POLITICAL NOTES

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2583, 8 August 1895, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES

[B.A.L.]

MllrE. M. Smith,carries on the-debate, with his -usual energy and devotion. .Ho is,remarkably free and candid, especially about the Public Trustee, who is, .sir, Without jjjstiefh lOV mercy,” Mr Smith, of course, dances ; bis favourite fandango on . the Taranaki breakwater, and .’throws sand; ironsand, in the eyas of everybody, Mr Allen is tho antidote, to My Smith. Calm ho is and earnest ns,usual, anj -Vjlftfc if® says, is impressive without any remission fit energy p£ a determined character. ’ ' Mr Bnddo takes :him with the joy of battle; a joy of a sustained nnd modarato character, fn the'course of which he meets many of the adversary;! ; Ha. acknowledges party obligations, and keeps us till dinner. After; dinner be finishes, his carefully prepared remarks, and Ifbon he has done Sir Robert IStout sails in. :

Sir Ebbert takes the debate into (be. region pf hard’fighting, f Heis.the athlete';pffiying with figures. A hundred thousand pounds, jj) the unit of his muscular efforts. He throws hundreds of thousands about with easy playfulness) A hundred thousand here, a hundred thousand there,:hundreds of thousands every- ’ where ; hetakes’them 'allnike Fftlataff dealing with tho mon-in buckram- After every am of his athletic feats , the Opposition say « Hear) hear,” and the other side say “No” with cquajtheartiness.. ■'■' : . ;U. • ' We have the seizure of the sinking fund, and the fierce speech thereon, which-the fray, of last night led us all to expect. He hurls many adjectives at the Treasurer about his tariff and the references ho has made thereto. Very scornful he is about those -references. But the sensation of his speech is reserved for the concluding portion. “ Strong on the tail,” as the saying isr jNo" member; of, tho House,ho yeptgrgp to Jay, has’road'the Canadian tariff.

Mr Ward snaps opt a rfcpitl. It appears that one member at all events has PPffd it. '■ That member,. Sir. Robert., declass Jft Ris, best 'Brief raann’or, 1 is not' Mr Ward,.'! 1 Mr Ward intimates gently that Sir Eobert is absolutely wrong. Sir Eobert is not wrong. He takes up the Financial Sjatomont, and refers to the remarks about the Canadian tariff. Then ho. declares that the Canadian .tariff thus referred to is ancient history." Tyo gravamen of .his charge is that tho Canadian treaty is founded upon a tariff which is obsplete. The Oppositions cjjpera him frantically, the Ministerialists make objestion sturdily; some of them not sturdily, . Tho Premier, as isihia wont, gees into the , fight in quest of Sir Robert. H® fi®ud* him with 'Hansards, and quotations of ajl kinds and matters of history, working opt the object of proving his great inconsistency. He is warm, and fierce and demonstrative,

" The seizure of the sinking funds engages him for a; considerable period,, emphasised hy broad gestured I '-and hard 'raps 'on- the -bbnou before :him. The time-limit he defends in passing. The tariff? Bad for-the workers ? Tho workers know their friends. They know that Sir Eobert has taken a-brief from the enemies of the people. He keeps up the fire from this point with much vigour. Mr . George Hutchison spreads himself in reply : bw tho unpledged ssgqritjes,. Ho is in fine sarcastic form, and giyes himself rein.'quoting Sheridan on tho subject pf puffs. The Ministry and Mr Ward in the light pf Sheridan’s wit; that is his Jin®- Fire different kinds of puff, sir. *' Puff preliminary, paff.direet, puff, collatere),!’ and tiro others which do not appear to pall for any particular mention. , u From the “ puff,” which he works up with much perslstency.and sarcasm, ho gets to the tariff and worries it tIU he sits down.

The (Minister of Education follows. him sharply. At the outset ho defends the' time limit, addressing his remarks to Sir Robert Stout on the flank. * “Time limit justified by results” is his line: a line he takes uncompromisingly. . “ : v " 1 Time disposed of, he belabours Sir Robert awhilp; , Unemployed.!.. The Knight, himself , is responsible for the unemployed by reason of his opposition to so many of the beneficial' measures of the Gij’VC'-'i;njfflit j Lands for Settlement Act »>;feri«tio.Q t Li’l.f '( t ; ‘ l #he» he gets to thetariff WfJ? ground. -No Government anywhere eyfer. elected tostand‘or sfall by. its tariff pro?, posals.i The Stout-Voooi Government in 1885 certainly stood, thoughits tariff was knoskedto pieces.' Sir Harry' Atkinson soma years later carried his tariff with the aid of the enemy-, Mr Ballanoo said the right thing on that occasion bwhohlhS; declared that-ifewjiaj necessary to have the beat thoughts of the ■best men on the -subject, . -Having .cleared. the ground the Minister dwells long with the tariff and exhaustively. ..ifterbiwadjournmont ut 13,10,