IN THE LOBBIES. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.] (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Last Night, 11.35 p.m. SPEECH BY MR J. B. WHYTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1270, 19 August 1880, Page 2

IN THE LOBBIES. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.] (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Last Night, 11.35 p.m. SPEECH BY MR J. B. WHYTE.

Vesuvhis has erupted : the supposed silent member for Waikato has epoken : and the result certainly i» not a ridiculous ono hi the Souse. The speech, as delivered, was certainly one of the most crisp of the session. I take the report of the speech ns it appears in the local paper, the Neio Zealand Timesy uucorrected. I fancy the address will be considered to do credit to the people of Waikato. His allusion to_Pyke, of Dunstan, who is notoriously the greatest rat in the House, was most telling. Mr Whyte said : — "Ho was a new member of the House, and a young politician, and he had thought ie becoming to sit still all last session and a great part of thi*, in order to learn wis dom from his eldcra in years and in politics. Amongst others he had listened attentively to the hon. member for Port Chalmers, and the result was that those highly respectable, but disagreeable, gentlemen on the the Government benches ran a very great risk of losing a humble, but faithful follower. The reason was obvious : they would not give him all he wanted. A plain an^ modest statement had been made by the Hon. the Minister for Public Works. It is true that it had a look of honesty about it ; it is true that its facts and figures were certified to by what is called a continuous treasurer, who he (the speaker) supposed by this time knew something about his business ; it was true it was supported by six as hard-headed men as there were in the Honse ; it was true that its main features were backed up by a report from some gentlemen called Royal Commissioners, who have hitherto borne a high reputation for sagacity and business knowledge ; but still he did not like it. He preferred the creed of the lion, member for Port Chalmers infinitely. That gentleman had told the House that the country was not hard up at all ; that it did not need the five million loan, in fact that the country would have been better without it; he said that public works should be pushed on as fast as ever, if not that people would leave the colony and go to Natal or somewhere else ; and he said that if we got short of money that we had nothing to do but issue Treasury Bills. Well, that was a creed that he (the speaker) liked very much, and in it the hon. member for Port Chalmers had been supported by a perfect cloud of witnesses ; foremost amongst them was that highsouled patriot the hon. member for Dunstan, whose price, as he told the House, is above rubies. He had proved beyond a doubt that the Otago Central would pay splendidly. Then there were the members for Waikato, for Franklin, and from all sides of the House who had proved conclusively that certain railways, road', court-houses, water races, &c, would pay splendidly and ought to be constructed at once. Well, In would say that he also had two railway^ several roads, two or three court-houses and post-offices, and a dozon or two wheelbarrows which he thought the Government ought to construct, and he was sure would pay at least as well as theirs, and yet the Government won't do it. No wonder, therefore, that he preferred the hon. member for Port Chxlmers as his leader ; he felt almost certain that he was the man for him and would give him all he waut'.-d. It was true he did not do it when he was in power, but he felt hurS it wm only an oversight, and because that Government had turned a sod it was also certainly true that they had spent £33,000 at the Thames end of the railway, and nothing at his (die speaker*) end, but he felt sure that if the hon. member for Port Chalmers had another chance that would not occur 'again. The only thing that made him hesitate and prevented him from going over at ones was that he would like the hon. member for Port Chalmers to g) a little more into detail, and show how we could have done without the five million lo;m, and how we could havo paid our debts. Whenever he proved what he bad s.iid then his (the speaker*) leader as regards public works will be * the M iesuulrow,' and his motto ' fire away never say die till you're do'id." In contradistinction to the common senae shown by Mr Whyto comes a motion by the ireprea-ibls JPyke, of no - confidence in the pres-enet Ministry. It is generally understood that this is becuupc the hon. gentleman hae got into a pet about the rejection of the Otago Central Kailway. He lust night declared his intention of stonewalling the Estimates, because by a majority of 33 to 28 his pet scheme was knocked in the head. Of course his noconfidenco motion will never be earned, but Government and ether unmentionable matters have feo hit his temper that he must vent his spleen wherever he is crossed. Mr Do Latour also greatly dostroyed the position ho had labored for many years to e-t-iMi.sh, by completely losing his temper and refusing to asrreo to any votes for Otago, because the Central Otago line was thrown out. He absolutely went the length of voting against the whole of the rest of the Otago votes and tried stonewalling. It was quite sad to see a young man thus tin-owing away his chances for the sake of temporarily annoying his opponents. A suicide occuncd here to-day, but I dare say you have full particulars.