POLITICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 9319, 13 June 1891, Page 3

POLITICAL NOTES.

THE FIRST AFTERNOON. ADDRESSJN.REPLY. When the House meets in the afternoon, the faces of the new arrivals strike the eye of the gallery at once. Mr Saunders and Mr Hutchison, veterans both, give a venerable air to the green curtain under the eastern clock, making powerful contrast to the youthful appearance of the elect of the Hutt on the other side of the passage. Mr Reeves fDiok Reeves), of Greymouth, towers along, sido of the chief Government whip. Mr Roileaton is in the front Opposition Bsnoh, looking fresh and determined. Mr Valeo, tine is behind him business like and bland. Sir John Hall is in bis place looking calm and peaceful. The three Maoris are high enthroned in the north-west corner. The House looks in better trim than yesterday. The notices, petitions, &c., let loose all the Legislative instincts, and there is a general assault upon tho solid block cf public business. Everybody seems to want to do something ; everybody except the Middle Party, who decidedly wants to do everything. The Middle Patty attacks the Government in front about the division of the banking account, be threatens their Sank with a rather cool request to be informed whether they are going to get into the shoes that Mr Pyke wore whenever he got upon the subject of Denominational Education ; he trips them up with notices of financial returns innumerable. Mr Jackson Palmer takes advantage of the accideut to the Pukakl to ask about reinstating the signal, man ; the buzz of notions goes on for a while, until the business runs into the C 1 questions,” and it geta through that sometimes awkward forest with great celerity. We reach tire Bills, 19 of them in line, under the beading “ Leave to introduce Bills.” Soon after the outset, the Middle Party, who has three of his six together, gets into trouble abbot the Standing Orders, and has to submit to spread bis forces, not before Mr Taylor has uttered one of his bitter cries of protest. Mr Taylor gets leave to introduce the Bill for the endowment of bis old Borongh. The Middle Party gets his six Bills through, tho first stage, the Govern, rnent get as many, the rest of the Honse does the same, one Government measure is sent back for technical reasons, and the Bills are over. Then we get to the notices of motion, and the various sessional committees are set np. Thera is a little friction about the Petitions Committee, the Opposition pointing out that the preponderance is on. tirely Ministerial. The Joint Committee for the Comfort nnd Convenience of Hon Members stops for the annual ventilation of tbs debt question ; Mr O'Connor says it is £BOO, and thinks it is a shame not to pay it oil in some way. Mr Bryce makes an attack on the composition of the Waste Lands Com* mitteo. Mr MolCenzie accepts the challenge and gives his reasons, and then the matter drops. The gist of his explanation is that all the members of the Honse cannot be on the Committee. Mr Maoarthnr is not on, and the Premier is not on, and many others. The House accepted the Committee, and then went into discussion raised by Sir John Hall about tho omission of the Hon G. F. Richardson’s name from the Stock Committee. Mr Richardson thereupon came to the front, and referred to the attacks made by the Cabinet on bis administration of the lands in their manifesto. He defended himself and the Department with great spirit and clearness; he protested against the slur put upon the Department. It is the first attack upon the retrenchment policy of the recess. Mr Richardson made great nse of tho Joint Committee’s report. Parliament decentralised the Stock Department, on the advice of the Committee, specially moved to that effect by Mr McKenzie himself. At this point the Opposition laughed, and Mr Richardson, after a temperate and unusually fluent little harangue, sat down. Then Mr McKenzie made strenuous defence. He flourished returns; he marshalled his reasons; ha stood npon the necessity for financial control; he pointed out that the export of rabbit skins had increased, after eight years of expenditure in the Stock Department. Every now and then he challenged the bon gentleman to deny this and that, and the honorable gentleman got np and denied it every time. It is a battle of experts, to wbioh the House listens with much interest, without moots dsmouiitralion, until tho Minister declares that if the other aide are dissatisSed they know what remedy they have, and then there is an outburst of scornful laughter from the Opposition and encouraging demonatratione' from tho Government side. That battle being over, other committees were appointed; Mr Hutchison succeeds in catting bis committee for the Taranaki breakwater; Mr Fisher adroitly gets one of his motions ont of tho way, and then moves his land and settlement resolutions, which, be reminds the Honse, are the late Mir Macandrew's. Mr Fisher waxes eloquent on the subject. He loudly proclaims his belief in the honesty of the Government in this matter ; he calls npon them in stentorian tones to go as far as possible with Mr Macandrew’s scheme. He offers incense on the altar of settlement and progress in many ways; he succeeds in callog attention to the great importance ol the a’Jj «c},

