men who bave made it a weiriueßS to sit in the House or tbe gall' i i. s, who have made it now an • honor, hut, a dis_rt.e to appear in i Hansard, who mike a six months' Parii ttn.nt n c.ssary to do two months' , woik, who are reducing uurLegi-liture ■ from the highest to tbe lowest place i~n i the Australian co'ouief, and who may \ fairly be charged with half the ex- ) penses of our Parliamentary governi ment. 1 If I have left the four silent new ' members to the last you will see that it is not because I do not respect them. On the contrary, after spending so 1 much time in hearing idle talk as I have 1 done, I wish tbeir number was multiV plied by ' twenty, and I cauno. help • * takiug off my hat to them iv the streets.

— -TvvTTT — .... '-.:l.*)dL<LaL They are Messrs Hirat, Willis, Why™ and Mason — - representing Wallace, Rangitiki, Waikato, and The Hutt. I have no doubt that they are all wise men. Who else could have sat for three months in the midst of clamor and strife and come out of it without taking or giving a scratch ?