THE WESTLAND MEMBERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 5

THE WESTLAND MEMBERS.

• [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CO-RESPONDENT.] Wellington, Friday. It is said that the action of the Government in respect of the Westport and Greymouth Harbour Boards has given dire offence to the "four members" who have been gazetted out of those local bodies. According to the following, which appears in the Press, one of the first Parliamentary skirmishes expected to take place in reference to this proceeding will end in a ludicrous " fizzle," seeing that the Government has in its possession certain information which the members concerned are not anxious to see produced. The passage is a trenchant one, and will repay perusal:— " Among the members of the Harbour Boards who have been subjected to the humiliation of being dismissed through the Gazette to make room for subordinate Government officials are four members of Parliament, one of whom aspires to be leader of the Opposition. It is natural to suppose, therefore, that on the meeting of Parliament the Ministry will be exposed to a perilous storm of resentment from those members and their party or friends. We venture to predict that that will not be so. The truth is, the Ministry have in their possesaion the means of quelling any such storm very speedily, and it will not be oil that they will throw on the troubled waters. They will be in a position to produce such evidence of the urgent necessity for the step they have taken as will probably lead to the four members to conclude bhftt the less they say about the matter the better for themselves and their late associates. The Ministry will not shrink from the issue; on the contrary, they will insist upon justifying their action before Parliament and the country, and they need not have the slightest fear of the result."