THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1482, 3 January 1882, Page 3

THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

The Otaoo Daily Tiwet sayn :— ln some places it ia true that furious Radioala have been returned by overwhelming majorities without the •lightest regard to peraonal fitness. But ©?en these have been returned much more because they were furious than because they were Radical!. These constituencies only wanted members that could be depended upon to repiesent a good, downright, uureusonings blind hatred of the Hall Ministry— who had taken away their railway shed or committed other enormities of that character, — and the political opinions of tho candidates, we may be «ure, were altogether a minor consideration.

The Dunedin Star says ;— Out of a total of ninety-one European members thirtyfive are declared Ministerialists and fortyone either pronounced on the side of the Opposition or pretty sure to be found there/ Whether the whole four Maori mem W? will be against tbo Gorernment, as duttyg 1 the last session, remains to be seen. \ But, presuming thin to be the case, the Oppobitian as at pretent existent can count on forfcy-five votes. Fourteen of the newly-6lected members have declared themselves neither one way nor the other, although the large majority of these have indicated more or less approval of th§! general policy of Ministers, especially on a point which is pretty certain to be made an immediate ground of attack when Parliament meets, namely, the conduct of .Native affairs in connection with the West Coaht troubles. There is nothing therefore whatever in ths present aspect of things political to justify the frantiodelightexpressed by the Opposition Press, who conceive the battle to be won before even the contending armies have taken the field. It must be recollected in judging the situation that Ministers hold the key of the position in that they have the opportunity of plaoing their policy before Parliament and the country with a House of Representatives, the sections of which, from the nature of the case, will be held very loosely by party ties, if we except tho more immediate adherents of the Government.

The ITaioke's Bay Mercury says : The new Parliament consists of ninety-one European members and four Maori representatives. The number of members reelected who sat in the last Parliament is forty-four ; the number who sat in previous Parliaments but not in the last is ; thus the new House will contain thirty-nine men absolutely new to Parliamentary life. It may not be amiss to bear in mind that the colony now conM3ts of ninety-one European electorates, each of which returns one member, while in the time of the late Parliament there were eighty-three electorates and eightyeight members. Thus it will be seen the iHinstituencies have returned more than half their old representatives. Looking it the proportion of old to new returned by the ten provinoial districts respectively, we ob-erve (.says the North Otago Tunes) hat Auckland bends to the hout>e five new and fourteen old members ; Otago .en new and nine old ; Taranuki its three >)ld members ; Hawke's Bay two new and •me old ; Marlborough two now men ; Southland five new members ; and Canterbury fifteen new men and six of its old representatives. Humid Southland it will be seen has gone in for the moht radical change, episcopal Canterbury comes next in this respect ; rural Taranaki has effected no change at all, and the next in the order of standing still is volcanic Auckland, formerly the stronghold of the fii-ht domagoguo and greatest revolutionist in the colony, Sir George Grey himself.