IN THE GALLERY AND ABOUT THE LOBBIES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LII, Issue 5827, 29 October 1879, Page 5

IN THE GALLERY AND ABOUT THE LOBBIES.

[feom ora own cobbksfondsnt,] WbiiMnoton, Oct. 27. Since Friday, the one all-absorbing topic of conversation has been the secession from the' ranks of the Opposition of Mr Reader Wood and his three followers. Mr Reader Wood, as the unabashed spokesman of the quartette, demands first attention. In justification of remarks to be made, that possibly may appear to your readers to be severe, 1 may mention, that shortly after Mr Wood had made his avowal of political duplicity and treachery, I met in one of the. lobbies a member who, of all others, is noted for, his; perfect urbanity under the strongest provocation, and for the almost judicial calmness of; his utterances. I asked him why be had not yet spoken. “ Spoken!” he exclaimed, “ Why, I dare not trust myself to look at the fellow.” Afterwards, when he did;oastigate Mr Wood from his place in the House, he expressed “ unmitigated disgust at his arrogance and presumption.” Now, following the example of my honourable friend here quoted, and the lapse of some 60 hours having enabled me quite calmly to consider the, subject, I, too, wpuld desire to keep well within the mark; consequently, 1 will at. the outset not go further than to say that, after many years* experience of the proceedings of public bodies—from Imperial Parliaments down to Vigilance Committees at the limits of oivilixation—l have never witnessed so humiliating a spectacle as that presented, by Mr Reader Wood when shamelessly making his shameful confession! I am not exaggerating when £ say that the House was appalled. : For the time-being party feeling was forgotten, and all men turned their eyes upon that one of their number who was minutely detailing the Erice for which he had sold his party and his onour. I have said ihat “ all men ” turned their eyes' to wards ! Mr' Reader ’ Wood,, but I should have excepted’the Hon John Hall and Mr Swanson, both of whom sat most of the time with' their hands shading their eyes. What the one thought of his new colleague, and the other of his companion in treachery, I shall not venture to 1 guess! ' But ‘ there were two features of Mr Wood’s speech which were even more shocking than it* brazen confession—l refer to its cowardice and 'its; duplicity. Its cowardice so manifest when ' he continually dragged in Mr Scanlon’s name, as though to say, “ When a'mahof such an excellent reputation does this, you cannot blame me }” its duplicity,’ to be proved; absolutely beyond ; question before 1 many hours had passed'over his head. "'Even while; Mr Wood was speaking, all unknown' to himself or to anyone in the House, a silent Nemesis was.on his path. Al oß g the electric wire from Auckland to Wellington was being flashed the intelligence, that at a meeting of the Auckland Association Mr M'Closh Clarke was detailing the result of correspondence between him and Mr Header Wood, as being that Mr Wood and three other Auckland members had agreed to sell their votes to Mr Hall for the sum 0f'£1,218,448.' While Mr Wood oh the floor of the House was strenuously and imphatioally denying that any bargain had been inadewith the Governihent,* his friend, Mr M'OoshOlarke.wae explaining its exact terms to a- penny to : a—doubtlessly delighted—Meeting in Auckland j and in a few hbura 'more the whole Colony was to khow exactly how much Mr Reader protestations are worth. : ; ‘ / With 1 “Hbnest Willie' desire ; to deal tenderly, beeahM of’the'four be if the; "only ohe who ; b*s ‘i politip^ 1 Mplutatioi to * | iiJi

.JhM I know bin* to be in sore distress at PjKlPnl in which that reputation now stand*, ijjyjjtff Sir George Grey, following Mr Wood, •afd Be spoke r than in anger,’’, bo looked over Mr WoodV head toward hit old friend Me dfrfngon j and jwhen Mr De Lautour subsequently delivered himself of bit gcatbipg indjotment,be deplt gently with the dutreeeed member for Newton. Indeed* when he spoke#. Mr Swanson flaring hitherto been “ a model of honour wad oonsutency,” andthat to Bad him how banded with traitor* wag “amournful thing,!’ Mr dpraneonV emotionwa#: paipful in tie extrema-. With manj others, I cannot bnt believe that he will vet, .purge himself bfhis folly, and bring' back to the House ah antarnithed reputation. Thii account of the over-memorable scene in the Houee on Friday evening would be incomplete without tome reference, however brief, to the speakers who followed Mr Wood. Sir George Grey’e speech wae temperate, but terribly damning, a* in meunned language he reviewed Mr Wood’e career and remorselessly his reputation to shreds and tatters;.and when he. eat down, solemnly declaring that “ such marvellous turpitude sLook hi* faith in hia fellow-man.” & Sir Gfchge srey“ j severest critic* felt that what he had said wa* nqt for rhetorical effect, but wae the refcotant utterance of a aad truth, Mr Held, whom no one who know* him, will acouee of bitterness, oontemptuoualy pointed out that at the last Opposition caucus Mr Wood had been the moat violeht in hia avowal of war to the knife againat Mr Hall, while at that very t{mo the Ipfamou* bargain .between the tiro had been struck. Mr Macandrew, Mr- .Moss,. Mr Fyke, Mr Speight* Mr Hislop, Mr Hutchin* aon, Mr Shrimakl, and Mr Turnbull all (poke, making shocking revelation* of treacherous intrigue, broken confidence*, and worthiest pledget on the part of Mr Header Wood. All the Maori member* spoke in , those terms of contempt in which/ their lan- ! guage is peculiarly rich, Tainui especially i making a hit when he said that had the four Maori members done what the four Pakehaa did, the whole Colony would have protested against their perfidy.

