POLITICAL SIDELIGHTS.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 458, 14 July 1898, Page 2

POLITICAL SIDELIGHTS.

Mr T. E. Taylor termed the Premier's statement that Mr G. J. Smith moved amendments to kill Labor laws "& distinct electioneering dodge for next year." : The Premier—" By the company you keen shall you be judged. By the company he keeps I for one would prefer to be out of his company.'' Mr Taylor---" I would prefer Cnecketts to your company. He is a better man. , All 's, i i!f d<lel ' Wftnts the Government te place £100 on the estimates for the purpise of making experiments in testing the capabilities of Southland to grow sugar The Public Petitions Committee has recommended that Police Sergeant Scully should receive one month's pay for each year of service. According to the ' Dunedin Star,' Mr W. F. Ward, who unsuccessfuUy contested Mataura against Mr R. McNab at the recent bye-election, will be a candidate at the General Election for Wallace. Mr Ward does not know anything about it yet at anvrate. ' J At the instance of the Bank of New Zeamd,MfCi)oli(tlieoffiml liquidator of the Ward Farmers' Association) is inquiring exhaustively into the affairs of the Walter Guthie Company. Some interesting disclosures are anticipated. Mr Taylor wants to know when the Premier will have reached a standard of veracity that members of the House will not sometimes have to find fault with ? We (' Tapanui Courier ') learn on the best authority that Captain Russell, the leader of the Opposition, will give his party's support to Mr J. W. Thomson at the next general election. Mr T. E. Taylor: "The day will come . when the comparison between the Premier's character and my own will be greatly to the disadvantage of the Premier." In the course of a discussion in the House on Tuesday the Premier referred to the mantier in which he had been abused, and said that the police had to watch a man that was prowling round after him, and- he had even been threatened with bodily violence. Mr G. J. Smith's Liquor Bill provides that , a licensing poll be, taken simultaneously with the election, of a licensing committee, and all returning .officers have to send the results in to the Minister, who ascertains therefrom the determination of all electors on the proposal that no license be granted in the colony, and declares the result accordingly, such determinations to supersede proposals in respect to the granting of licenses in each district of the colony. In regard tq the sale of liquor, clubs are brought under the same regulations as other licensed places, " The ratio of inorease in the use of bicycles is decreasing,"— Mr J, Hutchegon, " The Premier seems to forget that this is a ~ free country,"— Mr Massey, Madame Heller, the "White Mahatoja," told a Wellington audience that Mr Scoble Mackenzie would become Premier in 1904,