LOBBY GOSSIP.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 52, 10 September 1881, Page 610

LOBBY GOSSIP.

— Shcolian says the only article exported, from Tav.mftki is fungus. — Swanson is recognised as the staunchest advocate in the Assembly for the property vote. — Macandrew said he would stay in Wellington twelve months to pass the Bill. • — O'Rorke's demeanour in the chair on Monday made one remember the phrase in " Hamlet." " This conscience does make cowards of us all." ■ — A New Plymouth resident, who was down in Wellington about the New Plymouth Harbour Question, remarked the other day : " Though the Government is in office, it i 6 not in power." — There is one good thing in store for the i Auckland people, they will have the pleasure of seeing Reader Wood and "Bertie Saverna " contesting Waitemata. — Hall objected to be told that when he had first taken office he used the forms of the House for three weeks to prevent an adverse vote being recorded against him, and was impatient of three days obstruction. — The Representation Bill is called the New Zealand Separation Bill, and the Misrepresentation Bill. It is a bill to denude voters of votes, and to make the election of candidates cheaper and easier. ■ — A new complexity has arisen for Swanson to solve in connection with the property vote. If a man steals money instead of earning it and invests the stolen wealth in the purchase of land, should lie be allowed to vote on the qualification he has stolen. ■ — The New Plymouth brethren intend to tell the General Government, it' they interfere with their Harbour works, politely to go to the devil and mind their own business, as they intend spending the money they have borrowed any way they like. — Seddon put the Auckland members in an awkward position when he wanted to increase the representation of Auckland provincial district. Time after time he made Swanson, Whitaker, and Wliytc go in the lobby to vote against the proposed increase. — Hall's voice trembled when he proposed that Gisborne should be fined, as though he had been caught in the act of sacrilege. It is stated that he ma cle the historical reply when reproached for doing wrong : " Sir, the Gospel pays no interest." — During the second night of the stonewalling Macandrew unmasked to a friend, " I would like to go home and go to bed, but I dare not trust that fellow Sheehan. With his knowledge of the forms of the House no one knows what may happen." — When the stonewalling was going on, Hamlin walked about the lobbies of the House deploring that he was not in the chair to put an end to the debate in tones sufficiently loud to let Ministers know where a tool could be found when they ■wanted one. —When Lundon went to Hall and asked him to give the Maoris in the North representation, Hall said, " I dare not." Lundon was also told, when he wanted the boundaries of the Bay of Islands electorate settled, " If they are altered no Government can keep you out of the House." ■ — A lady once asked Steine what was his method of composition. " Madam," he said, " I write the first sentence and trust to chance for the second." In this manner, a well-known Auckland man remarked, the Hall Ministry appeared to have drafted their measures. The Premier has committed everything to chance. The member for Marsden is a dry Parliamentary chip, in the lobbies he breathes death and destruction- to the Representation Bill, until he sees a Minister, when he goes away or changes the subject, saying, in a whisper, "Hold your tongue." — Header Wood spends his time crooning mentally the lines of the old ballad, "I have a silent sorrow here, a grief I'll not impart." From careful study it is impossible to determine whether he is engaged in repentance or meditating some future political burglary. — People here wonder how long the new unholy alliance between Canterbury and Otago will last" It is said that Macandrew is engaged in maturing a plan to rob Canterbury of her share of the plunder. " Ignotus," a few days since, compared Macandrew to a huge black spider, The comparison strikes one as good — sitting as lie does behind his web waiting to pounce upon the Canterbury fly. It is said that Ms swag will be so full of plunder

that lie is in doubt how to get it homo, and it was in contemplation of this idea of how to deal with the booty that he got a committee appointed to enquire into the expediency of establishing a new steam sln'pping service adapted to cross bur harbours such as Port Chalmers, and in this manner robbing the North of the San Francisco mail service. — Some people think that Ormond intended to head another assault against the Government trenches, but he has not yet got over his late defeat. Should he again move it will only be upon the understanding that he is to receive more vigorous support from what is known as the great Middle Party. — The question has arisen, if the Speaker has abolished the standing orders of the House, how Grisbornc could be fined under their operation. Grisborne thinks the money he paid the most pro- ' fitable twenty pounds he ever invested. He could sell his investment, had he the power o£ transfer, for three figures, to more than a score of competitive purchasers. — A hot controversy has arisen as to whether Colbeck has a mind of his own. A large majority say he has not. He is no£ ambitious, as it is evident, to be called to the chamber upstairs. I do not mean the upper chamber of the Assembly, but the chamber of an imposing building in Queen-street, where he is likely to have a bad quarter-of-an-hour with David on his return' to Auckland. — On the morning of Saturday last, Richard. Reeves, one of the most diffident Members of the House, complained that the Government and its supporters were in a great hurry at last to pass their measures, and it was said that time was being wasted ; but he was prepared to go on till eight o'clock, if the Chairman did not leave the chair sooner ; whereat the cry of " Order," " Order," was raised, because he threatened the House. — Another problem has sprung into life in regard to Swanson's property vote, he would, after the proposal of Disraeli long since, give representation to all forms of accrued wealth, thus, if a man had £50 in a Savings Bank to his credit he would give him a vote for his property. Should the man, it is asked, lose his vote if he he had to send £5 out of it to an idigent shopmate or a sick relative or friend ? — Hall compared his victory in carrying the Representation Bill to Pitt's triumph, in repealing the Corn Laws — Such is the vanity of human nature. I want to make very plain how this bill will work. Let us take the three Auckland electorates for an illustration ; consider that there are two political parties in the city, there are 1000 electors in each electoral division, in each electorate one party may poll an excess of votes, by so doing the minority is disfranchised and unrepresented in the Assembly ; while under the tripla electorate the minority would have been able to return one member.