WELLINGTON.

Southland Times, Issue 1803, 7 October 1873, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDEirT.) September 27. Since my last letter to you, events have advanced a stage further, and the " situation" is felt, by every one to have materially increased in interest and complexity. The calm and determined manner in which the Council threw out the seven Provincial Loan Bills (on this occasion by 24 to 6, a larger majority than before) hat convinced everyone that there ia not now the slightest chance of inducing that branch of tha Legislature to consider favorably the idea of Provincial borrowing, in any shape or form. The debate was a very able one, characterised throughout by clear reasoninsr and fair statement of the case, and certainly reflected great credit on the talent and business capacity of the Upper House. It was remarked that the speech of Dr Pollen, who, as your readers are aware, represents the Cabinet in the Council, and who introduce! the Bills, was neither very confident in tone, nor entirely that of a man whose heart was in his work. He was followed by the Hon. Robert Campbell, who went into figures to show that in 35 years the difference of 1J per cent., which under the proposed scheme the Provinces would have to pay more for their money than if the Colony raised it for them, would amount to nearly the whole capital proposed to be raised, calculating of course at compound interest. There is nothing, it is nid, which m iy be used in so fallacious a manner as arithmetic, but the Council took no trouble to question the honorable gentleman's figures, and his statements certainly produced an effect. Ttie subsequent speakers insisted on the ultimate liability of the Colony, and the absence of any provision for ensuring the adequacy of the security set apart. As one after another rose to condemn the measures, it soon became evident that the proposals wero doomed, and that the Government would have to cast about them for some othar -course to follow. Strange to sav, there vat no general sorrow expressed over the slaughter of the seven little orphans, an.} indeed there seemed some color for the assertion, very freely made i ! the Council, that many members in. the House had voted for the measures, rather from party ties than from any. great liking for the bills themselves, or any strong conviction as to the - urgency of siu-h measures at the present time. How far this may be true of the mass of the Government supporters, I have scarcely the means of ascertaining, but one or two of them, with whom I had an opportunity of discussing the qunstion, informed me that while the bills were not at all t) their liking, they did not regard them as bad enough to warrant them in siding Jwith the Opposition, and turning out the Government, in the present chaotio state of parties, and critical position of affairs, and so they felt constrained to vote for them. The truth is that the Wellington Loan Bill w;is the origin of all the others. No Superintendent, and they are all in the House, liked to go back to his Province without a lortn, when the others had obtained one. Me Rolleston, of Canterbury, was indeed a noble exception, and asked for nothing, but it is easy to be virtuous ami independent with a credit balance of £700,000 in the Provincial Treasury. Orago, too, was mo lerate, orily asking for £300,000 to make the iTuapeka and Clyde railway, of which only £10,000 was to be used up to January 1875, while she was willing to set ».side 750,000 acres (not 75,000, as some papers have it) of land oa each side of the line, to repay the loan. Some of the schedules of the other bills would hardly have stood so elose an examination as that of Otago. The arrival of the Douglas, a fine immigraiat Bhip from London, caused a little sensation here, from the fact that small-pox was reported on board. It turned out, however, that none of the cases were vary recent ; and it is expected that the vessel will soon be admitted to pratique, and her 388 immigrants added to the population of the Colony. The mention of immigrants reminds me that the galleries of the House of Representatives were cleared the other afternoon, at the instance of Mr Fox, to prevent Mr T. B. Gillies reading aloud the evidence laid before the Public Works Committee in re Messrs Brogden's petition, and so securing its publication, which the Government desire to avoid. When the Speaker ordered the gallery to be cleared by the Sergeant:it Arms, tint functionary, who is an elderly gentleman of very venerable appearance and literary tistes, could not be found. He wa» probably in the library, indulging in a quiet nap over some black letter volume. The important duty was accordingly performed, with less dignity perhaps, but quite efficiently, by. the policeman in attendance. The newspaper reporters, with- characteristic pertinacity^ were--tb.e last to go. Those who have seen the evidence say they arc quite at a loss to know why the Government wish to keep it back. There is nothing very startling ia it, they- say, and what there is goes against the Brogdens', who want " compensation" (ill-omened word) for not being able to collect their immigrants' bills. .NobpJy ever thought they would collect many of them, but they say that Dr Featherston told them that there would be no difficulty in doing so — hence the claim. If the worthy doctor said so, which I for one don't believe, he must have strangely forgotten the trouble he had with his own immigrants when he was Superintendent of Wellington. lam glad to see that neither the committee nor the Ministry are disposed to concede anything to the olaim, but Messrs Brogden have three or four very staunch friends- in the House— enough to make a noise if not to secure a vote, and they availed themselves of their privilege to adopt the former course on this occasion. , , -/ Two of a trade seldom agree. This principle may account for the violent antipathy which has sprung up;between MrVincent Pyke and MriTuoe. Luther Shepherd. Mr Pyke, indeed, on the very second day after being sworn in, signalised himself by metaphorically " sitting on" Mr Shepherd, in a long and clever speech on the Goldmining Bill, now iaid to rest. Since then it has been war to the knife between the two, and it .ia very amusing to observe the electric rapidity with which the portly member for the Dunstan apringa to his feet whenever Mr Pyke sits down, : unorder to pour | out, upon him his pent-up wrath and 6com.' Towards the end of the session, however, the House gets rather impatient of such amusing exhibitions, regarding them as a waste of time.