POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume XLVII, Issue 146, 17 December 1897, Page 5

POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES.

TE WHITI ON THE PBEMIEK. In a slashing speech on the Horowhenua Bill yesterday afternoon, Mr. Pirani neatly introduced an opinion of the native prophet, Te Whiti, upon our Premier. Mr. Piraui was referring to the Premier's manner in the House, and said, "He gets up in the House and puts on an air which reminds me of a saying of Te Whiti's in in regard to him (the Premier). I was speaking to Te Whiti about the Premier's noted interview at Parihaka when Te Whiti took off his coat, and I asked him what he thought of the Premier. He said, 'Well, you know the Premier talks a lot about his love for the people and about his love for the native race, and how he is using all his energy and efforts to benefit the natives, but what crossed my mind about him was this : That with such a chest as the Premier has got he could only have love for himself ;' and it struck me that that observation of Te Whiti's was very near the truth. When the Premier gets up in this House and swells out his chest, and tells us of his love for the injured natives, how he is determined to prevent these poor natives being robbed of their land, it strikes me very forcibly that love for himself, love for his own position and for his own prestige, is at the bottom of it, far more than any desire to benefit anybody else." MEMORIALS OF THE MAOBI WABB. The Hon. W. M. Bolt moved in the Legislative Council yesterday, "That, in the opinion of this Council, it is desirable, with the view of keeping alive and increasing the interest of the people of the colony in those events, that the more remarkable of the scenes of combat, of deeds of heroism, and of incidents rendered notable in the history of the conflict between the Maori and British peoples should be marked off by raising memorial tablets of stone expressive of the respective occurrences, and by surrounding those tablets with enduring and ornamental fences, or by such other means as may be deemed desirable to carry out the desired object. The Council would therefore respectfully urge on the Government the desirableness of undertaking this work with as little delay as possible." Mr. Bolt thought that in cases of this sort there should be something more permanent than a mere statement of facts in the history books of the schools. For the sake of the decaying race of Maoris, we should do something to perpetuate their memory and a struggle creditable to both parties engaged in it. By so doing we should also be adding to our colony a new interest. The Hon. H. Scotland did not think it wise to remind the natives of the fact that they had beeu defeated, as it might provoke ill-feeling on both sides. The Hon. T. Kelly said though the Maoris had been defeated they had no need to be ashamed of their" defeats, as they were generally over-matched in numbers and in the efficiency of their arms. But it would take too many memorials to commemorate all the great deeds of the Maori War. The Hon."W. Swanson thought that the sooner many of the occurrences of the Maori Wars were forgotten the better, as the English did not always come out on the right side. The Hon. W. T. Jennings also counselled forgetfulness of these old differences between the two races. The Hon. B. Harris said that if the motion was carried out the whole island would be studded with tombstones. If we confined ourselves to fencing in the more notable graves of those who fell in the wars, that was all that we could be expected to do. The Hon. Dr. Grace poiuted out that as these unfortunate fellows were dead and buried— and so had no votes— they would not be likely to receive justice at our hands. The Hon. W. M. Bolt said the Council had quite misapprehended his proposal. He did not want to raise memorials to aggrandise either party. All he asked wai that the more remarkable of these events should be remembered. He thereupon withdrew hi* resolution. POMOHAKJI AGAIN. The Waste Lands Committee has reported on the petition of William Scarlett and other settlers on the Pomohaka Estate praying for a reduction of rents, that the Committee is of opinion from the evidence received that the circumstances of the petitioners and the rents paid by them ihow that a full investigation should be undertaken by the Government forthwith. HOT "WOEDS. " A distinct, a bold, a dastardly attempt on the part of the Government to introduce denomiuationalism into our system of education." — Mr. Meredith, long-time supporter of the Government, on the Technical Education Bill. "I have done more for national education" retorted the Premier, " than the hon. gentleman will do if he lives to the age of Methuselah." THE SHOP HOTTBS SYSTEM. Next session the Government will introduce.a Bill to amend the shop hours system so as to require all chemists' and druggists' shops to close on the statutory half-holiday. THE HIGHEST >COUBT IN THE COLONY. The proceedings in the House this morning degenerated into farce. Mr. Hogg had made a violent speech in which he hurled all sorts of terms at the supporters of the amendment to the Technical Education Bill. These terms were protested against, but the epithets were ruled in order. Mr. Pirani subsequently referred to the " audacity " of the Premier, which brought up Mr. Hogg on a point of order. The word was ruled in order, whereupon Mr. Piraui gave Mr. Hogg a Roland for his Oliver by applying to the member for Masterton certain terms which had been ruled in order, such as " bigot," " political caddism," and " infidel," some of which Mi*. Hogg had applied to his opponents. Mr. Hogg raised another poiut of order by the indignant question — " Is it competent for an hon. member of the House to deliberately stick out his tongue at another?" (Laughter.) The Chairman asked Mr. Piraui whether he had put out his tongue, and Mr. Pirani said that Mr. Hogg had cabled his tongue a foul one, and that he was going to prove to him that it was not foul. In response to cries of " Withdraw," Mr. Piraui intimated his willingness to withdraw— his tongue. (Laughter.) This is what the Miuister of Lands is so fond of styling " the highest Court in the colony." JOTTINGS. Replying to the Hon. J. D. Ormond," the Minister for Education said, in the Legislative Council, that the appointment recently made of a governor of Nelson College had been made in the usual manner by His Excellenoy the Governor acting as a visitor, on the advice of his Ministers. " The usurper of all uswpers in this country."— Mr. Wason on the Premier. "I was glad to see Mr. 1 Buchanan otanding up for the Wellington Education Board. That Board has done, and is doing, a noble work in the interests of .technical education." — Mr. Meredith. " We shall be spending £100,000 a year on technical education in five years' time." — Mr. Taylor. "My mouth shall be the laws of New Zealand." — Mr. Wagon's idea of the attitude of the Premier on the Horowhenua Bill. " I can see the cloven hoof of State aid to private schools in the clause." — Mr. Taylor on clause 2 of the Technical Education Bill. Mr Carson, speaking to an almost empty Chamber last evening, said he would not occupy the House more than a few minutes, as all the arguments in the world would have no effect on members who had gone out, but who would return in time to vote as directed. " I tell hon. members that the position of

Major Kemp and Sir Walter Buller to-day may be the position of Mr. Richard Seddon I or Mr. Hall-Jones in the future," warningly remarked Mr. Wason last evening when supporting Mr. Rolleston's motion. "I am too old to begin trafficking in native lands now," rapped back the Premier, but Mr. Wason einiled doubtingly.