I have left Mr De Lautour’s speech to be noticed last of all,, because it is deserving of a place by itself. As a piece of oratory it was undoubtedly the greatest speech of the session, and' for scathing invective and bitter denunciation it was admirable. For my part I thought of a story told at one time in connection with Daniel Webster’s terrible demolition of General Hayne, when, in Congress, the latter teade hu infamous attack on the American Constitution. Shortly afterwardsHaynewastakingwinewithafriend, who passed the usual compliment of that day, "May you live a thousand years.” Whereupon Hayne replied, “If that fellow -Webstermakes another such speech, I won’t lire one.” Header Wood, whom no one will accuse of over-sensitiveness, as Mr DeLautour ruthlessly lashed him, looked extremely uncomfortable. One Wellington paper says that the member for Mount Ida “UtonUy flayed Mr Wood alive.” “Are we,” he said, appealing to the House, “to trample under foot all the principles held sacred by honourable men. The stain will be so deep that even blood will not wash it out; it will be a foul blot on the history of this fair young land, of which our descendants will read with infinite pain, and will speak of with burning shame.” As a piece of oratory Mr De Lautour’s speech was masterly; as a critical examination of the position, searching and exhaustive ; and as a castigation of political dishonesty, merciless to a degree. The House listened breathlessly, until he resumed his seat, and then broke into vociferous cheering. Having now exhausted the incident, it follows, as a matter of course, that we should next consider what it is likely to lead to. Assuming, for the nonce, that Mr Swanson does not return to Ins allegiance, then Ministers apparently have a majority of three, including Mr Richardson, who has obtained his seat on petition. Isay, “apparently ” advisedly, because in the opinion of those most competent to judge, the victory will be a short-lived one. Already members outside of'the to-be-subsidised Province are taking alarm, and the chances are that there will be a complete re-construction of parties, resulting in the relegation to misehiefless obscurity of the unholy Hall-Wood alliance. To-morrow, the Otago members are to meet in caucus, and, although their intentions are being kept very secret, it has leaked out that they will resolve not to support the Ministry until the written agreement (which undoubtedly exists) between Mr Hall and Mr Wood is laid on the table of the House. The document is in the possession of Mr Swanson, who has been heard publicly to say, that unless its provisions are carried out to the letter by the Government he will nail it to the Speaker’s chair. The question then arises—if that written document is found to be an agreement by yrhioh the interests of the whole of the rest of the Colony are to be sacrificed to Auckland, how will the representatives of other Provincial districts act? I exclude Kelson, because I have good reason to believe that there is a secret understanding between Mr Wood, Mr Hall, and the Kelson members. The sum offered to the Kelson and Marlborough members is variously stated at from £1,000,000 to ;£1,600,000. It certainly appears to me highly probable that Mr Maosnare w may be able to seize npon the temporarily disorganised) state of parties to rally around him a sufficient number to form a very strong coalition, capable of upsetting this cabal, and successfully carrying on the business of the country. More than this it would be premature to say at present, but your readers may take it for granted that I do not commit myself even so far without good grounds. That the purchase of the four Auckland votes by Mr Hall does not meet with the approval of his own party out of the House, is strikingly evident by the tone taken by its hitherto thick-and-thin supporter, the New Zealand Times. That journal yesterday in the course of a strongly deprecatory article says:—“lt is unfortunately true that the agreement entered into! between the Government and the Auckland party yesterday has been accepted by a large number of mien of both parties as the price paid for so many votes.” And the article concludes“ It was worth a heavy sacrifice to get rid of the deadlock, and to preserve the Colony from another reign of financial terror under Messrs Sheehan and MacandreW, and we are afraid the sacrifice has been made” The italics are mine.

