POLITICAL GOSSIP. NEW PROCEDURE RULES. EARLY DELIVERY OF THE BUDGET. REDUCTION OF MEMBERS SAFE. Wellington, June 19.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 379, 22 June 1889, Page 4

POLITICAL GOSSIP. NEW PROCEDURE RULES. EARLY DELIVERY OF THE BUDGET. REDUCTION OF MEMBERS SAFE. Wellington, June 19.

Signs of the early meeting of Parliament are evidenced by fcho arrival of the Speauer, ono or two Southern and some half a dozen xluckland representatives. The internal arrangements of the House have undergone considerable alteration, especially with a view to improving the acoustic properties.

RULES OF PROCEDURE. The procedure rules have received considerable attention in Cabinet, and will be circulated as aoon as they have been .submitted to the Speaker. They will be almost on the same lines as the rules introduced last session, and will not be greatly modified and curtailed, as has been recently reported. The Premier says he cannot understand why if people are to be trusted with the making of laws dealing with life and death they cannot equally be trusted to provide for their own self-government, without fear of injustice being done"to the minority.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. The Financial Statement will be delivered at a particularly early stage this session, in conformity with the promise made by the Government last session. Possibly it may be made immediately after the Address-in-Reply is disposed of. If not, the only business taken before its delivery will be the question of procedure reform. Sir Harry Atkinson jocularly remarked to me this morning, " Making the Statement so unusually early will prove satisfactory to the House, while the budget itself will, I have no doubt, prove equally satisfactory to the country."

REPRESENTATION ACT. Some misapprehension seems to exist with respect to the Representation Act. The fear is enteitained in some quarters that if an attempt by the country representative to increase the quota in their interest be successful, the Act is endangered. This is a fallacy, for the next House will consist of seventy-four members whether there be a dissolution or Parliament expiresby efHuxion of time, and Ministers would strenuously resist any proposal to repeal the Representation Bill. They are unanimously of opinion that the reduction of members is a trump card in their policy.

DUNEDIN EXHIBITION. Now that the necessary £15,000 has been subscribed for the New Zealand Exhibition a grant of £10,000 will be asked as a donation by the Government. Sir Harry Atkinson speaks warmly of the self-reliant policy shown by the Otago residents in connection with the movement, and intends being present at the Exhibition opening. Closely allied with the Exhibition movement is the Bifie Association meeting in Dunedin in January next, and the Premier expresses himself as highly pleased with the determination of the shooting men to carry it out under the auspices of the New Zealand Rifle Association. He thinks that the fact that Captain Sommerville is to be entrusted with the arrangements for the meeting is a guarantee of its success. Tn the face of this expression of opinion 1 have eveiy hope that the Government will this year renew the vote which they refused last session for tho New Zealand Rifle Association.

MR FISHER AND THE PREMIER. Ministers have been in Cabinet all morn" ing, deciding on the course of business. It is understood that the House will sit on Friday, for tine purpose of discussing the Address-in-Reply, and should the debate be disposed of in one sitting, the Financial Statement will be made on Tuesday. It is not decided who shall move the Address-in-Reply, but in the event of Mr Humphreys being elected for Christchurch North to-morrow, he will probably be invited to undertake the task. Personally, the Premier looks on the debate on the Governor's speech as an absolute waste of time. Its only object is to enable an attack to be made on the Government, and Sir Harry points out that this course is always open to the Opposition by giving notice of a hostile motion early in the session. The Electoral Bill will be taken in hand but the Government do not seem at all sanguine of carrying their proposals for the Hare system. In political circles here the impression is that Mr Fisher, ex-Minister of Education, will make a bold bid for the leadership of the Opposition. It is, however, unlikely that he will prove acceptable to the Lance-c?mi-Ballance section. j The correspondence which passed between Mr Fisher and the Premier, culminating in the former's resignation, is in the hands of the printers, and will be laid on the table of the House. I understand the promise by the Premier, when Mr Fisher ceased to be a member of the Ministry, was that the acting Government did not think it ought to be published till the whole correspondence had closed. On dii that some of Mr Fisher's communications are decidedly personal and bitter, and in one communique he ventures to express the opinion that the Cabinet consists of the Premier and Messrs Fergus and Hislop, his other late colleagues being mere dummies or puppets.

The average size of an American family, according' tostatisfcics, is '4*13. Tho fraction*, probably stands for the old man.' — " Terre Haute Express."i Professor (roused by violent ringing in dead of J night) • '" Well, -what ~ is it? What's the matter ?" '< Student ; " One of your is open.' 1 Professor: one?" " Student; "The one yon 4ve looking out of ," ■ -- ' ■ •