POLITICAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8471, 23 January 1891, Page 5

POLITICAL NEWS.

THE SITUATION AT WELLINGTON. OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. THE NEW APPOINTMENTS. SIR F. WHITAKER'S RETIREMENT. THE NEW MINISTRY. MEETING OF THE OPPOSITION [Bt TELEQRAPH.— OWN CORRESPON Wellington, Thursday. THE OPKITING OP PAULIAMKNT.

The s.B. Mararoa will be despatched from Lyttelton to bring His Excellency the Governor to Wellington. Ho is expected in Wellington at about eleven o'clock tomorrow forenoon. Sir H. Atkinson will resign immediately upon the arrival of the Governor. The position will then be that the Ministers of tne Crown hold office " at pleasure," or until their successors are appointed. The session will commence ac two o'clock, when the members of both Houses will assemble. THE NEW APPOINTMENTS. Tbe new appointments to the Legislative Council are made as you have been already informed. Sir H. Atkinson, it is understood, will occupy the chair of the Legislative Council upon the opening of Parliament. It is contended that, being no longer a member of the House of Representatives, and actually a member of the Legislative Council, he can be Speaker of the Council. There was a meeting of the Opposition last night, but it was of an informal kind. Nothing was done. The object of the meeting was stated to be to protest against the appointments to the Legislative Council. When it was found that the appointments had been made, no meeting was constituted. TUB SPKAKKRSHIP. There were no resolutions passed at the meeting of the Opposition, bat it was •understood that Major Steward would be put forward as a candidate for the Speakerehip of the House of Representatives. The Hon. Mr. Rolleston will also be put forward for that office. It is believed that the proposers and seconders of each nomination will urge that the election shall be taken out of the sphere of party ; that the vote* shall be given upon the grounds of personal fitness for the office. The compromise suggested, that the Hon. Mr. Rolleston shall be elected to the chair, and Major Steward to the office of Chairman of Committees, was mentioned at the meeting of Opposition members last night, but it did not elicit much discussion. The probability is that Major Steward will be nominated for the Speakership. Had the proposed compromise been entertained, or should it yet be entertained, it would swallow up the legitimate claim of Major Hamlin, who has filled the office of Chairman of Committees during the last two Parliaments. If the higher office should be contested in the manner anticipated, Major Hainliii'a claims will come forward and receive recognition upon their merits. He has many friends who consider that having discharged the duties of Chairman of Committees efficiently for so long a period his claims are obligatory on the House. • PROSPKCTS OF THB SESSION. No information has been allowed to transpire as to the prospects of the session. That the Hon. Mr. Ballance will be sent for is no longer a matter of speculation ; it is taken for granted. I have seen several members of the recognised Opposition who followed Mr. Ballance during the last Parliament, but they profess to be altogether ignorant of what is intended by their leaders. People hens are busy Cabinetmaking. The materials of which the new Cabinet is to be composed have been already mentioned. The names likely to stand prominent for selection are :—Messrs. Hutchison, Percival, Reeves, Seddon, Cadman, Rees, Fisher, and Fish. SIR ¥. WHITAKKR'S RBTIREMKNT. It is likely that Sir F. Whitaker will take his final leave of the Legislative Council to-morrow, or very early in the session. Of all the public men in the colony it is allowed Sir F. Whitaker stands in the front rank of the most eminent. Hβ was old in the service of the colony when most of the colonists who are now elderly came into it. His legal acumen, his enterprising disposition, equable temper under all changes of public and private fortune, have been tbe theme of his contemporaries for half a century. Whenever learning was needed in the law Court or Parliamentary conflict, the judgment of Sir F. Whitaker was the first appealed to; wherever capital was to be sunk for the development of the resources of the country. Sir F. Whitaker's name headed the list of contributories. He it- now, perhaps, the most venerable figure in or out of Parliament. His name is historic, and his services are acknowledged. PRESS OPINION'S. The appointments to the Legislative Council occupy a great deal of the attention of the local Press. I have already given you, as nearly as possible, an account of the public motives in which these appointments are said to have originated. I should not be surprised to learn that these motives lie deeper than is at present suspected, and which it might at present be inconvenient to disclose. I do, however, know that those who have made them attach more importance to them than the appointments themselves appear to warrant. The Times refers to the subject as follows : —" The reason given for the new appointments to the Legislative Council make the case worse instead of better. A Government confessedly in a minority ex plains that it is making provision for passing lawe. The constitutional practice is against the appointments, as Lord Normanby explained to Sir George Grey in 1879. The English practice is against them. The pledgee of the Government are against them. There are three barriers. They are got over by the assertion of the unconstitutional principle that a dying Government has the right to make provision for the passing of law?. It is absolutely the worst precedent in our annals. The Ministerial caucus approved apparently on the curious ground that the Government is in a minority in the Council. If that were true the appointments are an outrage, committed by a party which, having lost the confidence of the House, pioceeds to secure the confidence of the Council. Of course, the assertion that the Government is in a minority in the Council is only true in the sense that most Governments have been of late years in a minority there. The majority of the Council, however, are of the same political colour as the Government, a fact in the light of whicb the appointments are worse than inexcusable. These appointments emphasize the deplorable character of the precedent laid down." There are people here who would look upon the above as a declaration of the side the morning journal is likely to take in the party politics in the near future.

