OUR COMMONS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1050, 1 September 1879, Page 2

OUR COMMONS.

It may not be uninteresting, as the election of members of the now l'wlii ment proceeds, to note who and what the members are. With this view wo shall, as each election is recorded, make, as far as practicable, a few comments upon tie former political carver of those returned, if they have any, and by this means enable our readers to form some iilcaof the capabilities of those who will constitute the House of Representatives. The first member of the new House returned was

Mr. W'k.i.iam Roi.lkston, for imnj years V nder-Secretary in the Native Department. This position he resigned ro stand for the Superintendency of Canterbury at a time when Mr. illiam Sefton Moorhouse, having brought thi Province to the verge of bankruptcy* thought it best to retire and leave to others the work of redeeming the credit of the "squatting" Province. Mr. Rolleston was shortly afterwards returned to the House of Representatives, and to gained a fame of a doubtful kind for the consistency with which he has opposed every Ministry. He commenced by bitterly opposing the Stafford Ministy, levelling his shafts more particular)' Mr. J. C. Richmond, the then Nati« Minister, whose office secrets ho had learned while the permanent head of the department. He has alternately becntlii henchman of every leader of the Opposi tion since then, but has never, owingpw bably to his shifty nature, obtained a seal in any Cabinet. Ho is a capable, hut nol very fluent speaker, and at times can s»] very bitter things in a very bitter manner

The Hon. John Hall has spent inanj years in the study of politics, oscillating between the elective and the noininativ chamber. He first came into proinineno as a member of Mr. Stafford's coalitiol Ministry, in which he occupied the po sl tion of Commissioner of Customs aw Postmaster-General. During the absono of Sir William Fitzherbert on a missw connected with the consideration ' colonial loans, Mr, Hall acted as Oolonii Treasurer, and made a very excellei financial statement. He was en trustee we believe, with the work of orga.nisit the Stamp Duty Department, which did very successfully. He afterwarc occupied for a short time a seat in '1 Atkinson Ministry, but resigned on Ml Rees and others taking action against ttl Ministry for a breach cf the Executij Act by having a larger number of mew bers than the law allowed. Mr. Hall a fluent but not pleasing speakor, a C 'W reasoner, and pogsessess a large capacij for departmental work, having, if we not mistaken, served a long apprentice ship in the Civil Service of « re ß The Hon. William Gisborne is anothj member who left the Civil Servw to take an active part in politics. V the formation of the Fox-Vogel Minis ■ *Gisborne, who then occupied post of Colonial Under-Secretary, promoted by Sir William Fox froin®®H on an office stool to one in the Council. He was given the portfol>°M Colonial Secretary, and won for the title of the Ministerial CindortM from the fact that the carrying ou of whole machinery of Government to him while his colleagues were ! seeking in various parts of the to jOn the fall of the F<>x Mini""")*' i isoorne, who had in the inturvai set.' a seat in tiie TjOWer l[ou?i\ r gracefully from the political next became known as Coniniis- 1 '" the Insurance Department. A net i:ig -the esteem and confidence Government and the ciui'i'V position for a few years, Mr. (jl3 retired on a well-merited pensionhad, however, tasted of the active political life, and on the dea

gr. Tribe, be successfully wooed the Sectors of Totara. On the retirement of jajjjata from "the Ministry, lately, Kf. Gisborne «u selected to fill the taC aacj. Though to is by no means a -owcrfal or taking speaker, Mr. Guborne par txcr-tUne* the beat departmental Ban o the late House of Representatives, possesses a rare store of knowledge jsganimg the chief events of the Colony (luring a quarter cf a century. Mr. J- S. Stusi!<, so far as we are a »are, possesses no political reputation. |{ t . had only sat in the Huts** for one session, having been elected for Mataura to fill the seat rendered vacant Ky the „ r .ru"tion of Mr. W. Wood to the f pper The otiTy notable thirty that Mr. Shanks did during the Utr »hr>ri sessi' n wad to propose the Address iri in a speech that gave proiuno «jf better thin;;'*. j[r Shanks may be possessed of talent, but. it has yet to be developed. Captain Kprjrw lectori (or many years, but has done httl-j w>r»br of note, save vote consistently ' party which has systematically ..." : f the interests of the squatters a..d !.»r_-e landed proprietors, of which no t,..• J[r. Kenny is a member. This i:. ■? cm say of the member for Picton. Mr. Cecil Albert Dc Laltocu, e;. u hiW been returned unopposed for Mount Ida, wiiich constituency he represented in the laat Parliament, was, perhaps, personally one of the most popular members of the dissolved House. For several years he occupied a seat in the ' Provincial Council, and therein obtained » reputation for clearness of vision and consistency of action. He was first returned as a member of the House of Representatives at the general election if 1.573, and took his seat as a firm supporter of Sir George Grey and an opponent of the abolition of the provinces. To that party he has been a staunch adherent, and by his voice and vote assisted in turning the Atkinson Ministry out of power and placing the rein* of Government in the toads of Sir George Grey. Sir. Pe Lautoor is a fluent, pleading, and ready speaker, as many of our readers will know from the speech he delivered in t)!imaru at the public meeting with reference to the Naseby railway a little over two years ago. His power of reasoning is very well developed, and when he addresses the House his speech invariably contains something new and worthy of consideration. Mr. Do Lautour is a rapidly rising politician, a.td is destined ere long to become a Minister nf the Crown ; indeed, we believe he might hive had a seat in the present Government had it not been that he is studying fur the bar, and could not accept office without entailing great loss and personal inconvenience.