The Premier receives the reflations softly, and discusses them with great tact, making the obvious remark that several of the resolutions are unsuitable. He leaves the impression on the House that the Go* vernmeut policy is quite sufficient for the difficulty, In short, Codlin’s the friend, not Short. Mr E. M, Smith drags in the millions of acres of land which he has somewhere in his mind's eye, and gives the usual in* vitation to all and sundry to accept the advice ho has been giving somewhere for the last twenty years. When the House has finished smiling, Mr Eugene O’Conor, thrashes out the question of settlement principally with the view of saying damaging things oboat the Government [under cover of denunciations of Mr Fisher. 1 Mr Fisher replies, give Mr O’Conor a light 1 rap over the knuckles ; bows very cordially and politely to the Premier, and thanks him for the generous manner in which he had spoken of bis resolutions. He accepts bis assurance of giving effect to their spirit, and formally begs to withdraw them. Thus, pleasantly ended the first act of the Middle Party’s programme. The next step in the programme is the entrance of the Middle Party’s Financial Statement, which the Middle Party makes in an impressive manner, chaffing the Colonial Treasurer in a style approaohing the playful. The Colonial Treasurer gently tears It to pieces to a wailing accompaoi meat of interruption from Mr Taylor. Mr Eugene O’Conor has a fling at the Middle Party, and gives way to Mr Taylor, who rises to great heights of denunciatory epigram. He witheringly informs the Middle Party that he is no longer member for Sydenham. He baa been amalgamated, he has become more aristocratic ; and after

that introduction the House laughs, and Mr Taylor sails away on his course of criticising Mi Fisher’s past, in dealing with which be uses some choice specimens of the direct vernacular. For a time the exhibition amuses the He use, but it soon becomes evident that Mr Taylor is talking the thing out. The clock points to five, and we resign ourselves to a wearisome half hour, and wo are not disappointed, for Mr Taylor’s forte is not talking brilliantly against time. At 5.25 Mr Taylor runs down, and Mr E. M. Smith takes up the speaking. “ Talking of tea, says Mr Smith, “There’s rao and my good lady, that’s two.” (Laughter of the House.) “Then theie’a the four boys and the eight girls.” Mr Smith thought be was entitled to know something about buying tea. He thought the whole discussion rose out of the bunkum with which the Middle Party was trying to bide his desertion to the enemy. He moved the adjournment amid cries of “time.” Debate adjourned till Tuesday, Til* ADDRESiMN«KE*LY.

The House was fairly fall at jhalLpast seven, and the galleries more so, when Mr McGuire rose to move the Address, in-lleply. A fluent speaker is Mr McGuire, fast withal, with a decided Hibernian ring in his voice, and a brisk manner, with his hands, always hammering away at bis points. He went off at a rapid rate as soon as Mr Speaker called upon him, with eyes half shut, hands moving, and body swaying. He does not seem to be at all nervous, he speeks in a businesslike way, and he manages in the space of fifty minutes to say something about every point in the Speech. At the outset he made a very graceful reference to his predecessor in the Egmont seat, which placed him on good terms with the House. It very soon became pretty clear that Mr McGuire is a Radical of pronounced type. When ho finished ha begged to u second” the motion for the Address. It was the only mistake be made on an occasion when be might have made many. The House gave him a hearty roand of applause. As he sits down wo feel sure it is not the last time ho will address the House. In every “row ”Mr McGuire will probably take a delighted baud, but he will not be verbose.

