THE CABINET.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4787, 31 July 1894, Page 2

THE CABINET.

t Stoma nesting.

(From the Evening Press" .< A meeting of the Cabinet.was bid : yesterday, during the hours of Divine i Service,at the Ministerial residence in - Tinakori road. The following particulars !-• have been obtained by our reporter «y? . Evening,, Presto MsmL • situation in which ho was 'stationiUP. could not sco the faces of tho speakers,: but.has, guessed, atithoir' personalities from tho sound oithcir. voices,-"This is probablo-tho first Cabinet meeting tho proceedings of which havo been fully" roportedj eitlor here, or at Home:; ', ,S--<ld—ilf Well, Jolin',' you havo done it this time., . These follows aro at ill over tho shop. What with your beastly temper, and yards"surprise parties" and Beeves' d—-d supercilious, airs, tho party organisation is all up a tree. • Several speakers hero broke in at , once. iTOien the. hubbub had quieted down a little, Mr McKonzie went on t Why don't ye sond Cliarlio Mills round to. them and tell thorn 'thatwe'llho stand : Mr S—(ld—uSond Charlio round P Tlmts played out, .by Ho can't make anything out Jof. them." .What i tho good of.jhinting to a follow about his bridge or his Court Houfap. 1 You can'tevon get tliem to beliovo tliS : wo aro gping ; to slmve a. red cont to give them for anything. Tlioy reckon it's all going down tho throat of this blasted bank. : After sonio further interruptions, Mr ■ft " s ws heard to say: I really must, eongratulato.you gentlemen on- the way you have managed your business. It seems to me that Mr-Ward's, judgmont as a finaneier.has been quite as remark* ablo as Mr McKeiizie's suavity of demeanour; both, howoyqr, : hayo ; togivo place to the far-sebing msdoni and high moral feeling displayed by tlie Premier iu appointing private-detectives to shadow his colleagues. .•Mr Meevcs.is right there, Scddoii:..; It is all very well for you to talk about my " but you know as 1 well as : I do it is'" needs must-when t-ho;dovil drives." Thero was no need, Commission,-nor for- yotrto " insist" ou. putting-iu old Eraser as Sergeant-at-Arms, dead in the teeth of the Disqualification Act. It was that that'first demoralised tho party. I can't make out yet what made you do it; .< You say you promised him, as if you care twopence whether you promised him or not, Mr S—dd—n i»lt. is .116 good our wrangling over tlicgc things, What about : those surpluses -we: have been telling tho country about for two years past—are tlioy all in my eye f Mr W—-td:;; N0,,; certainly,, hot. lou 11 seo how the surplus'i s arrived nt if you look at tho tables attached to tho Financial Statement. Mr S—dd—ll: Financial Statement bo d—d. It is all very lino for you to say this. At tho sam'o timo ybit know you have got to fly round to get this money to send to Loudon liko somopoor hard-up devil who has s bill to meet ou the fourth. Mac ,is getting frightened about' it,':and ! Bo am I.' That'is what Mac meant by saying that 110 wished to God ho could leave tho Treasury Benches with' honour."' 't Sir P. B — i y i.By JoveT -Didhosay that. That was letting tho cat. out of the bag. ~ (To.,Mr McKcnzlo/ couldn't you lcavo the Treasury benches with honour p