The Press this evening has the following : —" The men with whom Mr. Bullance is likely to surround himself are not so much to be foar>xl as the mischievous policy they are pledged to carry out. The colony, as evidenced by the land report and import returns of rhe past two years, has been progressing 'by leape and bounds,' not the artificial progress induced by the expenditure of borrowed money, but the solid advance of its interests and the development of its resources. At such a favourable juncture it would be positively suicidal to alter the system of land tenure or of the incidence of taxation, and any attempt in that direction will lay a heavy responsibility on thorn who shall take the initiative." The Post has the following :—"So far as party has hitherto existed in the Council, the majority has undoubtedly inclined strongly co the Conservative side, so % that the plea of that side being weak is not consistent with fact. But even if it were true, would it not be right arid just that the party which ia in a minority in the Repre* sentative House should also be in a minority in tho Council ? Is it not a monstronn proceeding that that party which is being freed from power by trie voice of the people should be able to abuse its position by swamping the Council with now nominees for the express purpose of neutralising and rendering that voice abortive if it venture to express itself in legislation in the other Chamber !"

Sift H. ATKINSON AND THE HPEAKKRSHIP. The question is now raised whether Sir fl. Atkinson can go into the chair of the Legislative Council while he is yob Premier

of the existing Government. Now that ho has virtually ceased to bo a member of the House of Representatives— for it is reported that a tolegram announcing his resignation of his seat for Egmont is on its way to the Government—there i<? no question as to the validity of his appointment to be a member of the Legislative Council. But does he remain a member of the Government? Ifc is argued that Sir Robert Stout retained office after his defeat at the elections in 1887. Aβ to the Premier talcing the chair of the Legislative Council, it is affirmed that Sir Frederick Whitnker held the dual office* of Attorney-General and Speaker of the Legislative Council for two years. This is fraid to have been "far back in the fifties." Many think that the parallel is by no means complete, and at fault In other respects. Another analogy is set up in respect of which it is said that the Lord Chancellor, who presides in the House of Lords, if a member of the English Cabinet. Bub the real fact of importance is that the one function ceases while the other is being assumed, and the only question really is whether the coincident circumstances will allow of the incumbent of the old office to divest himself of it at the moment of entering upon the new one. There has not, from the first, 1 believe, appeared to be any difficulty in this respect. DURATION OP THE SESSION. Aβ to the probable duration of the session, the divergence of opinion is very wide. It is said Mr. Ballance will at onoe ask for time to form his Ministry. This will lead to an adjournment. When his Ministry shall have been formed he will claim to be entitled to a further adjournment for a considerable period, or perhaps a prorogation of Parliament, and another session in May or June. TnK OPPOSITION. A caucus of Opposition members was held in Parliament Buildings this evening. The subjects which occupied the attention of the caucus were the election of Speaker, and Chairman of Committees of the House of Representatives, the appointments to the Legislative f/'o"-ioil,and the position of the party in respect to the probable resignation of the present Ministry. It was reported to-day that a deputation of Opposition members would wait upon the Governor to-morrow, on his arrival in Wellington, to present a memorial, signed by members ot both Houses of the Legislature, praying that His Excellency would not