POLITICAL NEWS AND GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9108, 17 July 1888, Page 5

POLITICAL NEWS AND GOSSIP.

BY TELEGRAPH. CORRESPONDENT ~.,..' Wellington, Monday. , ADVENTURES BY SEA AND LAND. A number of members of the Assembly left on Friday night in a small steamerthe Kanieri—to visit Blenheim, to see the rabbit preserving works and other lions of the neighbourhood. It is suspected one of the objects of the expedition was to look at the Blenheim • Awatere line of railway, which has been hung up, and to see that this important colonial work was kept steadily in view by the Minister for Public Works. The moving spirit of the expedition was Mr. John Kerr, the hon. member for Waimea. The party got lionised and feted, and had a good time on Saturday night. They intended coming back on Sunday evening, but a fierce gale, with torrents of rain, swept the Straits, and the little Kanieri , could not look out of port. The picnicers, after waiting for the weather to moderate, reached Wellington to-night after a very stormy passage. . :, .„

NATIVE BILLS. There is reason to believe that these Bills will pass the Lower House without much difficulty with amendments, but trouble is expected in the Upper House, though it may be overcome. The Select Committee to which the Bills were referred ; meets tomorrow. I understand that Mr. Ballance has greatly modified his views, and is likely to aid in passing the measures.

THE PREMIER AND SPEAKER. It is anticipated that the Premier and Sir M. O'Rorke will, both be able to attend the House to-morrow, unless the weather gets worse..,'

RETRENCHMENT.

In all probability the Fair Rent Bill will be gone, on with to-morrow, and Mr. Withy's amendment . still be held in abeyance. The retrenchment party are getting all sorts of telegrams, giving them all sorts of advice, but the one that has tickled them most for its absurdity and inequity is that from the Auckland Trades and Labour Council. Sir G. Grey has received a telegram from Mr. J. C. Firth, soliciting him to oppose any retrenchment of wages amongst the working classes, as it would lead [to the exodus of [the- flower of the labouring class to Australia, and as an alternative he suggests the reduction of the Civil Service and the Legislature by onehalf. ' Mr. Firth requests that the teleram, may be shown to Messrs. Peacock, loat, and other Auckland members. To my inquiry .in conversation -with ; Sir George as to what his views were on the telegram, he informed me that in general' .terms, he agreed -with iy. lam informed that if everybody in the service above £300 were discharged, from the Agent-General downwards, ,it would not effect a saving of £120,000. - Over half-a-million alone is paid in wages in the Railway Department. , It is claimed that neither the present- Government nor any , other Government can save; the desired £100,000 by merely dealing with Civil Service salaries and legislative expenditure. "..-'. Mr. Goldie has , got a good deal f of useful information from the South on the retrenchment question. > ■,■■.,.;

-&•! AN OPPOSITION CAUCUS. A'meeting of, the Opposition will be held tO-morrow. Great reticence is being manifested as to the object, but it is believed that it is in connection with Mr. ! Withy's amendment. There have been rumours of a no-confidence motion, but I do not think anything will come of it, members generally how being ''anxious to get through with the business and get away home. THE PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT.

ft- I understand that the estimates for the Public 1 Works ! Statement are about completed, and will be ready by to-morrow for submission to the Cabinet. The total to be defrayed out of loan for the -year ;is £800,000, of which £450,000 represents existing liabilities on "' the 31st March last, deducting from the balance £80,000 as expenses for raising the two million loan; and there remains £270,000 as the available sum for i public 'works, public buildings, roads, telegraph ? extension, etc. E " One feature of the Statement will be the expenditure . <■ of J £500 '-'on " roads ' and tracks on j Stewart's Island, [ which : out-of-the-world | place is at last coming within the ' purview j of the Minister for Public Works. ''■"■''" ' !

A CLERICAL EMIGRATION AGENT. «.The Rev. J; A. Crawford, accompanied by Mr. Postlethwaite, waited on the Minister of Lands this morning, the object being to sound the Government as to what inducement they would hold out to the rev. gentleman to deliver in the North of Ireland a series of lectures on New Zealand, with a view to assisting emigration to this colony. The Minister informed his visitors that the House had for the present put its foot down on State-aided immigration.

