PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHES

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2734, 5 November 1887, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHES

BY >• . , I Our Wellington Watchman. Tuesday pO p.m., November f, The House quite gay, aimostifroliosome, especially during;the. presentation of petitions,; and as-one petition; after another relative to.-the construction of. the North Trunk line from Stratford was handed up, sqmeof the dear old boys Became kittenish. When questiouitig '■ time; arrived,, TimaruTurnbuil was found, to |be loaded up with.interrogatives. Mr Turnbull has a manner,of poising his (head when he asks something, peculiarly unpleasant which is irressistibly suggestive of an : audacious cockatoo invifing the • byestanders to" scratch his'poll.V Steward, bolt uprightitya a Jofty and innocent hop : pole,: .propounded.;» couple- of questionsrelauvejto Government railway. employee's—without -a. blush.; ■'• ■. I ..'■ ' -.' '■''

Sydenham (Taylor," 'oped. the : Go«< ivernment.woiild see its way lo >oarry'

and 'oped the Government would not give a hanswe'lin the negative huntil he 'ad takken the'eense of WOuse," I think'the Sydenham people must be endowed with a keen sense of con-; temptuous humpr,' or they would provide themselves with a member who hadnot.suclran undying..■.en'ipity to the letter which is generally''whisper€)3' in Heaven." Mr ; Tftyior-is a • disap- •' When M-'riSes: to speak he wears an. expression which would seem to say, "Now hold your s%s;r.am:aboi|t.to be. excruciatingly, funny."* And you'get.ready to hold your .sides.accordingly, '/anticipating some 'monstrosity: of jocosity',:■■ aridI' Taylor: indulges.in some. byeplay .with his glasses,.looks round the house.and Smiles.a smile-as wide as a Chinese coffin with the lid off, and then Squeaks out some bald little stupid impertinence which is mean; and small enough to make the ghosts of all the'dead circus clowns rise from their gravos.arjd Bck him, : ■•-..- -■' : ; ■ :; ; :-v.

.Mr Ward is a new member, an. exr tremely nice young man who. would be invaluable at a bun-worry, He is the neatest creature conceivable and surveys mankind with folded arms from a lofty height as of Destiny viewed fcheieagueriohg Atlantic. rollers from his St. Helena prison; Mr Ward has a rather smallvoice-rdebil-itated probably by the two -frequent muffin-and. asked- -a question about weigl#'and measures.

Mr W. C. Buchanan also arose and asked that : hoary-headed old question- 1 atbut the firewood. If I were that. august, personage the speaker, I should; insist upon Mr Buchanan; looking-the-other way when be had a; question to; put. because he has a weird and awful 1 manner of fixing the O'Eorke with his eye before he speaks which must' be k absolutely'appalling to a person,of nervous temperament. •Mr Buchanan would never have made a. satisfactory curate to that Bishop who used to. caution his junior clergy, "ForGflwd's sake, sir, no zeal" He isone of those persons who, when he has made up his mind to attain ascertain "object, cannot be " choked off;" even if-' : you put a red-hot poker, to his n05e...... ;.

Mr Fish, of Dunedin, is aged since I last saw him. He attires himself in the traditional black frock, grey pants; white flower of a blameless life, and a double-barrelled : physioal, not a mental stoop, of; course.. He jb fluent,' but thick,' and'read' us a letter from a bom Jdt. working mau, a Government railway, employee, which, was full of the tallest sort of sentiment and pathos, which bore the strongest' family reeernblauce to the 'sentiment,' pathos-and bathos-we have' heard from the lips of Mr Fish himself;. ■

Mr T. Mackenzie, with a frpwn, asked a question relative ;to>tho registration of elector's, and aivery necessary reform was-promised. Then Mr T. Mackenzie, with'a frown, -.asked "a ■question about ■"■ the Cardinis'arvenis, which I am Happy to say only- means a Cahfornian thistle. Mr -T., Mackenzie, with a frown,/objects tp Californian thistles—Having a national prejudice in" favor • of: the Scotch variety.

By the way, Ministers Bhape very, well, and-answer questions like gentlemen, not like 'Owling 'Arries in a Discussion Forifm. In the absence of Major Atkinson—unwell,; though he was bright and clear in the evening when propounding his linancial State ment-the. Hon Mr Fisher led the House, which "George" did in kis very best ess bouquet, primrose kids, and diamond ring manner. He .has, however, a trick of putting his' hand to the side of his head, as if he feared that his brains were bulging through, but "George" is all there.-

Among the new members, or alleged members, is Waitotara Hutchison, about whom I shall, have something to say upon another occasion. In the meantime I would respectfully request Mr Hutchison to refrain from smiling so much, if possible. I have been to sea, and was once nearly eaten by a shark, and that engaging smile, of Mr Hutchison's recalls the occasion and makes me nervous.-'

Tuesday, 7;80 p.m.

Galleries full, and the tension of anticipation regarding the coming; Financial.Statement almost painfully apparent. Regarding the matter contained in that Statement; 'itvis. hardly within my province Id "speak; The. manner in which .the .'Major,-' though far from well, delivered it'was. unexceptionable. . There was;, neither; heat, passion, nor dreariness in.hjtf tones.. His.delivery was/calm arid' statesmanlike,■ ■ and 'bespoke as one who had measured to their, profoundeat depths his respohsibilttiflSiand was that '■ House have I.'liatened,£orany utterance • whioh bo me, never have I before sd • thpioiigbly realised', that Ndw'. Zealand has statesmen,'' who' bnV soar above the orude methods of parish-vestrymen or parochial guard-' ians. As the Houbo listened, and as the proposed policy developed itself,' Surprise, and'admiratiori'.wert 1 depicted on many faces. The policy, however, in all its details, is now. before the country. It remainß.pnly. formembers to- prove the' sincerity of their professions in favor of./retrenchtaent!; by supporting it, andforv the. people of New Zealand to .support also a Government, which, there is every reasori to believe; is thoroughly in earnest.