OCCASIONAL NOTES.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 5, 6 August 1874, Page 3

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

I suppose those gentlemen Who have kindly taken upon themselves the duty of looking after the public welfare in tbe House of Assembly, and of legislating for their fellow-colonists, are now in the thick of it. It is some weeks since Parliament met, but I have not yet heard that much important business has been done ; indeed, I do not see that there was much to do, and it seems to have been the general opinion | that the present session was to be a short i one. Of course if members get to tackling ! some piece de resistance, such as an Education Bill or the like, they will be afforded ! an opportunity of twaddling away to tbeir heart's content, and tbe session may easily be spun out to its usual length or longer. I think our worthy Premier, Mr. Vogel, in an early portion of the session recommended members to speak to the point, and not to wander away into dilatations UDon a variety of extraneous subjects. This, I think, was wholesome advice. It used to be the fashion (I don't know whether it is now) for writers of leading articles in the London . « Times ' to commence on a subject about aa far distant from that proposed to be treated of as the Poles are asunder, and gradually and gracefully to work round to the main subject of the article. Something in thiq style are our M.P. speeches. A member begins perhaps by saying a few words on the subject matter before the House, and then diverges, soaring alolc and flapping the wings of his eloquence, while lie proses about some collaterial subject. I think 'Hansard' is in some measure to blame for this. I expect our members like to see their intellectual effort appear in fair print, I can well imagine a member, who is not an old hand, getting quietly hold of • Hansard ' and retiring with ife into some quiet nook where, unobserved and free from disturbance, he can gloat over his little speech, and say to himself, much in the same way as John Homer, the mythical acquaintance of our infancy, when he sat in the corner with his Christmas pie and pulled out a plum, "What a good boy am I!" There are some subjects of importance which undoubtedly require a thorough overhaul during this session. This immigration business for instance. We don't want any more Asiatics. Poor Mrs. How ard seems to have put her foot in there. I don't think, however, the good lady should be dismissed till we hear whether or not she ha-s any plausible excuse for shipping such a strange lot of immigrants. I suppose old Featherstone is likely to get it rather w?rm, but really we have raised such a clamor for immigrants that perhaps the poor Dr. has been at his wits' end how to satisfy us, and resolved we should not grumble about quantity whatever we might have to say about quality. I see Government is displaying an inclination to play a fast and loose game with the distillers. By imposing only a light duty on Colonial-made spirits people have been tempted to erect distilleries, and now as soon as several distilleries are established, a proposal is brought forward by Government to raise the excise duty. Of course, the Premier is very hard pushed for money to pay interest on our great debt, but I do not think that is any excuse for not keeping faith with the distillers. He had better endeavor to discover some more justifiable expedient for " raising the wind." Then there is this quarrel of tbe Judges, or the Chapman and Ward business. Certainly, to use a vulgar expression, there is rather a " fishy " look about this affair. 1 1 , think, however, a disposition haa been dia- | played to be rather too severe with Judge j Chapman, and perhaps Judge Ward has I been somewhat too hasty and officious. The telegraph is quite new among us in New Zealand, and whatever may be the case at home, the law here as to ordering the production of telegrams has not been j clearly defined. lam rather disposed, with Mr. Yogel, to regard Judge Chapman's action as merely an " error of judgment." Of course we Britishers, unlike the Yankee*?, immediately set up our backs on ! the slightest indication of pnrtiality in a judge. It ia to be hoped the law on this subject of telegrams will be definitely settled during the present session.