THE PROROGATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 1856, 17 June 1887, Page 16

THE PROROGATION.

It was drawing towards 5 o'clock when the clerk of ths Legislative Council brought a message announcing the prorogation. Mr Vincent Fyke was in the act of explaining how he had once had the honour of travelling with a Minister at his own cost, when he was brought up by -the chair, and amidst roars of laughter the members passed out to the Legislative 5 Council Chamber, Mr Pyke triumphantly exclaiming " I had the last word ! " .On reaching the chamber, and all being ready, the clerk read the commission by his Excellency the Governor appointing the Hon. the Speaker of the Legislative Council and the Hons. Messrs Buckley, Reynolds, and Colonel Baillie commissioners to prorogue the Parliament. The Speaker of the Legislative Council (the Hon. Mr Waterhouse), who had two of the commissioners on his right and one on his left, then read his Excellency's proclamation proreguing the House to Friday, July 8. The ceremony did not occupy five minutes, and all concerned , hurried away from the scene into the darkening gloom and driving rain, Nature evidently weeping in sympathy with those taxpayers who will have to pay the little bill for the melancholy fiasco of legislation which the session of 1887 presents. THE MINISTRY AND OPPOSITION MEMBERS. This evening the Press has a rasping leader on the " new departure at political banquets." It says: — "The Ministers and their supporters have wound up the session in the oddest fashion. They have had a dinner, which is nothing extraordinary, and about which there is nothing to be said ; but at that dinner they adopted a plan of party tactics which is, as far as we know, entirely new. They had printed menu cards, in which names were given to the various dishes containing allusions to members of the Opposition of a decidedly personal character. We understand this delicate piece of humour is the production of a Canterbury member long resident among the French. And how aptly the style of that witty and chivalrous nation has been caught in this jeu d) 'esprit our readers may judge for themselves (publishing the menu cards). The practice of insulting at their banquets the names of enemies whom they could not conquer, and devouring in imagination warriors whom they quailed before on the field, is not original with the Ministerial party; it occurs under various forms amongst the inferior races of mankind in all parts of the world. But this is the first time we have known it adopted in colonial politics, and we doubt whether it is much of an acquisition to them. A better 'practice we think is that of the ancient Greeks. At their feasts after the fray they scrupulously avoided any unworthy reference to their enemies, and contented themselves with celebrating by graceful allegory the most distinguished exploits and attributes of their own heroes. Upon this method the Stout-Vogel Ministry might easily have placed before their party a most attractive political menu, as one story is good till the other is forthcoming." The Press gives the menu in French which the Stout-Vogel Ministry might have placed before their party. For example (and I give the free translation) : " Soup — Wounded worms ; hotch-potch. Fish — Groper in the darkjjpowsow d'avril. Entrees — Hash of finance, cooked accounts; sweetbreads a la Vogel. Pieces dc resistance — Humble pie at discretion, roast frozen mutton from the Arafura Sea. Vegetables : Beetroots, 'poor Toles,' small potatoes, Lundons, pumpkins a la Ballance. Poultry: Lame duck on the money market; Ministerial goose well cooked. Sweets: Jelly of leaps and bounds ; standing orders with Vogel sauce ; vol au vent of sinking fund." The Press goes on to say : " There is, we think, a truly tempting repast where every viand recalls some past triumph, something attempted, something done. We commend it to the Ministry and their friends as one 'uch more likely to agree with them than such unholy Wishes as we find in their menu." THE MEMBER FOR DUNSTAN. Mr Vincent Pyke to-day presented a copy of his new work "On the Early Goldfields of Otago" to his Excellency -the Governor. He informed me to-day that he had instructed Mr Travers, solicitor, to take legal proceedings against the Auckland telegraph correspondent who had sent out the personal paragraph the subject of a late libel action. One •of the Southern papers which published the paragraph, on demand surrendered the name of the correspondent, who, id is said, proves to be a journalist on the staff of the Auckland Star. THE BUSINESS OF THR SESSION. Wellington, June 10. The following is a schedule of business of the House of Representatives, and of bills passed and lapsed in both Houses during the session : — Committees. — Select : On public matters, 3 ; on private bills, 2. Standing : 11 ; on private bills, 3. Total, 19. Public Bills Originated in the House. — Received the Royal assent, 11 ; reserved for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure, dropped, or otherwise disposed of, 71 ; brought from the Council and received the Royal assent, 4; reserved for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure, 9 ; dropped or otherwise disposed of, 2;— total,2 ;— total, 98. Local Bills.— lntroduced, 21; passed the Honse of Representatives, 2 ; passed and assented to, 2;— total,2 ;— total, 25. Bills, other than Local Bills, introduced by private members, 28; passed the House of Representatives, 1 ; passed and assented to, 0. Time devoted to their considerations, 223J hours. Private Bills Originated in the House. — Received the Royal assent, 1; dropped, 1; brought from the Council and received the Royal assent, 1. Petitions Presented. — From Europeans, 152 ; from Maoris, 36;— total, 178. Divisions.— ln the whole Hoase, 24 ; in committee, 53 :— total, 77. • Sittings.— Days of meeting, 17; hours of sitting, 193 hours 15 minutes ; daily average, 7 hours 9 minutes. ' Votes akd Proceedings. — Questions asked of Ministers, 235 ; entries in journals, 532 ; daily average, 28 ; orders for papers, 44 ; papers laid on the table by command, 64; in return to orders, 31 ; in return to addresses, 0 ; by message, 0; by act, 43 ; by leave, 30; papers ordered to be printed, 114 ; papers not ordered to be printed, 54. Reports prom Select Committees. — From the Public Petitions Committee, 107 ; from* the Native Affairs Committee, 29 ; from the Waste Lands Committee, 4; from the Goldfields and Mines Committee, 2 ; from the Local Bills Committee, 18; from other committees, 20; — total, 180. During the session, six bills were dropped or otherwise disposed of in the Legislative Council

and 67 in the House, of which two were private bills. The following passed both Houses : — Public Acts. Banks and Bankers Act Amendment Building Societies Act Amendment Cambridge and Hastings Boroughs Bill Chattels Securities Act 1882 Amendment Counties Act Amendment Electoral Act Amendment Infants' Guardian and Contracts Bill Interpretation Act Amendment Kermadec Islands Bill Mining Act 1886 Amendment (No. 2) Post Office Act 1881 Amendment Public Revenues Representation Bill Ward Conservation of Rights Bill Westland and Grey Education Boards Act Continuance. Fbivate Act. Wellington Gas Company (Limited) Extension. Local Acts. Reclamation Within the Harbour of Wellington Sydenham Borough Council Empowering Bill.