WELLINGTON NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 250, 22 February 1898, Page 3

WELLINGTON NOTES.

[from our own coRRrsroNDENT]

Wellington, Febiuary 13. RFCESS SPEECHES. MEMBERS seem reticent in meeting their constituents this recess. Mr Charles L wis got over Ins story of the session and cleared his conscience at once; Doctor Scddon has been singu'arly profuse even for him when on the Coast, but has had to resort to hole and corner me tings since he crossed the boundaries of Westland. Mr Ca-lman in his mild way Ins been indiscreet in Auck'and in hinting at a probabili y of his Ministry ceasing to be a Ministry in the early future. Other Ministers have been as dumb as their own dumb dogs, which is ominous. A few days ago Mr Tommy Taylor unburdened himself at Christchinch, a'-.d the notable feiture of his speech was that it was, on every po'nt, jut such a one us uny Conservative member might have made, and he finished up by saying that " Under no conditions would he support for one hour a Conservative Ministiy." There can only be one solution of this apparent contradiction. Mr Tommy Taylor's political eye can ste but one party capable of governing New Zealand—the Lefo Wing. With Sir Robert Stout; as their guide in the House they kept their ambitions somewhat in the back ground, but it wa9 there all the same, and it was the custom of the press reporters, wheu i'h search of something entertaining, to draw the Left Wingers and retail the results of the pumping in the gallery. The combined results of these private tescarcheß may be summed up as follows. Tommy himtelf believes that the salvation of the colony depends on him being Premier and Colonial Secretary. Mr Pirani h convinced that the wheels of State can only icvolvc without friction by him becoming Premier and Minister of Lands. Mr G. J. Smith U calmly confident that confidence will never be restored until he is sworn in as Premier and Treasurer; and Mr W. H. Montgomery has long held to a steadfa't belief that the times will remain out of joint until he, as Premier and AttorneyGeneral, takc3 them under his wing. The forlorn four being still Liberals, thinking the same thoughts as Conservatives, voting with Conservatives and making Conservative speeches, would not permit any Conservative to remain an hour in office. The fact is these eccentric young men have not yet learned that the tit'e a man may call himself by does not indicate what he is in these days. " I am a Liberal" sounds all fight, but it is deeds, not words, tint men are tested by, and the three who sat through the previous Parliament and dotted Mr Seddou's i-s, knowing him then for an autocrat who kept information back from Parliament, must not expect tbe country to accept them now at their own valuation because they are now in revolt. Penance must be done, and an apprenticeship served to other leaders before they can hope to become leaders themselves. It is possible that, after having duly purged themselves of sham Liberalism and publicly recanted, they may be accepted as Conservative probationers by Capt. Russell and his friends, but even then they will rank as recruits. THE PREMIER AS A COURTIER. The bye-election being now in full blast, Mr Seddou's time is very fully occupied. Ministerial duties having been neglected for a period of six weeks, there is a vast amount of back work to pull up, but that must needs wait while the Premier courts voters He is regular in his attendance at the various meetings of the societies and leagues, and when swaggering fails he tries abject abosement to gain votes. Yesterday, in company with the Secretary of the Licei'sed Victuallers Association, he made a round of the hotels understood to be wavering in their faith. Much champagDe flowed and " Set 'em up agaiD, landlord," was the order of the day. But this unusual generosity will not avail him much. His candidate, Mr Kirk, is no favourite with the trade, and Mr Duthie being a moderate as far as liquor legislation is concerned will get a big vo'.e among them, for it is understood that the vote in tins election is to be a go as you please one. The marvellous change, too, in the Premier's attitude to the working man is very remaikable, as Mr Duthie po'nted out at his preliminary meeting. Before he went Home to rub shoulders with royalty and the upper ten, no one but a wot king man was considered by him to have a right to stand as a candidate for working men's suffrages. Now he seeks a standard bearer to carry his flag in the mercantile world. The Wellington Club, where such people resort has been the subject of much condemnation at his hands as a hut Led of Conservatives, a place where Tory plots were concocted to discredit his Government, and during the past week he has interviewed two merchants who are members of that club and requested thotn to allow themselves to stand as his nominees, and both refused. Then Mr Kirk, an ex-Clubman, was chosen, and this coquetting with people who move in the best circles is taken to mean either that Premier Sneddon is fast drifting into Toryism himself or he is endeavouring to obtain a candidate whose standing will cloak his own shortcomings in some degree. It would have served him in better stead to have given Mr Duthie a walkover than to suffer the cru.hing defeat he will sustain. The Socialists and some of the Unions will probably start a candidate of their own—a Mr McLaren, who discourses on the evergreen theme on the wharf on Sunday afternoons. He is a commonplace looking man, about 30 years of age, and has the shibboleths of his cult off by heart. There is a painful headache iu the inconsequent reasoning of those people who desire to see the State boss all industries. The State must have managers to run the shows fci them, and if they are to be made to pay their way the State manager must get a day's work out of the State workmen. He is, then, exactly in the same position, as far as the workers are concerned, as if he were manager for a capitalist or a syndicate. The hopeful schemes of " Scientific " Socialism and "Philosophic "Anarchy arc ou'y dreams of an ideal statf, for which an ideal people must be made, and the making of such a c.mmuniiy will require the slow evolution of a thousand years. Figs might be taught to grow on thistles by proper grafting, but the grafting must be done and the thistle must be trained and educated. The State Socialists argue that mankind in its system of Government started with barbarism, then feudalism, then individualism, and will reach perfection in Socialism. This arrangement is pure fancy, and if reversed would be just as true, for before these lands were colonised the natives lived in the purest form of Communism known in history, and still they were barbaiiaos. Ihe ridiculous efforts of the Liberals to elevate the masses have borne the inevitable fruit in many ways, and the Upper House is a fair example of the futility of endeavouring to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Having failed so ludicrously in either swamping the Council with his tools or depriving it of its constitutional rights, Mr Seddon belittles it and pronounces his sentences of extinction against it. In his Hokitika speech he said that " only seven or eight of the whole of the members of the Legislative Council were fined to hold their position." That was how the West Coast Times reported him. " He however, sent a correction to the effect that what he did say was that of the 17 life members who voted to lay aside the Old Age Pensions Bill not more than seven or eight were men of ability and fitted for the pos'tion they held." This of course implies that the Pinkertons, Riggs, Reeves, Jones, Jennings and Jenkinfous

are men of ability and fitted, etc. He is also very profuse in promises just now of seats in the same chamber to people in Wellington, supposed to have influence with electors. A few weel>s will tell us how his own pow3r Ins vanished with the voters here, and the Seddonians will be found chanting the verse from Kipling which runs : Now we must come away, What are you out of pocket ? Sorry to spoil your play But somebody says we must pay. And the candle s down to the socket, The horrible tallowy socket.