present complication may result in the return of Sir George. Grey to the leadership of the party? Unforeseen events hare quite sobered him from any obligations he may have entered into in Caucus. Those who procured his abdication have openly and shamelessly broken their part of the bargain; and Sir George is as free to act independently now as though no stipulations had ever been made. There is a large and increasing section of the House which thinks that in the existing unexpected turn of affairs Mr Maoandrew might gracefully give way to Sir George, \ and that the result would be the restoration of the party to power. Amongst the many possibilities this, perhaps, should not be ranked as -the last to be taken into consideration.

■ Thera remains one more phase of this ‘political complication tobe touched upon. -Hitherto I have dealt only with those aspects of • it in which Mr Header Wood hither made overtures to Mr Hall or vice versd, or wherein, at all events, they acted in concert. And I ‘have not oritioised : one Way.or another Mr conduct, because I am perfectly assured that in hit heart of hearts that honourable gentlemen must have had many severe struggles- between loyalty to the party he had pledged himself tolead, and loyalty to his own —I believe high—sense of personal‘honour. The task of discriminating, on behalf of Mr TTall, between the two courses that were open to him, is one upon which I would rather not enter. : What I hive now to disclose will Srobablybe, as - the saying goes, news to Mr leader Wood, and, I would much like to ' believe, news alto'to Mr Hell. It is this—that at the very time he was negotiating the price of his vote the Government was asking Vi. Seddon to be the medium of communication between it and West Coast members, with a similar object in view—that.is to ■ say, with the object of purchasing their votes with public money. To the honour of Mr Seddon and-his colleagues be it said, they indignantly declined to deal. I v i And, after all. AuokMnd is g-toping at a

shadow. It wanta £410,248 of alleged arrears, and £803,195 out of the comiM five million, loan, altogether the- Kttle sum of £1,213,448 ! But are the gentlemen who have been bribed to put up this nice little job aware that of this lean; the Abating of which. Major Atkinson has done his best to damn* from £3,000,000 t0 £B^oo,ooo has already been absorbed? And do they for one moment imagine that the House, however constituted, will consent to give Auckland nearly three* fourth* of the balance ? “Go forth, ye are distraught 1” ,

Th* part the Jktckimnd star wae-made to play m this conspiracy has been mentioned. In connection with the now celebrated telegram, the following from the leading columns of the Star of Oct. 20-is significant;—“ The Auckland members mast get justice wherever they can obtain it, and their sole duty now is to take step* that will guarantee the prosecution of the work* which are legitimately doe to this Province, and on which its whole future depends. The setting apart of a vote for that purpose and peeper representation in the Cabinet to guard our interests, would it a matter of indifference to Auckland whether Mr Hall or MwMacandrew wae head of the Cabinet, and the. Auckland members should act clearly on that understanding in bargaining for our rights.” Turning from greater things to smaller* I have something to say concerning the honourable member for Lyttelton,. Mr AUwright; and I may be permitted to preface my remark* by adopting Sir George Grey’s quotation when speaking of Mr Swanson, and saying that any strictures that follow are conceived “ more in sorrow than in anger;” Personally, I like Mr AUwright, and regret th» obliquity which has led mm into a very unenviable position. Towards men of largo Parliamentary experience I should feel inclined to use a much harsher term. I will pass over Mr AUwright’s extraordinaxy denial of the fact that he had authorised me to contradict the rumour that he was wavering in his allegiance to the Opposition. Mr AUwright has since admitted to me that he did so authorise me, and I take it that, as a 0 { honour, he will himself take steps to put himself right with the public, fiat how can ho justify his extraordinary action with respect to the petition against Sir George Grey’s return for Christchurch ? Upon that Cbmmittee were seven members, four of whom, including Mr AUwright, were believed by the Opposition to be opposed to the petitioner. Mr AUwright certainly led everyone to believe that he for one was ” right,” Now, when the Committee divided oh the' first question, viz., whether Sir George Grey had been duly elected or not, Messrs Fulton, Moorhooteand M’Oaughan voted against Sir George, and Messrs Oblbeck, Tawhai and Stewart in hia favour. The Committee, at Mr AUwright’* request, then adjourned in order to give him time to deUberate, and, however unpalatable it may be to him, truth compels me to state that during the adjournment Mr AUwright gave me and others to understand that ho had decided in his own mind in favour of Sir George. Yet, after all, he turned the scale against him. Still, there was a chance to retrieve the position, and Mr AUwright again gave Sir George Grey’s friends reason to believe that he had repented. Next day the Committee met to decide whether the seat should be declared vacant or given to Mr Bichardson. Again the voting was as before, and again Mr AUwright threw over the man under whose auspices he had entered Parliament. Mr All weight's vote is stiU counted on by the Opposition, but I for one would not risk the smaUest coin of the realm on him after what has happened. New Zealand Punch, referring to the member for Lyttelton, very fitly quotes the lines:—

" Under which king. Bezonian ? Speak or die.”