Hf' THE OTAGO CENTRAL. ,;, A meeting of the supporters of the above Bill was held this afternoon. There were twenty present,, and ten , accounted for. Mr. Pyke presided. A deputation was appointed to wait upon the Government to see what assistance they would accord the measure to enable it to become law. From what I can gather, the Government will remain neutral, in fact, ' there are only two members of the Ministry who are really favourable to it. Sir Georga Grey, on the last occasion the Bill was before the House, implored Mr. Pyke "to stay his hand before it was too late, drop the Bill for the sake of his immortal soul, "and thus earn for himself ' a great name and die happy." The Dunstan philosopher does not seem willing; at present to accept the advice. Mr. R. Thompson (Marsden) informs me he will stonewall the Bill by amendments from the short title to the schedule, and would stop three months longer in Wellington to fight the measure. Messrs. Seddon and Fish are good stonewallers, but Mr. Thompson means to give them both points on the Otago Central. ;-\ s .

THE RABBIT NUISANCE. , The Minister of Lands has received a further ' communication from Professor Thomas, relative .to; his final report on the; diseases of rabbits in the Wairarapa dis- 1 trict: He states that he is still experimenting, and that the diseases are,of slow progress ; the bladder worm particularly sotaking, probably, from two to three months 1 to , develop. His further ..researches show that, at least, three months are necessary for its full development. He is now of opinion that the bladder worm is useful as an auxiliary in the work of extermination, but cannot.be depended, on alone. The lonic brought 86 stoats and weasels for the Australian and • New Zealand Land Company, and only lost five. Instead of pigeons, they were fed on frozen rabbits with an occasional egg. The Government have advised the Agent-Gene-ral of the facts, so that, on any shipment of stoats and weasels for the Government, the same method of feeding them may be adopted.

THE AMENDED LAND BILL. Owing to the decision of the Waste Lands Committee, the Minister for Lands is drafting a fresh clause in the above Bill, so as to provide for the continuance of the Land Boards on the old system.

RUSDEN AGAIN. On Wednesday the Hon. Mr. Richmond intends to move the adjournment of the Council in order to make a personal rebuttal of the statments made in Mr. Rusden's " History of New Zealand " relative to his action as Minister during the Maori war.

THE CENTRAL ROUTE. The Post says:— "We have received from the Agent-General a copy of the prospectus of the late two million loan." After quoting the terms of the prospectus it goes on to say: "It will thus be seen that there is a distinct pledge given in the prospectus to the lenders that the money shall be devoted to making the trunk railway through the centre of the island, and in continuation of the line already partially constructed by means of anticipating the loan. To divert any portion of the loan, therefore, to the construction of a mere branch line from Taranaki northwards would be a distinct breach of faith with the bondholders, which would effectually damn the credit of the colony."

THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION. His Excellency the Governor left to-day by the Wakatipu, and Sir J. Prendergast now .assumes the duties of officer administering the Government. Before Sir Win. Jervois left the members of the Ministry

went to Government House to bid him good-bye. - Among the- - passengers- was Mr. J. T. Matson, the well-known Protectionist politician of Christchurch, who is en route for the Exhibition, and has been appointed a Commissioner . for , New Zealand. Colonel Sargood, of Melbourne, has forwarded a cable to Sir Maurice O'Rorke, as Speaker of the General Assembly, stating that members of the House will be permitted to travel free on the Victorian railways, and the same privilege will be accorded to their wives, or a lady friend. This latter concession is for the benefit of members who are not benedicts. •" . LOCAL INDUSTRY. The directors of the Te Awamutu Cheese Factory determined that the Southern members should not remain under the impression that Auckland could only produce kidney fluke potatoes, and have sent down a splendid cheese from their factory to Major Jackson. The Major has forwarded it to Bellamy's for sampling, and there is an opinion on the part of samplers that it is of first-class quality. THE MAORI FOOTBALL TEAMA deputation of Southern members waited upon the Minister of Public Works to get free railway passes for them from Lyttelton to Dunedin. They pleaded : First, that the team were inculcating a love of manly sports ; secondly, that as native-born they would in the mother country spread the fame of New Zealand. The Hon. E. Mitchelson was " fetched" by the " Young New Zealand" argument, •. surrendered at discretion, and granted the free passes. THE NATIVE DEPARTMENT. The Native Minister is steadily pursuing his policy of improving the Native Department out of existence. ~ The saving effected on the vote during the first quarter of the financial year is £1000, and he has hopes of saving £3000 more in the three remaining quarters. ...-.

THE COLONIAL REVENUE. Many members are anxiously watching to see how the revenue will turn out unde the new tariff, many contending that it wil fall off. lam informed authoritatively thai the revenue is coming in satisfactorily s< far, and quite up to the anticipations o; the Government.