THE NELSON EXAMINER. Thursday, May 21, 1868.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 61, 21 May 1868, Page 2

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Thursday, May 21, 1868.

Journals liocorno more accessary as meu Lecome more equal and individualism more to be feared. It would bo to underrnte their iniportHiico to suppose that they serve only to Bccure liberty ; they maintain civilization. Db Tocqubvillu, Of Democracy in America, vol. 6, 230. There appears to be some doubt whether Mr. l n ox will sit in the House of Eepresentatives in the ensuing session. It has always been understood that the present member for Eangitikei (Mr. AVatt), on Mi\ Fox's return to the colony, would resign his seat, to enable Mr. Fox to sit for the district where his property is situate ; but Mr. "Watt makes no sign of resigning, and Mr. Fox will not sit for any other constituency, supposing there was a vacancy, and it was willing to elect him. The I?idepende)it offers the following, as an explanation of the matter :—: — " So far as we can learn, Mr. "Watt has never declined to give way to Mr. Fox ; but then, on the other hand, he lias not offered to resign. There seems to be a mutal feeling of delicacy and hesitation experienced at approaching the subject. Mr. Fox and Mr. Watt are personal friends, and possibly the former will not ask, what the latter does not care to offer unsolicited." Our contemporary tells us that the electors of Eangitikei are extremely anxious to be again represented by Mr. Fox, and that they " trust Mr. "Watt, with a generous selfsacrifice, will vacate the seat he so creditably occupied, and thereby enable Mr. Fox, while representing his own constituency, to tnke that place in the political arena vjhieli a large number of the colonists are so anxious that he should fill." We cannot understand why the mutual friends of these gentlemen do not arrange this delicate little business. Mr. "Watt, in possession of the seat, evidently wishes to retain it, but whether Mr. Fox really desires to re-enter Parliament at the present time is not so certain. If he does, and the electors of Eangitikei wish to be represented by him, there surely should be no difficulty in inducing Mr. Watt to retire in his favour. The "Wanganui Star has the following remarks on the subject : — It is commonly rumoured in certain circles in town, that Mr. Fox has declined to stand for any place except Rangitikci, and, as Mr. "Watt declines giving way, that, at present, is impossible. Certain plans have been arranged, we believe, between Dr. Fealherston and Mr. Fox, in case the latter got into the House, for overthrowing the Stafford Ministry. To this end the Doctor lias written to Mr. Fox, asking him to induce Mr. Watt to resign, while other inlluenccs in the same direction have been brought to bear. Mr. Watt, however, persistently refuses to abandon his scat, and so matters have come to a dead-lock politically. Mr. Fox has not directly expressed to Mr. Watt his desire to occupy his place — that could hardly be done with any degree of delicacy ; in fact, Mr. Fox jokingly advised Mr. Watt to slick to his seat. The latter, however, is sagacious enough to see that his party ore anxiously looking to him to give way, in order that the great leader of the party may move into the front rank of the Opposition. We know tho present representative of Ilnngitikei has a great fondness for Provincialism, and we strongly advise him, as he knows the determination of Mr. Fox to represent no other place than Eangitikei, to vacate his seat before the openiug of the session, and allow his party to find a leader, lest it be annihilated altogether.

On Tuesday evening last, the reporters of the press were required to leave the Council Chamber shortly after Ihe sitting began, by Mr. Donne calling the attention of the Speaker to the circumstance that strangers were in the Council. This is the first occasion that such an occurrence has taken place in Nelson, and the grave offence alleged to have been committed by the newspapers, and ■which, led to this proceeding, consisted in their not reporting Mr.

Donne's speeches, and in the reporters having, on a recent evening, exhibited marks of disapproval of what the member for the Grey was saying. It is really a great misfortune for a man to be of that highly sensitive nature that he cannot tolerate the slightest criticism— not even the silent protest of reporters dropping their pens when unjustly charged by him with interrupting his speech with their talk, when all the while they were as silent as mice, and the interruption came from another quarter. Such men have no business in public life. Their friends should dissuade them from entering on a career that cannot fail to bring them mortification in various ways. We will not speak harshly of an infirmity, but the idiosyncracy of the member for the Grey, which isolates him not only from his colleagues, but from the whole Council, is a misfortune to himself, and to the district he represents. As he represents a large and important, but remote district, we have always endeavoured to give Mr. Donne's constituents the fullest account of his conduct in Council. Whenever he has spoken on subjects directly affecting their welfare, we have endeavoured to report his speech — as far, at all events, as giving the substance of what he said ; but to have attempted to report in full all he says in Council, would have engrossed too much of our limited space ; nor do we think such a course would have been acceptable to our readers. It will be seen by our report of last ovening's proceedings, that Mr. Donne again endeavoured to get the reporters excluded from the Council. Does Mr. Donne suppose that in order to gratify his pique against the press, the remaining body of members, who are as one against him, will consent to their constituents being kept in ignorance of their proceedings ? A more silly piece of egotistical vanity was never witnessed. We shall not be surprised after this to see a notice on the paper, that a special reporter be engaged by the Council, in order that justice may be done to the eloquence of the member for the Grey, and that the Government undertake the publication of a " Hansard," that his wisdom may not be lost to futurity.

The steamer Omeo, with, telegrams of English news received by way of Suez, arrived at Sluff harbour from Melbourne on Tuesday morning, a full day in anticipation of the Otago, with the New Zealand portion of the mail, which, reached the Bluff yesterday. Although a portion of the intelligence was telegraphed to us early on Tuesday forenoon, the line worked so badly, and subsequently ceased working altogether, that it was nearly six o'clock in the evening before the last sheet reached vs 3 shortly after wbich we issued an Extra. The news on the whole, as far as we can gather, appears satisfactory. A>ffairs on the Continent appear quiet, and witb restored confidence in the preservation of peace, we look for a revival of trade. Penianism has died out, and with the consideration Irish affairs are now likely to receive from Parliament, all cause for the chronic discontent of that portion of the empire will, we hope, for ever be removed. There promises to be a severe struggle for ascendancy between the Tories and Liberals, but the former sealed their doom when they passed the Eeform Bill of last session. The next mail should bring us interesting news from Abyssinia, but we liope our efforts on behalf of our countrymen confined by King Theodorus will not lead to their premature death.