THE LOBBIES. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Last Night. Hamilton Boundaries.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1416, 30 July 1881, Page 3

THE LOBBIES. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] Wel lingt on, Last Night. Hamilton Boundaries.

This afternoon the Borough of Hamilton Boundaries, Rill had a slight encounter in committal It was taken charge of by Mr Dick, the initial clauses being passed without comment. Proceeding to the anow-ixnporUut provisions, &Jr Speight AbjocWd to the bjirJbeing made retroaptjetirer hit; o|bjfc£Swobeing founded on the Sglßl^i^w^rg^ra^tits about the evils of retrospective" femsUtioa. In combatting these objections, Mr Dick referred to the fact that a sum 'of *£tOOO had been borrowed by the borough for the construction of the bridge, and that transaction was in danger of being tp so facto null and void, unless the statutes of the borough were declared to be legal, as upon the date thereof. Whether the borough will thank the committee for sustaining that argument is not by any means clear to the casual observer. It suggested the idea for a convenient method for getting rid of a liability without incurring the odium of repudiation. He further argued that the other transactions would be similarly invalid, and thafc everyone who had paul borough rates would have a legal right to claim re- i payment thereof. Probably the escape | of borough councillors from a liability of j this kind will reconcile them to a possible j freedom from the bridge debt. Mr Murray gave the Colonial Secretary some slight j assistance in, enforcing his arguments. Mr Whitftker was also present and on the alert, but took no part in the debnte. He wa» observed, however, to make a private communication to Mr Speight, which had the effect of silencing further civil on that particular point. Mr Montgomery, however, had au objection which he»Mted ostensibly in the interests of the Hamilton i ratepayers. It wa3 that there was no evidence before them that the contents of the bill had been duly published in the district. The objection wbb insisted upon, j and it was not until the member in charge gn,T« a guarantee th&t the bill would not be finally dealt with until that fact had been set at rest, that the bill was allowed to pass through committee, ar.d on tha House resuming it was reported without amendment.

The No-Confidence. The closing hours of the no-confidcnc« debntp were characterised by nothing out of the common. In the early part of the debate «n mdisposition on the part of members to speak was apparent. To such an extent was thafc the case that on various occasions the debate wa? in danger of collapsing altogether, and once or twice the whips had to throw themselves icto the breach, otherwise the thing would have come to an untimely end. Getting towards ite close, more eagerness became apparent, and members neemed nuxious, if not to address themselves to the question, at least te address themselves to their constituents. Amongst the last efforts of this kind I have to note those of Messrs G^or^e Jones, Richard Seddon, and other hon. members of that brilliant stamp. Mr Jones stumbled through an bour'» speech tmudftt painful pautes and laboured efforts, distressing even within earshot Seddon is a bore of a different type. He is a slogger of the vulgar goldfields type, he has got a power of lanpuaye, coupled with a poverty of thought, the disparity being simply marvellous. By the time these two men had indulged their idiosyncr.i<;ies the evening adjournment had aimed. On re-asbembling J. B. Fisher took the speech in hand, and occupied the House rather more than an hour. At 11.40 a division was called, and resulted as you arc already advised, Intentions of the Government. It is believed that no more will be heard of the bills upon which the original motion was made, but tVut the Government will provide a ten shillings subsidy ! for local bodies, with which they will have to be content until next session. Mean time redistribution of seats, the estimates, the Bailway Construction Kill, , and the Public Works Statement will be brought down as soon as possible, and an effort made to pass them through as quickly as possible. Redistribution will, it is thought, .stand a good show of getting through. Of course there will be a great deal of squabbling over the adjustment of the schedules that will be more of a personal than a party contest, so that although there may be delay there is Hot l\kely to be successful opposition. On the )>ro.i<l principle of the biU there is not likely to be much opposition. Altogether, «f the session runs vts natural time, it is not likely to end before the midair of September. To-night the Gamine ami Lotteries Bill is iv committee, ami by way of a set-off against the serious woik of the preuons day members are getting an immense amount of fun out of the gambling question.