WELLINGTON NOTES

Waikato Argus, Volume II, Issue 123, 22 April 1897, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES

[I'KOM. ovii o\v.\- rojunsro.vi.KKT]. WkMjIXUTOV, April l.°>. THE POLITICAL SITUATION. I'.t'T two more days stand between us and our Premier's departure. Positively the two nights of the celebrated bujl'u comedian and marionette arlisf, the only Seddon, are now advertised. Tile free list is suspended, and important engagements on an Imperial stage prevent' bis extending the season longer than Thursday afternoon next. Tomorrow night he will enjoy the social joys provided by the league of females wiio have so often followed his chariot to election meetings and left their babes and husbands to wrestle villi domestic duties. Theie will he and the festive Hon. Minister ot Davids and the incapab!e hyphenated Jones, who has icccnt y gone through a course of dancing lessons, appear in the ma/.y waltz and the b'ythc barn dance, and theie will be bumpers poured down to his return, with the hope of Mr Hogg, M H.R., gratified that be " will cot return en.try." And his last night will lc well spent in electioneering for his satellite, Mr Charles Wilson, at which we may expect him to eclipse all previous records in bombast, and then will he 1 id far.well to his faithful followers and trust his noble form to the treacherous wavis. Surely Neptune will be k'nd and smooth the billows and rude Boreas take a rest while he journeys to the scene of his coming triumphs. The divinity that doth hedge a king protects him from danger, if Shakespeare is any authority : Not all the water in the rough, rude sea Can wash the hahn olf from an anointed km:-;'. And apart from the guardianship of the tutelary gods, Mr Seddon can be trusted to look out for himself. Of course, during his absence we Will be at a loss what to do. It was the mikindest cut of all for him to refuse to give returns to Parliament until he n.-. turned himself. He promised Oapt. Russell that if he were allowed to go Home that full information should be given to Parliament. He repeated that promise in public at Dam virke, and as soon as the Hou.se granted him supplies for his journey and peimission to draw Rills to keep his colleagues going in his absence, he drew lack and declined to give information which might be made use of in his absence. For the next S : X months we might as well bury ourselves nr hibernate as the bears do in winter. Hud he only givui us a few tr flea, such as the lauds report, Ministerial experts'S and allowances', and the advances to settlers balance-sheet, we might have woiried along. As it is, there ate no newspapers to criticise, no returns to compare wi'h former ones, nothing in the shape of political pabulum but the well-picked banes of the session i f ISilti. However, we may look forward to flo Ms of cablegrams such as we had two years ago when the excellent Mr Ward taught the Londoners some wrinkles in finance. And while the Opposition dtserve some credit for having for the occasion diopped Party feeling for the sake of loyalty to tha Empire, it is to be regretted that they permitted the session to close without demanding that the sessional returns should be issued during the recess, so as to enable members and others to acquaint themselves with the contents, and so be in a state of preparedness for the working session. There is not tin c enough while a session is on for them to obtain a thorough grasp of the vast qnanti ics of printed trait r placed before thcin. These papers are prepared, as a rule, not to give in'ormatiun, but to mislead, and the lands report alone is one that must be compared with those of previous years to enable the seasoned critic to discover the hidden truths in it. A new member is entirely at sea in such matters without the aid of an interpreter. It must also be remembered by those who hold the Opposition blameworthy for the results of the extraordinary session, that if a hostile attitude had been taken up, us many assert should have been done, ami the Opposition had insisted that Parliament should meet as tt ual in June, the Premier would not have gone Home. The non-acceptance of the invitation by the New Zealand Premier when all the others took advantage ot it would have placed this colony ina sorry and invidious l'ght among the dependencies of the Empire, and the stigma would have rested on the Oppo sition. They, it must to remembered, are called, on occasions when the Liberals desire to be particularly sarcastic and tfl'cctive—Tories. Rut on this occasion the Socialists and Democrats have '.cut-Toned the Opposition, and the language of the addresses drawn up by them indicate that if their grammar is shaky, they arc very good imitators of the Young England Party of -10 years ago, who sang : " Let wealth and commerce, laws and learning .lie, J'.ut give us hark our old nobility." As fcr the contingent, no one not being an M lI.R. has a good word to say of it either in legard to its composition, its t-aiuing, or its possibility of succeeding in doing anything else but meeting with ridicule. A cavalryman is not made in a mouth with a few hours perfunctory diill every fine day. It is sheer hard work at the hands of picked drill sergeants to convert a recruit into a Lancer or Hussar tit for service. Probablj it will not be their lot to enter into competition w ith traiued English cavalry. It is more than likely that they will accompany Mr Seddon as a pnetorian cohoit when exhibiting himself to the Londoners, or keeping guard over his mansion and the Agent-General's establishment. As such they are not likely to be subjected to the critical remarks of Russians, Prussians and other possible foes. Another reason why it seems ungrateful on the part of Ministers to have refined returns is the fact that any statements he vo'tintarily made involving fig tires he said was hardly trustworthy. For instance, he said that the whole of the' arrears in the Advances to Settlers Department would not amount to X2"\ Seeing that in the lifst nine months of its ot orations there was £7O owing for arrears', and as it is generally known that some shocking bad marks had borrowed cheap money the Premier's statement was lcceivod w.th collitcous silence. On the very day that he assured Parliament of the flourishing condition of the department judgment was given at Fielding against one borrower for C'.i and costs, ft is little incidents like this that cause one to regret the absence of returns, so as to g'.iage the limits of Mr Seddon's veracity. Mr Seddon has cultivated a habit if making asinmrof his memoiy. that he is now {.cneially understood by those who lnvc studied him to be quite in earmst about hi-- assertions and facts, the only misfortune being that tin: facts don't lit. _ It is simply a case of the fact-i being in the wrong. These ecccntiicities arc not of much "importance when displayed at banquets and si.ciils, but they are embarrassing on the floor of the House and w li 1) transferred into Hansard. That is why Hansard U now coming to beregardtd a.- a work of fiction and taking ii- place among the shilling shocker'. It aUo gives a waitant for what I'r ed, a 'l'm y member said some year- ago : •■ s ■ la- liiwh'.li ll"' ehiil-1-liv.iril -'"Mr. Aill Millie before the Speaki r." THE kUBLMIBS KLKCTIOX. This event pn nii.-cs to provide ,' lough eon'est and a el S2 lii i.-h. The Governmviil nominee, Me Wil-fii, Ins a copious supply of gabble and a plentiful stock ot withering' epithets, wi'h which to demolish his opponent. He leg n the contest with an expiessed intention ot conducting it on his part with strict com tesy towards his oprorient. Finding his second ),.,ml Seddonism altogethci too invpid for ih- people Mho attend Is, mi-ctinjs and who helifc\ciutalui!gtheii laities i : ihty j