Mr Mc—e: I dtdna say anything of tho sort. If I did, I didua moan it, anyllOW. ;s - ; v;, HrEr^—s: Possibly it did not occur to you that, other people might attack such a meaning to your ivords/ Possibly I may bo permitted to suggest that Ward should be neked'tb toll us how things really stand, both with our own finances, and, as far as ho knows, with regard tp the position of the Bank; (To MrW-—d) V' Is it'true that you iilado your surplus by that ingenious littlo dcvico' of putting paper into tho Consolidated Fund, and taking- cash out to redeem Treasury bills within two or three days before tho end.of thoyear ? If you did, I cannot refrain from expressing my admiration for its combination,of skill and simplicity! It is tho very' perfection of tho «fSM(are artem. I suppose lyon thought, now that Atkinson wasl dead and out of tho Houso, tlicro was nononsiinsc.too great for you to talk to these other follows. -Tho surplus is a minor matter, howover. Tell ns-llow much docs Murray wantP How much is ho going to get before wo arodono with him? ; ; Mr W-—d; Well, gcntlomcn, I—must, only' say to you as I said to thb House, that I look on your demand for further information, on these points as, in the highest degree,"' unpatriotic. Besides considerations of patriotism, it is moreover quite legitimate thatwo should' • take into, account to somo extent our own prospects and our own aspirations. With all duo defereuco to thoso present, there all too many of us herefor it to bo advisable that we should know important State secrets of • this sort. The knowledge of theniiwith the consequent podsi.bilily of their leaking out might not only injuriously affect. tlio credit of tlio colony, but also imperil our oxistenojas a. Ministry, and thus. imperil among other things tlio.fulfilment of tlio aspirations after tho Agent-Generalship of the talented gentleman who last addressed you. For every reason you arc far bettcr to leave these things to me,or rather to Murray and to mc. I must lcavo you for the present, as I liavo an appointment to lunch with him. (Exit.) Mr- B—dd-r-u: I supposo : Ward'll rnako it all right somehow. Mr M—-o; I don't half liko it, Mr E-—s : Next timo I cnlti' a - Ministry it will bo a Ministry composed of gentlemen. ■

Mr S—dd—n: Gentlemen, bo hanged. ' You'll enter no more Ministries that I have anything to do with, You'ro tho man that has driven away our best , men—the men'that were the backbone ; ot the party. Youdrovo away Earn- - shaw last year. What hitvo you got "aimer's hacltlcs tip about now? These ' Labour fellows havo a securer position " with their constituents tjiaii dither you , or I have. Tlicy don't want any assistance from us. It is no good trying to bully-rag theni, 1 Sir P.B—ytoMr E—s ; That nonsensoin your Lahoui Journal about the Colony m Peru will coins iio end of Catholic votes.' The C* won't stand looso talk aboutinarriago and that sort of thing. ! . Mr S—dd—n i Neither will decent people of any other denomination. • Mr I!—s : Ah, possibly not in tho i immediate present, but 1 if you look to i the future of the humanMr S-dd-n, interrupting : Keep that sort of tommy-rot for your constituents, if it goes down with them, Itcc'r- ' tainly woltld not go down with mine, lou just give the Opposition tho very thing they want, to work tipa religious cry against us. I ain't meaning the religious , people only, but all, decent people. Hanged if I would not voto against tho Government myself for publishing such rubbish if I wasn't Premier, Ilmd to stow- away your precious paper lest my family should get hold of it. _ Sir P, 33——y: I threw it behind tho lire tho moment Isawit;' • • i Mr C^-rr—l: Our people are supposed not to bo so particular in these matters as you .English, but l ean assure you that a-good; many" of tho natives are much shocked. • V ' ■Mr It—s;Ah,\ of coarse, you .'must say ditto tho Premior. That oxtra'£loo of houso allowance has, of course, notli- " "" ing to do with'yonr subserviency. Thcro is trouble now browing in tho Ho'uso about that.' ' ; ,i;.v • i • • : ■ Hero our. reporter -thought it would probably be. TO wcll for him to steal away, unobserved; but did not altogether succeed " m doiug 'so.- Horeached the door pursued by a cliorus : •of angry A'oiceSj suggestions of!' kick liim out, ; followed, ■ unfortunately, byth'o performance. Wo fearthero will be somo in persuading him to attend a~ ;Oabmcl meeting again -n m , >- j [ # ln some cases we liavo found it lieces- ■W , sary _to substitute. more modorato -C I pressions for those actually used.j