POLITICAL NOTES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 167, 10 July 1888, Page 3

POLITICAL NOTES.

A motion has been carried thaj for the remainder of the session the House should meet on Mondays.

It appears that in the tariff which has just been passed volunteer uniforms have been placed in the 25 per cent, column of duties. Mr Valentine, who takes a great deal of interest in volunteer matters, intends to ask the Premier if he will remove the duty. For the remainder of the session Mr Fish intends to give the Government his cordial general support. This announcement has greatly provoked some members of the Opposition. Mr Hutchison says the tariff was a disappointment for the friends of the Government, a triumph for the Opposition, and a surprise for both.

Mr Monk has found that in the permanent force there are two officers for every three privates. Mr Pyke gives it as his opinion that the present occupants of the Treasury benches are the most honest Government that has sat there for many years, and does not see where any Government is to be found to rival them.

There is a probability of the Public Works Statement being delivered next Friday. As before stated there are only two votes for railway works for the current year. These will be £15,000 for the Otago Central and £20,000 for the Manawatu Gorge. Forty-four officials, whose places will not b? filled again, have been dismissed from the Railway department. To judge by what was stated by the Premier at the conclusion of his speech on the Customs Duties Bill all the rumors of a possible coalition or reconstruction may be set at rest. During the speech' Mr W. P. Reeves inferred that to secure the suppqrt of the Opposition, the Government must include some of its members, and before he brought son said he must speak with no uncerhis remarks to a close, Sir Harry Atkintain sound, and that he wished the House to understand that he and his colleagues would not separate from one another. Irrespective of party and consequences the Government had hurried through the Tariff Bill to enable the House to consider the point, and if they desired to make a change it might be done at once.

It is understood that the Native Bills will not be brought down for some days, if indeed’ they are discussed at all this session. The Natives are opposed to the measures, and a party in the House, led by Mr Ballance, will also offer strong opposition to the repeal of the existing legislation affecting Native Landa, urging that an amending Act would be sufficient.