PARLIAMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHS.

New Zealander, Volume XXIII, Issue 2552, 14 October 1865, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHS.

(by a flaneur in the gallery.)

[continued.]

Could any one possibly believe that an honorable member of this most august Assembly could be guilty of a “ soil”—a common “ sell,” that it is positively vulgar even to mention in connection with such mightiness ? And yet one absolutely did take place this session, and the culprit who committed it was one of the most staid and sober, elderly gentlemen in the House, the last person in the world from whom it could be expected, and his name is Paterson. On the great “ hand-washing day,” when an indignant opposition refused to take part in reckless extravagance, and declared their intention of leaving the House during the discussion of the estimates, a voice from the other end of the House was heard to say, in an unmistakably Scotch accent, “ I will not wash my hands.” Hear 1 hear 1 ! hear!!! from the Ministerial benches came in triumphant tones, for behold an opponent was won over. “ And the reason that I will not wash them is that I will not defile them.” Oh! what a change took place in those rapturous applauders, for they felt that they were “ sold,” and their indignant silence was only broken by the hearty laughter of Auckland and Otago’s champions. I don’t think I need say anything about Robt. Pharazyn or Alfred Renall, for neither of them is of ranch importance as a speaker. The former is constantly saying nothing from the day that he said nothing in moving the address in reply to the Governor’s speech; and the latter is another of those loud-voiced Wellington gentlemen, who never require to be told to speak up. He was put to speak against time one day while the House was waiting for that august individual, the Colonial Treasurer, and he managed to keep honorable members in good humor by amusing anecdotes for over half an hour; but beyond that he has said or done very little during the session, except being led away on one occasion by his conscience, and being exceedingly sorry for it afterwards, for he. put a notice on the paper about, keeping the expenditure within bounds, and when he came to put it jibbed most frightfully, and required great spurring before he took the leap.

Mr. Reynolds, of Dunedin, is a tower of strength in opposition—ready to speak against time for a week rather than be put down, and not to be bamboozled by flowery speeches under any circumstances. His own speeches are not flowery by any means, but they are full of good practical sense, and as such carry their weight in the House.

William Bernard Rhodes, Esq.—familiarly Barney Rhodes —is a voter, not a speaker ; and as, I believe, he does sometimes vote for conscience sake, he escapes my criticism; and so does Andrew James Richmond, Esq. —more generally known as Andy Richmond —an amount of familiarity even in thought which is highly reprehensible towards a legislator. Ho is great on conferences about dogs, and shines in private bills ; but withal is, I believe, an upright gentleman, and if he does support the Ministry through thick and thin, does so because he thinks it is right, which cannot be said of all his compeers ; for I myself heard one of the honorable gentlemen assert that, rather than throw the Ministry out by an adverse vote, he would support them in a measure to clothe the Maori race, men, women, and children, in topboots and shirt-collars.

Who will say that Thomas Russell is not an orator, after his separation speeches 1 How he did—l wish I could use an Irishism, and say “slate,” but I won't—how he did slaughter the Ministry: much more proper that! He was much more forcible in his opening speech than in his reply, though that was telling enough, for hi* physical strength is not great, and he was evidently exhausted with the careful attention that he had paid day by day to the innumerable attack* that had been made upon him and his colleagues. He ha? not spoken since, but contented himself principally with working the mechanism of opposition, for he is to be seen constantly going about the House, stirring up here and hinting there, to the evident mortification of Mr. Speaker’s right-hand neighbors. In those speeches, from which as an orator 1 suppose he must be judged, there was nothing very striking as to delivery, only a calm earnest manner, and a voice rather enfeebled by ill-health, but yet pitched in that key that reached every listener in the House, and does not grate upon the ear, even when raised in those passages which are given with the greatest force. Then comes the orator of the House, Mr. Stafford. I believe he is accorded, by common consent, the palm-crown for parliamentary eloquence, and not without deserving it. There is a calmness of deep thought, not that of manner only, and a dignity of demeanour as he rises to speak, which force attention ; and each word, as it falls from his lips, bears with it the impression of having been well weighed before it was expressed. To this conclusion lam the more led, from the belief that he speaks for the country quite as much as for the House ; and te that belief I am again led, by the fact of noticing from my dark corner, how frequently his eye wanders up to the gallery where those minions of the pen—the reporters —may be seen scraping away for dear life as he speaks. There is generally something very cold in his address, and yet one knows and feels that beneath an Iceland’s ice a Geyser is seething in the depth*. Sometimes it bursts forth, and when it does it blisters him on whom it flows, be he Premier or be he but a foolish Taranaki farmer, who, shielded by the title of Defence Minister, has had the temerity to call down his ire. That other and very noble feelings actuate him ‘sometimes must be known by those who saw him when last session he spoke of the gulf a political earthquake had made between him and a friend, or when again, this session, something choked his utterance as he spoke of the breaking in two of the country he had helped to form. He is a statesmen and a leader—not one to follow another’s lead, but rather to be himself the guide j and as such he has this session sprung forth from the ranks of the opposition to be it* acknowledged head, and this with no preconceived intention, as I can learn, but simply that the disorganised body, being without a head, found him and acknowledged him. (To as Continued.)