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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2117, 16 October 1875, Page 2

The Wellington correspondent of the Bay of Plenty Times says of the Ministry :—"People pre beginning to ask each other who is the Ministerial leader in the House ? Sir D. McLean is supposed to hold that position,' but then it is rarely he goes in for debating, and all the sharp passages at arms, all the answers and retorts which are so necessary in committee, are left to Major Atkinson, who is generally assisted by M? Bowen. The' Major we all know astonished everyone, by his financial speech, and he is still surprising his friends by showing there is much more in him than was generally thought; he certainly gets his blood up sometimes, and then he hits out and " goes for " the opponent just as he used to in old days, wbich Taranaki should not forget, and where he achieved an undeniable character for pluck in the field. And that is bis great defect; his repartee to an opponent's remark savors more of the heavy blow than of the fine thrust —of such a thrust as men like Voagj^ Stafford, Pox, and one or two otnirV could deliver. Mr Bowen is quite a con- „ trast to his colleague; he is very quiet in: manner, and fluent too, with just a spice ofoiliness in his delivery. But in the meantime these two Ministers do the committee work, and Sir Donald does not come to the front except when s the ireserves are wanted.

In a recent number of the English Labourer appears a letter from Mr C. Holloway, m. which he strongly advocates the claims of Nt w Zealand as a field for the surplus labour of Great Britain. He shows that the stories which have been circulated lately in Britain that there was no more laud to be had in New Zealand, that it was all taken up, were without foundation, and that there were many million acres of land yet available to those who should decide to make New Zealand their future home. He points out that the New Zealand labourer has his 6s to 7s per day, and asks whether the wife of the colonist with that wage, or the wife of the British labourer, with 12s. per week, was the more likely to keep a comfortable house for the husband and children. He says :■—" I can conscientiously affirm before the entire British public, that after haviug travelled over nearly 7,000 miles, visiting every province (save Napier), and mixing up freely with erery class of society, I am of opinion that the privileges of the sober and perservering colonist ar» infinitely superior to those of the working man'»t home." .

Matchless Mud.—The kitchen girl out of luciferp.