do their li(|Uor hot, he departed from courtesy snd tried the other thing, of which the following in a sample. "The Opposition policy i - a policy of whinin ; and wa'ling and sneaking and carping and finding fault." List night lie described his opponent as " A dishonest little prig." I'liese oxpres-ivc, if not coinplimentttry tcinis, arc received as the highest proofs of his fitness to make laws, and give support to Mr Seddon especially the latter. Mr George Fisher, who is much his superior in knowledge of slang, is also engaged ill a sort of alliance, offensive and defensive on behalf of the brewers who found their expenses in the genera! election, and Mr Seddon is so convinced that tl e light is a tough one that lie is to devote his last nigiit to singing the pra : scs of Mr Wilson and himself. As fi r Mr Atkinson, lie prefers to fight his own battle without help, uml as he uses arguments and principles, and dots it very well indeed, lie gets big audiences of people who listen and think, and who go away convinced that this candidate is a good deal above the average of politicians in knowledge and common sense, and is possessed of a fair share of brains ; but such acquisitions are not valued in these advanced days by the dominant party, and therefore he is not approved of by the seif-ccn-stituted leaders of public opinion. However his supporters are very well organised, and consider his victory as good as won. THE PREMIER'S PAPER. This moribund affair is at present like Mahomet's eollin, hanging bet we en heaven and earth, and no one knows what is to become of it. The liquidators have their bauds tied by a cast-iron injunction that they can only sell it to one party, and that party must conduct it on Liberal lines. IJ n't the chief necessity is cash, ami us Mr Seddon feelingly observed at the winding up meeting, "It was no good looking for £IO,OOO to the Liberal party ; they wouldn't find as many pence, and at the general election he couldn't get a live pound note out of the Wellington Liberals.' It is hoped that help will come from the proprietors of Libera] pipers elsewhere, failing that it will have to go to the hammer or be sold to the highest tenderer like so much rubbish. No sane .nan or company would dream of investing a huge sum m so ticklish a speculation as. a newspaper bound down to a discrcditei cause for six years. Bes'des who would be the judge of what is or what is not, Liberalism ?