POLITICAL NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 355, 18 October 1898, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES.

(by telegraph- special correspondent) Wellington, Last Night. GO VERN M ENT CAUCUS. The Ministerial party are more than usually reticent as to the proceedings of to-day's caucus, and in reply to enquiries made all that one can gather is practically that it will depend altogether on the actijn of the Opposition as to whether or not the session will last a month or five weeks longer. I hear that some of the party expressed themselves strongly against the proposal submitted by the Premier to drop so many Bdls on the Order Paper. This was specially resented by those members in charge of private measures, of whiah there are neari}' 30 still on the paper, and many of which will of course be slaughtered before the end of the session, in company with a still larger number of policy Bills, which wc have bceu repeatedly told must be passed, even if the House sat till Christmas. j THE TUAPEKA SEAT. i It appears to be generally concluded that Mr Rawlings, the Opposition can- , didate, will win the Tuapeka seat, ; vacated by Mr Larnach's death. Mr Rawlings contested the election with Mr Larnach in eighteen hundrsd and ninety six, and was defeated by only twentyone votes. The chance 3 are, therefore, that unless the Government manage to secure a stronger candidate than Mr Larnach, who personally was exceedingly popular in the district, the Opposition must win the seat. It is quite on the cards that the member for Tuapeka will be able to take his seat before the session closes, as the writ is expected to be issued to-morrow, and it is returnable within three weeks from the present time. A CURIOUS TRANSACTION. A heated debate arose to-night over the correspondence from the AuditorGeneral respecting the transference of £15,000 from the Working Railways Department to the Public Works Department. The Premier moved that the correspondence be referred to the Public Accounts Committee, but Mr G. Hutchison pointed out that if this were agreed to the House would hear nothing more of the matter, and members would have no opportunity at all of discussing the transaction. After going fully into the whole matter, which he strongly condemned, ho asked what reliance could in future be placed on figures supplied by this Government, or on any financial statement made by them. He was repeatedly interrupted by Ministerial supporters, and it was evident that members of the Government party did not relish the position, but he warmly declared that they would never know the true position of the finances of the present Government till they had an independent audit. The Premier, in replying, referred to the fact that the correspondence had appeared in papers all over the colony, which he thought was most improper, seeing that the correspondence had been withdrawn on Friday night. (The Sveaksr : " I may state that I obtained permission from the House to lay the papers on the table.") He (the Premier) complaiued that 75 per cent, of the House were placed at a disadvantage in not having seen those papers, and the Government were also prejudiced by the correspondence having been telegraphed throughout the colony without any explanation being given. He courted the fullest enquiry into the whole transaction by the Public Accounts Committee, but the committee could not possibly report on the correspondence in seven days. (Mr Buchanan : " Make it ten days.'') He was notgoin? to quibble about the time, but if fourteen days were moved he would accept it.