coniirm the appointments made to the Legislative Council. The Post this evening gave more extended currency to the rumour, by inserting it in leaded type, and with a. displayed heading. I have not been able to trace the origin of this report. It seems improbable, because it would be simply asking the Governor to rescind a decision already made. Such a proceeding would be very unusual. Nevertheless, I hear the report comes from a respectacle source. THE NEW CABINET. The following are the latest rumours regarding the personnel of the new Cabinet : — Hon. J. Ballance, Treasurer W. P. Reeves, Colonial Secretary G. Hutchison, Attorney-General Jno. MoKenzie, Lands A. J. Cad man, Mines It is thought that the Hon. P. A. Buckley will have charge of the Government business in the Council, and be a member of the Cabinet without a portfolio. This, however, they say is not yet settled. I learn that the claims of Mr. Fisher, Mr. Seddon, and Mr. Fish upon the Opposition party have been considered. It is understood that all three have decided to forego any claims they might have for the present. Mr. Fisher aspires to be the leader of the "Liberal party." OPPOSITION CAUCUS. At a meeting of the members of the Opposition party this evening 32 were present, and six more claimed to be accounted for. Mr. Ballance was elected leader of the Opposition, and it was decided that Major Steward should be their nominee for the Speakenship. Mr. T. K. McDonald said he would not vote on this occasion from a party point of view. The Opposition count on 37 votes for Major Steward. Mr. G. Fisher is named as likely to be the Opposition nominee for the Chairman of Cornmittees'. MEMORIAL TO THE OOVERNOR. The following is a copy of the memorial which is to be presented to the Governor by the Opposition on the subject of the Legislative Council appointments : — "To His Excellency the Earl of Onslow, Governor of New Zealand : May it please your Excellency, we, the undersigned members of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, desire respectfully to bring under your Excellency's notice the fact that a statement has appeared in the public prints to the effect that Ministers have advised your Excellency to call a number of gentlemen to the Legislative Council prior to the opening of Parliament. As representatives of the people of New Zealand we beg to state —1. That your Excellency's presentadvisorsarenow resigning office. 2. That the people of the colony are without doubt opposed to any more immediate appointments to the Council, especially as at present constituted. 3. That such appointments will, if made, be in direct opposition to an agreement come to between Your Excellency's Ministers and the House of Representatives, and also to the report of the committee adopted by the Legislative Council." A prominent member of the Opposition party informs mo that if the memorial is ineffectual in preventing the confirmation of the Legislative Council appointments the party will at once communicate with the Colonial Office, complaining of the action of the Governor in consenting to make the appointments in existing circumstances. THE SPEAKERSHIP. In connection with f.he Speakership, I hear that Sir John Hall spoke very earnestly on the subject to a leading member of the Opposition, and impressed strongly on him the wisdom of agreeing to elect Mr. Rolleston unanimously, and pointing out that to oppose him would create an unfavourable feeling in. the country against the party. Sir John went on (I am informed) to intimate that so strongly did he feel on this question that he should not consent to the withdrawal of Mr. Rolleston's candidature, but should divide the House on the question. It is curious that the Ministerial side still reckon on 36 or 37 votes for Mr. Rolleston, while the Opposition reckon as a certainty on 37 or 38 for Major Steward, and this in view of the fact that only 69 votes can be given at all. Evidently there is miscalculation somewhere.