POLITICAL NEWS AND GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9099, 6 July 1888, Page 5

POLITICAL NEWS AND GOSSIP.

[by telegraph.— special correspondent]

Wellington, Thursday. THE DAIRY FACTORY INSPECTOR. Mr. McCallum, the newly-appointed inspector of, and instructor to, dairy factories, starts to-morrow on his tour in the North Island, by inspecting the factories in the vicinity of Wellington. He will, in due course, inspect those in the Auckland district. SCAB IN AUCKLAND. The Minister for Lands informs me that he has every reason to believe that the scab disease has been stamped out in the Auckland district. VOLUNTEER CLOTHING. _ Mr. Valentine gave notice of his intention to ask the Premier whether volunteer clothing has not been inadvertently omitted from the free list of the Customs Duties Bill, and if so, will he see that it is made free ? The woollen manufactories will have a word to say about this. THE MOKAU COMMISSION. The Native Minister has received a telegram from Wetere te Rerenga, the Mokau chief, stating that the Mokau natives interested will attend at Otorohanga before the commission, so as to save the Government unnecessary expense.

THE SHOP HOURS BILL. Mr. Joyce informs me that he has no hope this session of getting further with the Shop Hours Bill than a second reading. He has been avenged for the paltry trick played on him in appending the signatures of Sairey Gamp and Betsey Prig to the Wellington petition for his Bill. On examining the signatures appended to the anti-Shop Hours Bill petition, he discovered that the signature of Bismarck had been appended to it, and that the iron-willed Chancellor had so far forgotten himself as to state that his residence was in Wellington, and his occupation "a member of Parliament. " The Press advises Parliament to give the Bill the coup de grace at the first opportunity, as in its amended form it would be only adding another absurdity to the New Zealand Statute Book. THE ROTORUA SQUABBLE. Mr. Kelly has interviewed the Premier with regard to the dispute over the hotel license fees between the Town Board and the County Council. The Government have telegraphed to Mr. Malfroy, the Government Agent, instructing him to retain the fees, pending the decision which the Cabinet may come to on the matter. HOW THE MONEY GOES. In his speech, Mr. Beetham pointed out that the pupils in the Canterbury Agricultural College cost £460 a-piece to the country. Mr. W. P. Reeves to-day stated that no had gone into the matter, and found that the loss was £2300 a-year, which divided over the eighteen pupils showed that they only cost £127 each, instead of £460. "TRANSACTIONS" OF THE INSTITUTE. The transactions of the New Zealand Institute are to be printed by the Government printing office, and the vote of £500 which has been regularly on the Estimates for this purpose disappears from the Estimates. PETITIONS. By Mr. Monk, from J. E. Cooper, Auckland, retrenched, praying for work ; by Mr. R. Thompson, from certain settlers at Waipu, for sum on Estimates for bridge across south branch of Waipu ; by Mr. Hamlin, from certain residents of Waiuku, against the Contagious Diseases Act.

THE POINT RESOLUTION AFFAIR. The Premier, after going over the papers relating to this business, agreed with Sir George Grey, that it was desirable that it should be investigated. Accordingly to-day he gave notice of the following motion :—" That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire what were the terms upon which certain property at Point Resolution was purchased by the Government from Mr. G. S. Kissling and others, and whether such terms were reasonable, and were given effect to with fairness to each of the vendors ; and also whether, if such terms were unreasonable or unfair, what steps if any can be taken to remedy the same ; such committee to report within 10 days, four to form a quorum, the committee to consist of Hon. Mr. Ballance, Mr. Barron, Mr. Fulton, Sir G. Grey, Hon. Mr. Hislop, Mr. Moss, Mr. W. P. Reeves, and Mr. W. D. Stewart." LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

It is getting rather dangerous now for Freetraders to allude disparagingly to local industries, if one may judge from what occurred to-day. Messrs Scobie McKenzie and John McKenzie had spoken in uncomplimentary terms of some Southern barbed wire, and in his speech this afternoon, Mr. Fish read a letter from the irate manufacturer, in which he referred to these Freetrade members in the sultriest terms, when the Speaker interposed, and said he could not permit hon. members to be slandered in that way. Mr. Fish went on reading fragments of the letter, but at last began a sentence which, when he got half through it, he found had a very warm termination, and to make himself safe with the Speaker, he paraphrased the conclusion of the sentence amid shouts of laughter. This incident brought the reading of the epistle to an untimely close, but it was gathered from snatches of it that the manufacturer intimated that if the Freetrade critics of his barbed wire are not protected by privilege, he would "pull them" for libel, and that he had sent to Wellington a consignment of the barbed wire, so that hon. members could inspect the colonial-made rubbish.

THE POLITICAL SITUATION. The prospects of the Ministry seem more assured by the partial disintegration of the Opposition. I understand that Messrs. Levestam, Turnbull, Parata, and Fish have intimated that they will accord their support to the Government during the remainder of the session. It is lobby gossip that, after Mr. Fish made his announcement of adhesion to-day, he went and put his overcoat up in the Government whip's room, so that if ho has not turned his coat, he has at all events changed his cloak peg. The Opposition are still hoping that in the whirligig of events aftor the Tariff is passed, they will bo able, if not to eject the Ministry, at least to force a reconstruction of the Cabinet. The incident of Friday night shows that the retrenchment party is still a disturbing element in the conflict of parties. To-night, however, the Premier took occasion to refer to the intrigues for reconstruction, and said, alluding to the late speech of the hon. member for St. Albans about terms, that he would have no bargaining. He and his friends were one, and lie would not be separated from his colleagues, come what might.

THE TARIFF BILL. The debate on the third reading of the Tariff'Bill, which has lasted all day, has crushed out Mr. Joyce's Shop Hours' Bill, which stood just at the end of the list, and the Auckland Girls' High School Bill, both of which were down for 'the second reading. It is believed that Mr. Joyce's measure at this stage of the session will be heard of no more, save in the massacre of the innocents. The debate has been rather dreary, most of the speakers going over the old ground, talking to their constituents through Hansard. The Freetraders took advantage of ii to make their last final protest against, a Protective tariff. The Premier closed the ebate by a temperate and able reply, which he concluded at one o'clock in the morning, having spoken for an hour. A division was challenged, and the third reading was carried by 45 to 22. The announcement of the numbers was received with cheers.