The Westport Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1874.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1151, 17 February 1874, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1874.

There has boon what vulgar litt'e boys would call a rum start at Wellington lately. Tho last official nonce appearing in the New Zealand Gazette, proroguing the assembly of Parliament, fixed the date at the 10th insi., and no further prorogation having b. en made, either by direct or indirect proclamation, the members ;ivng in and around Wellington assembled in solemn conclave, and gravely opened parliamentary proceedings They could not telegraph to the Governor, for he had wandered into unhnown parts. After having driven in slap dash fashion, though the settled district of the Middle Island, with scant show of ceremony to the loyal lieges waiting in highways and by-ways to do him reverence, his Excellency embarks on board his yacht, and when last heard of was somewhere among the sounds of the West Coast. Thus the zealous members of Parliament who bad gathered together in all haste in the Empire city, where left to their own devices, and possibly kept in countenance by the presence of two members of the Ministry, duly opened the session. They did nothing it is true hpyonrl paooing some formal resolutions, and next consulting the Attorney-General as to the legality of their proceedings, and learning thereby that the least said or done the soonesb mended, but they did, in effect, hold a session, brief and inconclusive, but still a session, and may, if they choose, claim their honorariums. The position of affairs is absurd, and can hardly be justified by the excuse that the exigencies of public service periodically require that the Governor and the members of bis Ministry should travel to and fro, to the neglect sometimes of details of official routine, which neglected must necessarily evoke comment, and thereafter require Ministerial explanation.