PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11203, 25 October 1899, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY NEWS.

[by TELEGRAPH.— CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Tuesday. THE WRIGG SCANDAL. Mr. Rolleston asked the Premier to close the Wrigg case by laying the report of the committee and the printed evidence on the table of the House. The Premier said it would be unconstitutional. ILLNESS OF MEMBERS. The Hon. Captain Russell is somewhat better to-day. Mr. Scobie Mackenzie had recovered sufficiently this morning'to attend at the closing scene of the session. He is still, however, looking fai from well. THE HON. MR. CAD MAN. I am given to understand that there is very little chance of Mr. Cadman seeking to re-enter political life next session. THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL. Mr. Percy Smith, a well-known and popular officer, will shortly retire on a pension. He will probably be succeeded by Mi - . Barron, Under-Secretary for Lands and Survey Department. CLOSE OP THE SESSION. The third and last session of the present Parliament came to a close after an all-night sitting, at half-past ten this morning. At a quarter-past ten the Speaker, with the Sergeant-at-Arms canrying the mace, drove up to the doors of Parliament House in a cab, and members having been summoned for the final scene the Speaker took his seat and announced that the Governor had given his assent to the Appropriation Bill. The Premier, in moving, "That this House do now adjourn," took occasion to compliment the Speaker on the able manner in which he had presided over their deliberations. The Hon. Mr. Rolleston, in the absence, through illness, of the Leader of the Opposition, expressed his hearty concurrence with what the Premier had said. The Speaker, in acknowledging the compliment, raised a laugh by stating that most of them would embark again almost immediately upon the stormy sea of politics, and he added : " The voices of some of us will never again be heard within the walls of this House." As usual a division was called for on the question of adjournment, merely for the purpose of showing who were present, and there was some laughter at the expense of Mr. J. S. Smith, who had come up post haste from Christchurch, only to find that all the real business of the session was at an end. The adjournment was carried by 20 to 18, and the Speaker raised another laugh by remarking that he had no idea so many members were anxious to prolong the session. Members then filed up and took farewell of the Speaker and good-byes were said alike to friend and foe. The last scene was witnessed by only a few people. The only occupants of the ladies' gallery were four stolid Maori women. In the public gallery there were three white men and three Maoris, while on the floor of the House, in the space railed off for strangers, 14 out of the 16 men present were Maoris.