CAPTAIN RUSSELL'S RESOLUTIONS.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 119, 12 September 1885, Page 5

CAPTAIN RUSSELL'S RESOLUTIONS.

About noon yesterday (Tuesday) a vSgue rumour was in circulation in the lobbies to the effect that a section of the Opposition had coalesced with the Canterbury, We?tland, and Nelson members, but the utter improbability of such a combination led to an almost general disbelief in the genuineness of the story, and so far as I can gather, none of the special correspondents wired it out. I made a few inquiries about it, and was met by a general denial of its truth. However, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon I was confidentially assured that Captain Russell had prepared to move a vote of no-confidence on going into Committee of Supply, but a little further investigation showed that this was scarcely true. Capt. Russell was prepared to move a reduction of the Public Works Eetimatep by £500,000. The matter was kept so quiet that neither of the Wellington evening papers had an inkling of what was on the board, and it was not until 4 o'clock that Ministers had any idea of the impending movement. At 7 30, Major Atkinson's motion that the Chairman leave the chair was withdrawn, and the way cleared for Captain Russell's motion. Captain Russell, however, was not quick enough in catching the Chairman's eye, and Mr Macandrew's motion regarding insular separation had to be discussed before Captain Russell got his chance. The debate proceeded, the moßt extraordinary part of it being the statement of the Minister of Works that the { Government would accept the reduction in the Estimates, quickly followed by an emphatic denial by Mr Stout. During the debate however, nothing came out to indicate the manner in which the combination had been made possible. I have reason to i believe, however, that it originated with the 18 or 20 Canterbury members who "round robined " the Ministry the other day, and it appears that they have succeeded in inducing the leading Atkinsonites to permit themselves to be made use of. There is not the Blighteat doubt that the Canterbury swindle is at the bottom of the whole affair, and several Atkinsonites and most of the other members opposed to the Government denounce this " unholy " alliance in no measured terms. What is wanted is not very clear. Of course, the Canterbury members who had been intriguing for weeks to get their job through the House cannot be credited with n disinterested desire to check the Public Works expenditure, while the Atkinson policy surely cannot be a total suspension of all woiks throughout the colony. In certainly is a riddle just now, but the answer may be that ' Canterbury members hope, by stopping all works this session, to have a better chance of their own next year. The debate itself elicited nothing fresh. There was a good deal of fulmination against borrowing, and Major Atkinson declared that Ministers we»-e asking authority for £600,000 more money than they had to the credit of the Public Works Fund. The Minister of Works said- that if the motion were carried, the votes for railways, roads, and public buildings 'rould all have to bereduced,and thePremierinstanced the Custom House at Auckland and the Government Printing House as among the works which must be delayed. The debate was adjourned till to-morrow, on the motion of Mr Buchanan.