ENGLISH MAIL (VIA SAN FRANCISCO.) TOPICS OF THE DAY. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) London, December 29, 1888.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 341, 9 February 1889, Page 3

ENGLISH MAIL (VIA SAN FRANCISCO.) TOPICS OF THE DAY. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) London, December 29, 1888.

Christmas has come and gono with its usual round of time-honoured festivities ; bub anything more dismal or un-Christnias" Hke^han'the weather of the past week could Scarcely be imagined. On Christmas Day itself we had within tho space of 24 hours almost every variety of weather which our fickle climate is capable of displaj'ing. The morning was bright and clear ; but towards mid-day it began to rain and blow. This developed towards evening into an almost tropical downpour, accompanied by a heavy gale, followed again by a clear, bright night. But. the extraordinary thing is the entire absence of frost and snow, which used to chai'acteiise so abundantly the good oldfashioned Christmas of our youth. The weather is more like spiing or early autumn than mid- winter, and spring flowers are to be had in any quantity ; but" in these latter days of the new democracy, I suppose we must not wonder at our weather, like our politics and our socie'y, becoming a trifle " mixed."

CHRISTMAS EVE IN PARLIAMENT— THE QUEEN'S SPEECH. One unprecedented sign of the times has been the spectacle of Parliament meeting on Christmas Eve, and our verbose legislators may congratulate themselves heartily that they had met simply to adjoin n over Christmas Day, to meet again and sit over the New Year. As ib was, it was a \ cry near thing with the Suakim Expedition and other topics of interest and infinite potentiality of discussion, cropping up as they did at the fag end of the prolonged session. Fortunately, however, by a conciliatory polic3' on the part of the Government, and the puie physical exhaustion oE their critics, the final stages of the Appropriation Bill were hurried through ; and when Parliament met on Christmas Eve, it was only for the formal winding up of the session by heaving the Queen's speech read. For these meicies, however small, the majority of " muzzled Ciceros " on the Opposition as well as the Government benches, who have been compelled to sit silent every night, and listen to the incessant twaddle of a few self-seek-ing and fanatical faddists, must have felt devoutly thankful. It is really intolerable that the time of Parliament should be wasted, and the interests of the country sacrificed in order to allow the Conybeares, Cunningham - Grahams and Turners of debate to force their miserable personalities into a mushroom notice. The latter " gentleman '' (?) surpassed himself on Saturday night, when he called the Irish Chief Secietary " a coward and a liar."' He refused to withdraw the expression and was suspended ; bub of course the penalty was only ephemeral, as it was the close of the session. The Government intend to bring in some yet more stringent measures for curtailing debate and preserving its decencies next session, and it is high time in the interests of both parties that something were done to check the present demoi-alisation of Parliamentary manners, which is rapidly degrading " the mother of Parliaments " to the level of a pot-house debating society. The Queen's speech was as short as the session has been long. The references to internal affairs and domestic legislation were especially biief. None of the measures passed during the session were ever referred to except the Local Government Bill and Mi* Goschen's Conversion Bill. This, no doubb, was owing to Lord Salisbury's not unnatural vexation at the enormous "slaughter of the innocents "' that has taken place in spite of the inordinate length of the session, owing to the persistent obstruction of the class of Parliamentary pests referred to above. Colonial and foreign affairs wei c dealt with much more fully. The pleasing assurance was once more given that our relations with foreign powers were of the most friendly nature — doubly satisfactory in the present strained condition of continental politics. Our various " little wars " in the widely-separated portion of the mightiest empire the world has ever seen were referred to with justifiable satisfaction at their successful issue. The victorious close of the Black Mountain, Sikkim, and Suakim expeditions were touched upon ; special reference ~ J being made in connection with the latter to the creditable conduct of the Egyptian troops ; the suppression of Ishalc Khan's rebellion in Afghanistan by the Ameer, and Dinizulu's rebellion in Zululand by our own troops largely assisted by native levies, was touched -upon ; our alliance with Germany for the suppression of the East African slave trade was declared and its strictly limited scope and objects once more defined ; and finally a hope was expressed that the rejection of the Fisheries Treaty by the American Senate would for the time at least be rendered harmless by the temporary airangements entered into by the Commissioners. No reference was made to Burmab, but the condition of India, financially and otherwise, was referred to with satisfaction and hopefulness. On the whole, it was a cheerful and satisfactory record of our relations, internal and external, at the close of a by no means uneventful year. With these hopeful words echoing in their ears, our wearied legislators separated, torneet again in February —all too short a rest for the country and for them.