To him succeeded Mr Baiok, with his elevated language, rounded periods', and studied elocution. Qe makes points on all sorts of subjects, he gets gradually into the preaching style, and remains there for some time. He gets to business at last, and goes through the speech too, and after 45 minutes finishes, and is applauded. Mr Speaker roads the address, which seems a little long, and then Mr Rolleston, with a passing compliment “ to the excellent speeches we have just heard,” asks the Premier if be will agree to adjournment till Tuesday. To which the Premier pleading “ business,” declines. 44 Put up your leader,” he says in ©fleet, “according to the usual precedent. You have five of them.” The question is nearly put, it seems too good to bo true, when Mr Biyce comes forward and moves the adjournment of the debate, without making any speech, contenting himself with a few strong expressions about the discourtesy of the Premier in refusing the natural request of the Opposition. After some remarks from Mr Taylor about “fiuoodling ” and other things, the Premier challenges the Opposition to do the usual thing, viz., pub up their leader. Mr Macarthur carries on tho sparing, referring to the member for Sydenham Taylor, standing up to bow and take off his hat. Everybody laughs, and then the Minister of Justice takes up the play of fence, referring to tho “Member for Maaawafcu,” who promptly corrects also, with a smile and a bow, saying 41 KangitikeL” Mr Reeves begs pardon, and then proceeds to chaff tho Opposition. He is in a warm debating humour. He scorns that half of the Opposition which, being absent, cannot speak, and ho contemns openly that other half which, being absent, is not ready. Like his chief, be rakes up precedents. He twits the Opposition witu the work of their newspapers. He challenges them to come on. 44 We are ready,” he says, and then be sits down.” After a pathetic wail from the Middle Party about the discourteous treatment accorded that afternoon to bis policy, the large policy he had placed before the House, the Address passed. The usual committee was formed, and the House adjourned. NEW ZEALAND LUNATICS. The report presented to Parliament by the Inspector of Asylums for tho year 1890 shows that the number of registered insane persons on the 31st December, 1890, was 1797, showing an increase over last year of only 30 persons —males 21, females 15. The figures for Wellington are :—Males, 178 ; females, 121; total, 299, against 272 the previous year. Inclusive of Maoris, tho proportion of the insane to the population is 2.07 per 1000, and 2.85 exclusive of Maoris. An asylum capable of accommodating 500 patients has been contracted for at Poiirua for a cost of £35,000. The oost per head in che Wellington Asylum has by careful management been reduced by £5 19a 3d during the past year. The report specially dealing with Wellington, made on 21st February, 1891, by Dr Macgregor, M.A., M. 8., states :—1 found

one man and one woman under restraint for reasons which I found satisfactory. The woman was very noisy and violent. All the other inmates were up and about. Except for the evils inseparable from overcrowding 1 found the condition of the patients and tho arrangements for their welfare snob as are creditable to the Medical Superintendent and his staff. In especial 1 noticed an improvement on the female aide. As a whole, 1 am satisfied that the Asylum is in a sound condition, and now that a tender for the Chronic Asylum at Porirua has actually been accepted, not only this but all the asylums in the Colony will be relieved of a great difficulty which has cumbered them for years. The number of male patients is 174; of females, 118. Total, 292.

The Hon Captain Russell is expected to arrive in Wellington to-day, when ho will confer with the other prominent members of the Opposition for the purpose of definitely fixing the date for the- general meeting of the Party, and deciding upon a leader.

On dit, that a letter was received by a prominent politician yesterday from Sir George Grey, intimating that the proposed policy of the Government is very much the same as he himself had contemplated, embodying as it does all that be has for years been advocating ; and that he is therefore prepared to give the Government every support. Owing to the non-arrival of many of the Opposition, the caucus of the Party has been postponed to next week, when the election of a leader will take place, and a definite line of policy be decided upon. The general opinion is that the choice of a leader will lie between the Hon J. Bryce and Cap. tain Russell, but some there are, who fancy Sir John Hall or Mr Rolleston will be the chosen of the party. Nothing, so far, has been decided regarding the Chairmanship of Committees, but ib is taken for granted that Mr W. C. Smith will not again be put forward for the position. Humour had it yesterday that Mr E. Hamlin is likely to be nominated for the office by the Government, in which case he will doubtless secure the support of all sections of the House. Notice of introduction of the following Bills has been given : —Mr Fisher, The Wellington Harbour Board Act 1870 Amendment Bill; Hon Mr J. McKenzie, the Land Bill. By the Hon W. P. Reeves—The School Committees Election Bill, the Shop-hours Bill, the Truck Bill, the Factories Bill, The Employers' Liability Act Amendment Bill. Hon Mr Ballance, the Civil Service Bill; Hon Sir J. Hall, A Bill to confer the Electoral Franchise on Women; Mr Taipua, the West Coasts Settlements Reserves Bill.

The following notices of motion were handed in yesterday:—Mr Palmer to a«*k the Government whether, in view of the accident that happened to the s.s, Pukaki, which drafted about without a propeller for four days near Russell, without being able to obtain assistance, tbo Government will take into consideration tbo desirability of reappointing an officer in charge of the signal station at Russell, or to complete telegraphic communication with the light house at the North Cape ? Mr Houston to ask the Minister of Education what steps have been taken since last year to secure uniformity of text books in the common schools of the Colony ?—Mr E. M. Smith to ask the Government, If they will extend the Post Office Sayings Bank so that that bank could do the Government bankingbueinesst —Mr Fisher to move. That, in the interest of good government in this country, it is essential that the Government banking account be distributed among the banks doing business in Now Zealand, and that,

with a view to effect this change, the Go vernmeut be instructed to invito all banka doing business in the Colony to submit terms upon which they are willing to contract to conduct the Government banking account.