PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2193, 29 July 1886, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

(by telegraph —special correspondent.] The No-Confidence Debate. "Wellington, Tuesday. The House was in a very ill-temper towards tho small hours this mo riling at the Premier's determination to foice the Loan Bill through at half-past three o'clock. He was appealed to by members on all sides, including some of his strongest supporter*, to consent to the adjournment after Sir J. Vogel'a upeecii. It was in 'vain also that Major At,kin^pn and Mr liolle&ton made an earliest protest against being kept to such a, late hour .of 6ho morning, especially when .it' was evident that the debate could not possibly conclude till breakfast timo at lea-st. Sir Rt>bert Stout and some of his mdjoi ity turned a deaf ear to all entreaties and absolutely refused to alter his determination. Evbntnally about 4.30, during Mr Moss' speech, the Premier was seen in con venation with the Speaker, and immediately after Sir Maurice O'Rorke informed the House that their speeches could not be further icported, as the Hansard statl had broken down. Major Atkinson then made another appeal to the Premier and u»ed, as an argument, that it was an unheard of thing for a noconfidence motion to be proceeded with in the absence of the reporting staff. This had as little effect as their other appeal. Meantime, the bell 'had to be rung frequently- to keep a quorum together, and of the few members present nearly half of them were asleep on the benches. In every 'division also called for by the Opposition it was lost till at length they only lo&t it by two votes, upon which Sir It. Stout evidently fearing defeat on the next division, got one of his supporters (Mr Cowan) to move the adjournment of the debate at ten minutes past 5 o'clock, which was at once agreed to, and the House rose. The [ Premier's action last night greatly irritated the Opposition, and it is. freely spoken that it will prolong the session till the middle of [August at least. A strong effoit will be made to take the division to-night, but it is scarcely likely that the House will endure; another all-night sitting meiely at tb* dictation of the Premier. •

_ ; *" "Representation. | of the Representation Bill >is' iioiflikely iv b§ t<iken to? u clay or twn yet, owing to tbe no-ctmtidencd debate, and no date lias yet been fixed for uoir*ideiing the report of the Govornment Insumnce committee.

The Loan Bill. I .The Government whips .estimate that | tbe. .amendment on the Loan Bill will be : defeated by ten at least, but there are the usual number of doubtfuls who have not ; yet declared one way or the other. It was the subject of general remark last night that the speeches of the Premier and Colonial Treasmer wer,e entirely opposed to each other. The Premier made a masterly defonco of hi* Government, strongly full, of course, of the special pleading business, while the speech of the Colonial Treasurer created a feeling of irritation and uneasiness, and was altogether in Btrong opposition to the views of his chief.

"Puff" on the Situation. I send you the following extracts from to-night's Press, showing the opinions held on last night's proceedings by " Puff,' 5 who is regarded as an able Parliamentary authority : — Koreroriura sat np all night, for we won't go home till morning, such jolly dog* are we. Stout does not quite know how to manage it. No, he la stiff when he ought to yield, and he gives way just when he ought to be, as stiff as a ramrod. The gentle Julius was in a sweet temper last night ; talked to the House like a Dutch uncle. ' Oh ! very much so, indeed. I wonder' they stand being bully-ragged in that fashion. They make a lot of allowance for his phy3ical infirmities, so they do,- and quite right, too, but lie ought to bear that m mind, and not to pre-sume upon it. Poor chap, I daresay he ha& plenty to try his temper if the truth was known. Still it is not wise to tight so wild as he has been fighting lately. He didn't UkeStout'.s speech last night, It was more against him than anybody else. Of course it was. Stout meant it to be, too. He wanted to nail the Ministry down to an onti-Vogel policy for the future. Pleasant for Vogel. Why does he put up with such treatment? How are the mighty fallen. I wi&h some convenient great aunt or somebody would mount the golden stair, and leave him £2000 a year, on condition that he lived in England, and never went to the colony again. Oh ! such a condition would be quite supeifluous; he'd be off like a shot to make the money fly. Well, th.it'a all the harm I wish him, and so .viy all of in.

Wasting Time. Wednodny. The proceedings in the House this afternoon were certainly not calculated to givo one the impression that the session was near its end, as there were two motions for the adjournment of th« House in order to raise discussionon questions put to Ministers, one of which lasted nearly an hour and a half. Mr Moss, the member for Parnoll, was responsible for the space of time that occurred in the second case. He asked the Government whether they were aware that f-ince April, 1882, persons c-rmnifcted for trial have been and are btill subjected to the same restrictions and privations? as convicted prisoner's. Jn putting 1 the question he instanced the case oi Te Wliiti and the other native prisoners who were deprived of their tobacco since being committed fur trial, and enlarged on the great hardship caused by this enforcement of the prison rules in this respect. Mr Tolo said the regulations as to the prohibition of smoking in the gaols of the colony, had been in force for some years, and lie considered it no hardship at all, as it was an unnecessary luxury. He thought there w.i'a a ; piim.lr f.icie case, at any rate, ag.unst un- ! convicted prisoners, or they would not have boon committed for tiial. This reply did not satisfy Mr Moss, who moved the adjournment of the House. He protested strongly against the doctrine laid down by the Minister of Justice, that prisoners who were not found guilty should be regarded with suspicion, and again referred to the helpless position of the Maori prisoners, who were so cruelly treated by

not boing allowed their favourite wood. Te Ad then took up the case, and said it was absolutely necessary that Te Whiti should have tobacco occasionally, a^ he could not breathe without it. Wi Pore also ajioke in the same Btrain, and he was suppoitcd by Major Atkinson, Colonel Trimble, and several other members, who urged that the rules might be relaxed in Te Whiti 's case. The Minuter for Justice said he paid a visit to the Terrace Gaol on Sunday last, and he could scarcely get inside the building, owing to the largo number of mom hers of Parliament who were there (laughter.) He saw Te Whiti on that occasion, and he represented to him that he had a bad chest and required some tobacco. He (MrTole) said he should havesomeif the doctor recommended it. He was subsequently examined by the doctor who said ho had never cotno acnvs a sounder chest than Te Whiti's in his life. Tho House laughed heaitily at this, and Mr Tole said ho had visited all the large gaols of colony, and had never had any complaints on this j-core. The discussion still went on, and eventually the X^ioruier robe and haid ho should endeavour to get the standing ordeis amended, so as to prevont a member from moving the adjournment of the House on such trivial matters without first obtaining the consent of the House. He said he was surprised at, the attitude of members on this question, and thought it would be more creditable if they made some effort to stop tho pernicious habit of smoking, which was doing such damage to the youth of the colony. The discussion was not concluded at the dinner ad journtucnt,

Dr. Pollen's Pension. The Public Accounts Committee hat* reported adversely on Dr. Pollen's petition for three years' pension from the year 1873 to 1870, amounting to £12(iO. The committee considered that Dr. Pollen, who has had office in several Ministries since he left the Civil Service, has no claim on the colony for that particular time*