POLITICAL NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 330, 20 August 1898, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES.

(BYTKLEKUAPH SPECIAL COIIKESPONDKNT) Wellington, Last Night. THE PREMIER AND MR TAYLOR. Something approaching a scene occurred this afternoon between the Premier and the member for Christchurch. Mr Taylor had made some remarks about the chairman of the Police Commission having promised him a copy of the evidence taken before the Commission, but he had not got it, owing to the Premier having instructed the chairman not to give it to him ; Mr Seddon, in fact, caused the chairman, like a schoolboy, to break Itis promise. The Premier excitedly rose and said Mr Taylor's statement was a gross fabrication and a most untruthful statement. Capt. Russell moved that the Premier's words bo taken down. The speaker said the Premier had not uttered them in such an offensive nature as to warrant words being taken down. Capt. Russell: "Do you rule, sir. that I cannot move the motion ?" The Speaker: "No ! Is it the wish of the House that the motion should be moved ?" The response to this was that the "Ayes" were completely drowned by the "Noes," and there the matter ended? INSPECTION OP MEAT. The inspection of meat provided for by regulation under the new Abbatoir and Slaughtering Act will include a provision that the Inspector's must examine all stock before and immediately after slaughter. The viscera, pluck, etc., of each animal are to be hung on a hook numbered to correspond with a hook upon which the carcase is placed, so that the Inspector's may thoroughly examine them, as it is impossible for the Inspector to be actually present when the viscera is being removed, especially where a largo number of butchers arc employed. The foreaoiDg provision is considered adequate for all requirements. THE BUDGET DEBATE. Mr Scobie McKenzie was in great form last night, and he made a most damaging attack on the policy of the Uovernmeut. Neither the Premier nor tin: Minister for Lands, according to the Post, appeared to enjoy the castigation that each received in his turn, and a close observer would have marked an appreciation of the hits made, even upon the faces of the u:em bers tied to the Premier's chariot wheels, Mr McKenzic spent some time in discounting the value of the surplus claimed by Mr Seddon. The Post says that the very existence of the surplus is discreditable, rather than meritorious to the Premier Treasurer, and his cool effrontery in using his surplus as a claim to popular support would be ludicrous ; but for the fact that it is trading on the ignorance of his fellow citizens. Suppose, it asks, we granted that the surplus were a financial success, could we, as the member for Dun°din pertinently asks, weigh it in the balance against ths abuse of patronage, the political immorality and the multitudinous acts of petty maladministration that are rapidly demoralising the public life of the colony. The whole political atmosphere reeks of " colour " intrigue. Supporters of the Government knew this even better than its opponents, but in only too many instances their hands are tied or their moral sense is blunted. The slur upon the public life of the colony is only increased by the knowledge that the Government's 4 sins are so despicable in their meaness. Ministers will not commit a big sin because they fear the consequences, but they build upon a revolting system of electoral debauchery."