SKETCHES OF THE NELSON STONEWALLERS. [BY OUR WELLINGTON CORRESPONDENT.]

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1431, 3 September 1881, Page 4

SKETCHES OF THE NELSON STONEWALLERS. [BY OUR WELLINGTON CO RRES PONDENT.]

AX w « ') ' in ly bo (iidfitably dovotrd to t.'if-c wOlw 01 tines. L'ke the situation tlu\v Jia\u been jiisMhiiiL-iitul m biimrmfj <il)iiiU, tliuy aii- nf jinvi 1 '! mmm. i'ltt n a m.m of jjood seeond-tate .tbilifcy, wlio has lioielofnio pursued i.itler a rosper table path in politics. He lias all along been esteemed a fairly srood m.in, who«.i utterances are listened to with somi degree of attention I shoalrt sly ho \vuin a fair way of establ'shintr for himself a good second-class icpuUtion, he has never been esteemed <i man wanting 1 in either aim or judgment ; but 1 am bound to say ins present escapades are not at all likely to assist in establishing his character. Between him and his Nelson colleagues there is this distinction, that while the others are looked upon as nothing better than most 1 expectable old wives, lie has been all along legauled as rattier a piomising young politician. One sinner, we are told, destioyed a multitude of good men, and on tins occasion, I am afraid, Pitt has developed the corrupt influences. Shepherd and CJibbs are in the truest sense of the word i expectable old ladies They aie a dieary, monotonous, di aw ling pair, whose talk is always painful to listen to, and the latter lias a most e\ct utiating a oiee, almost amounting to an impediment of speech and imbecility of manner. Asaiule, they speak to empty benches and a dcseited galleiy , still they keep on then weausome harangues to all intents and purposes well satisfied with themselves and their achievement. Although well advanced in ye.us, Mr Levestam is quite new to politics. .He has got a lew shortoutImk's, which at times spaiklos into good, .smart lepartee In hit. oulinaiy moods, however, lie has got an intense oainestness ot manuei, which, coupled with his years ami implied expeiieneo, nevei fails to e\ei cisc a ceitam amount of eiieet upon the House and auditoiy. He is about the last man you would associate with the stupid, 111-n.itiued piaetues in which he i.s .it piesont embaiked. Mi Huisthouse is Known to l)e latlier a mixed cli uactei His style is piominuitly that ot the countiy yokel, and when he does take his speech m Ins band, its buidcn iin.in.ilih amounts to this • ' I am a young man fiom the ciumtiee, but you don t git o\e, me."' Mi Bast ings is the last lepntible man m the obstiiictiouist i\imp. He )b not a NeKon man, and Ins mteu'st in the melee .nisus out of tin; tact tint undci the u-.vdjust inent pioposaK it is ]noposed to wipe out his eh utoiat* altogctliLi He is, m evniy resjiect of the woid, a " know inrr card ' He sen co (Jod and Mammon to b-ttci advantage than any other man I e\ ci met, and on this OLcasion lein.iuis tine to the %Lisabtity of Ins u< 11 e.uned icput.ition Hv h is t ikcn good (.ne to do just enough in the stonewalling business to keep light with hi^ couslitiuiicv without n.sking the inipatation of being a liieaniiiL'luss" ob sttuctionisL l[c h:ib .succecdt d m picking up a bit ot acipuued wit, and he maii'iged to enact his pait in the stonewalliiigwithontmthe slightest degteostirnng up any tcchng of 4.01 eue^ consi'(|uent theieupon Mi Hastings, w hile hau.issmg the (iovoriiment as he did, made the thing so \ciy plca>ant that lie might with ]>eiicL-t good giare h.ue gone o\ei and nibbed noses with them the n"\t minute The iuespiessil)le Dick Seddon stands next on the libt. fk has got no mteicst, ic.il or imagmaty, in the picscnt sttuggle, but unlike eveiy othci pcison 111 politics, he dcliglits to listen tv his, ow 11 voice, and this bit of tin moil a/lorded him an oppoitnnity which he could not po-sibly resist Left to himself he mvauably falls to pieces, but when he gets tacked on to tne coat-tails of a reputable minonty, he swells out into impoitanrp AVith no political chaiactci to 105,., , x w 1( [ 0 ( [ OOl o f utteuiucc at his. command, ho win, undei ocitain ciicunist.uices lender himself a complete boic. Jle lus got a cutting .styk', not 111 the way of sucasm, but 111 tli.it of \ ulg.u tnade that de\ elope all the blusteiing undeidoiie instinct of a icmotely situated goldliclds constituency, and it is only on an occasion of this kind that his seivicc-s aic acceptable to any paity Speight and Jlanis aie meiely doing a little by-play, happy appaiently to find an excuse oi ,w\ kind toi hauassnig their natuial enemies, the (iovemninit. (Jiey is also putting in :i spoke ]iist snflicient to lend Ins countenance and cniouiagcment to tlictiumoil. Heis doing pist enough to keep them to the sticking point, and no 11101 « He is a fine ciaftv old gentleman, Sir Geoige, and itisieally amusing to witness how his dupes dance when he pqies.