PARLIAMENTARY ITEMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 162, 29 July 1889, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY ITEMS.

(Prom our own Correspondent).-

The Representation Debate. (By Telegraph.) Wellington, July 27. No change h*B .alien pluce f . r the last forty-eight hour 3 in the difficulty which lias arisen oonßoqaent upon the intrrdnoUouo the present. Repttsentcticn Bill. Speeches were mads thia afternoon by Messrs Jone?, (Heath.ootej, Nawtnau 'Thorndon), aud Fisher (Wellington Sautb). The latter ia now .(8 i|p.m.) continuing bis discouree. The ihafte r of tho speeches by tho town representative?, and the indication o given by country members in the lobliutj, -ea-j very clearly to Show that the question of quota is really a subsidiary matter, but that thn belligerents have two distinoc aimq in view, »_ return to., the \sieitw quo ante nt the time of the lest general emotion, viz., restoring ihe number of memberd to 95 and a stand against the propo-ed amalgamation of the city electorates. When ihe Bill gets into Committee, a detgrtniued aa-mjt Will bo made to have lavtroargill, JSelton, Napier, and otber large boroughs subjec ed to tlie same reduction as tbe four centres and theiif environe. Tne Government will, lam aithoritati-vely assured, rafuße to go back to 95 members, and if a majority of Bouse ihe decide to repeal the Act of 1887, the Premier will at onoe ask for a dissolution. Tho progress ot eventß daring the comiDg week Bbould be keenly WBtobed. Mr Fisher made an effort to-night lo h&v. "the reporters readmitted into the gallery, but the Speaker firmly ruled that he could not put the proposition, seeing tbat the question under consideration was the ad- I journment ef the House. Sir Maurice kept tbe hon. gentleman olos'j to tbat issue, and pulled' 1 him up for going outside it no lews than three times within ten minute?. Overtares were made to the Premier during the afternoon 10 allow the Honse on its rising to be adjohrn«d till 7.30 on Monday, but the Premier firmly deolined to enteriain the idea, Baying that he would insist on the House reassembling at 10 a.m., July 29. The stonewall was carried on till II o'oldck ,6a Saturday night by Sir G. Grey, with a. little interlude by Mr Buxton, in opposition to the Bill. Interrupting Mr Withy at 11 o'olock, the Speaker said it had been arranged that he should leave the chair till 2*30 on Monday afternoon. Sir Maurice complimented the members upon the good feeling maintained during the 76. hours debate, and expressed the hope that before the House met again a compromise would fee arranged. An effort has been made to come to an agreement on the basis of the restoration of the House to 91 members, but tbe Premier deolined to entertain the proposal for a moment, and said he would appeal to the country rather than agree to it.. There is every appearance of the resumption of the struggle this afternoon. Mr Ormond is understood to have joined the: town party. Some duys ago only a small number of members otjvcted to tho Representation Bill, but free lobby and House dispußsion has raißed v ,th.ir strength to one-third of the wholV'Hoase, with a number of half -hearted aalpporters among the country members. Many of the lutter are bitterly annoyed at their own weakness in having pledged themselves to 33£ per cent., and say that if they Were free, nothing would induce them to sign fluoh a compact again. They also declare that they had no idea how disastrously to tbe cities the proposed concession would work oat. It is said that tbe country pany will try to agree not to move the substitution of 83} for 25 per cent. On the other band it ia not unlikely that the town mtmbera may drive the oouuntry representatives into the lobby od this question. It is known that if 38$ cannot be carried, eiverftl members wil bold themselves free then to do as they pleaae, .and will secede from the country army. The town faction feel sanguine of being able to accomplish dissension in the ranks of the country party when the Bill gets into Committee. ' ' I*3o p.m. Both factions held caucus meetings to day. The country members numbered 44, and Mr Seymour, wbo presided, having made a statement tbat tbe Premier refused to enteriain the proposal reverting to the status quo in 1887, Mr Seddon proposed that tbe party do adhere to their previous understanding in reference to the Bill, Mr Tanner moved an Amendment, tbat the eleotoral roll instead of the population be taken as a basis of representation, but this was negatived. Mr Oadman moved that the meeting be adjourned till the Bill got into Committee, In speaking in support of this amendment, Mr Boobie Mokeczie pointed ont tbat there were a great ttitu? anomalies in the Bill tbat could be dealt with when it reached Committee, and he thought the bast course to pursue would be to adjourn,,recogniaing the great necessity for unanimity. He suggested tbat tha meeting toe dissolved without passing any resolutions. Mr O'Conor remarked that practically only one side of the question had been placed before the country, and it was due to themselves and the country that a Committee should be appointed to draw np the reasons why they supported the Bill for whioh they were contending. This suggestion was subsequently adopted, an Executive Committee of the party being appointed to give effeot to it. When this is done the reasons will probably be submitted to another meeting of the party before feeing ft supplied.'; to the press. Mr Whyte thought it would be better to make the Addition in quota to the country rather than fey subtracting it, as proposed from the towns, 1 but believed that any proposal for a compromise of such a character should emanate from those who were in a minority, —Mr Saunders said the question at issue was, whether they were to allow the minority to overrule the majority, whioh was endorsed by Sir J. Hall who also considered that thejr should affirm the principle on whioh they set out. Mr J. MoKenzie said the£ were short of that was of no earthly use, and if contending for BSJ advantage, and anything they could not get it they might as well surrender the position at once.— Mr Lawry eaid his sole reason for attending the meeting of the country party, and his reason for being with them, was to obtain relief f or the extreme outlying country districts. As he had. pointed out at the first meeting, if additional representation was given to the boroughs, he feared that it was an organised attempt to repeal the Aot for the reduction of members, and he should at once take his own course, viz., entire severance. — Mr Verrall explained that, as his sole object in attending the meeting was to obtain a return to 91 members, and as the Premier had emphatically declared against that, he felt he had no. further business there, and he would withdraw and very probably join the atonewallers. Finally Mr Seddon'B motion was carried by a substantial majority. Tweuty-iwo were present at the city mem--bora cauoas, and Mr Moss oooupied the ohair, The following resolutions were carried unanimously :~(1) That tho conr fltituenoies who have spoken having endorsed our aotion hitherto, fwad requested ub to continue it, we pursue the same course in \ border to give time to the rest of the oountry <o express its opinion on the Bill; (2) Tbat 411 tboeeft present aooept this position; (3) i . ifhat every person present agrees to place at the disposal of tbe Committee of ! .Management, which shall . consist of Dr ftFitohett, Messrs Percival and Allen, and ««hat a Sub-Committee of oeveu members, including three legal gentleman, Messrs Stewart, Izard, and Menteath, be appointed jto draft the amendments for Committee. >Mr Kerr and others were lobbying yeßter--day in ftfvor of the repeal of the Aot of 1887, and tha return to 91 European members, Thej ydeolarea with great satisfaction that they hav< -enough pkdgedjtb repeal tbe measure.