I have authority for saying that had the Christchurch seat been declared vacant, Sir George Grey would have resigned the Thames and re-contested Christchurch.

The petition to Parliament of Hirini Bawiri is a curiosity in its way. I copy from the original, verbatim et literatim : —“To the Honourable the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives Assembled, now in its present state of great waste of publie money and time for. nothing else but straggling for Government Benches. Therefore £ the undersigned yoor Humble petitioner Do hereby plead, beg, and Pray—To the Favourable consideration of your Honourable House —Oh behalf of both Races Pakehaa and Maoris Population of New Zealand more Especially Kgapuhis their children families and Tribte —“ Saeweth ” 1. That your Honourable House, Take into serious consideration with Good sound conscience, to give the present Ministry a fair Trial—and to give them sufficient time to place their Liberal Policy—fully, and fairly before the whole Conutay. 2. Your petitioner Prays, that theEx-Govem-ment should not return into Power Whe have stained their Hands with Kgapuhis (Anaru and three others) and Thames Surveyor’s innocent boold (blood). Also, they have been proved, not only by your Honourable House, but, by the whole Country at large. They are long away of being free from moral imparity. 3. The cry of your Humble Petitioner may be heard through your Honble. House—as (Charles the First did in the House of Commons) I have made my Legal entry—Privilege—Privilege—Privilege. 4. The Opposition must drop their Ko-Con-fidence motion without any further delayed. If the Opposition do not agree to this The Governor should Grant to the Present Ministry a right of a Dissolution. The sooner these two objects agreed by the Opposition and the Governor the better for the whole Colony of Kew Zealand. And I your Humble Petitioner as in duty bound,” &o. Talking of petitions, a man named Corbett, known to the hdbituees of the lobbies as “ the dog-man,” is a terror to Committee reporters. He has some grievance about a dog—whether the dog bit him or he bit the dog 1 really cannot say—but he has managed somehow to get a Committee upon his case. The other day he pronounced the evidence he had given as taken down by a short-hand reporter to be “ a fragmentary attestation of an unprincipled atom.” The “ unprincipled atom ” contemplates suicide. The Government are making great efforts to win back Tamoana, the. assistance of two powerful chiefs—Manaena and Tareha, supposed to have great influence with. Tamoana having been invoked; but he stands firmly by the Opposition.

I have it on the best authority that amongst the discoveries made by the Committee appointed to inquire into the distribution of Government advertising and job-printing, is the somewhat startling one that during a certain stated period—the length of which lam unaware, the sum of. £I2OO odd was paid to the Christchurch Frets, and only £3OO to the Lyttelton Times. What becomes of the “subsidised journal” canard ?

Perhaps Mr Vincent Pyke was alluding to Mr Wooloock, who seems to have taken upon himself the duties of hall-porter at Parliament Buildings, when he spoke of “ Paradise and the Peri.” Though, after all, Parliament is not Paradise, and no stretch of imagination will convert the whilom member for Grey Valley into an angel. But Mr Wooloock, not satisfied with codling his heels in the entrance lobby, has undertaken the dangerous task of dictating to members how they shall vote. That he does not meet with much encouragement maybe gathered from the following letter : “ Wellington, Oct. 23, 1879.—Sir, —I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this afternoon, and am not surprised at the nature of the suggestion yon therein make. Por treachery, duplicity, and moral turpitude, I have never seen a parallel .to your proposition in the same amount of words. It is a fitting commentaiy on your political life. 1 propose to read thu correspondence to the House to-night.— Yours, in disgust, Biohaed Beeves, to C. Wooloock, Esq.” Those who know Mr George M'Xean’s peculiar style of speaking will appreciate Sir George Grey’s _ retort, when the non member for Waikouaiti, defending himself from the accusation of having interrupted Sir George, said never opened my month.” Sir George instantly replied, “It is quite unnecessary that the honourable member should confirm a fact patent to everybody who heard him.” It is lint fair to “Qeordie ”to say that he joined in the laughter that followed.