POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2104, 21 June 1894, Page 20

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE.

(Fkom Ouu Own Correspondent.)

Wellington, June 14.

THE FOX CORRESPONDENCE.

Commissioner O'Hara Smith has returned from his Auckland inquiry, and his labours are said to be almost ended, and the net spread to enmesh the purveyor of the commandant's letters is being drawn to the shore. The nature of the fish therein I am not prepared to describe, but it is possible that there may be there a fish too big for the fisher to capture, one thab will breakthrough the weak meshes of a Smith Commission, escape into deep water and be seen no more. This may be read in more ways than one, but then you see it is a delicate subject that does not admit of plain talk at present. By the way, the Post has stated that Colonel Fox has declined to draw his salary, inasmuch as he is without employment, and I am able to confirm this. It was a remarkable attitude for the commandant to take up, but it will not hurt him in the estimation of the country when it is known that he declined to accept pay from the community that he could not or would not serve. MEASURES FOR THE SESSION. The Minister for Lands has, I believe, given the finishing touches to his Land Bill, and the labour measures are ready. June 17. WORK FOR THE SESSION. Ministers are understood to have made good progress with policy work during the past week, and there is already enough of Government business ready for the Order Paper to occupy the first six weeks of the session. LAND BILLS. The Lands for Settlement Bill has been finally revised, and the Native Lands Bill is well advanced. This last measure will aim at a comprehensive consolidation of existing acts, and its most important new departure will be the adoption of the same principles for resumption and settlement as are embodied in the Lands for Setlement Bill which I indicated last week. Drastic provisions will be introduced to prevent any traffic in Native lands the titles to which have not been individualised and absolutely ascertained without the sanction of Government. The Budget is prepared, and will be brought down very early in the session. THE BUDGET. The Treasurer seems gratified with his work, and satisfied that it will prove very acceptable reading to the House and the country, but as to its contents he is a perfect sphinx. It is to be an absolutely sealed book until it is brought down to the House. COPING WITH TYPHOID. The City Council will submit to Parliament a bill conferring extraordinary powers for the sanitation of the city. The prevalence of typhoid is a grim reminder of the necessity of a reform of dirty ways. BOYCOTTING THE PRESS. Ministers are apparently getting at odds with the local press all round . As to the Post, it is of course " war to the knife," even to the extent of withholding all Government advertisements from the best local medium for publicity ; while members of its staff are rigidly boycotted. After tbe elections the Press appeared to fall uuder ihe influencs of the tea party, and becoming distinctly Liberal in its tone — almost, indeed, of the complexion of tbe Government of the day, — it was for a time taken into official favour, and was furn^hed with exclusive iufcrmation. Now it seems to be veering toward its old fri.-nda of the Opposition benches, Bays plain things in a plain way about things political, and no longer appears to get official information at first hand. But this is not so remarkable as the fact that, according to all appearances, the Times has ceased to be the Ministerial morning journal, and is understood to have incurred the displeasure of certain of the tribunes of tho people. Meanwhile it is an interesting local question as to whether it will be brought to heel by the crack of the Seddonian stockwhip or will change masters and serve an intelligent public rather than an ungrateful Premier. THE EXODUS. The new exodus to Australia continues— the Talune yesterday being a full ship as to passengers, iucludiDg 15 Chinese. If the Premier wishes t3 stay tbe immigration of Australian labourers, he cannot do better than publish this fact officially. THE TUAPEKA SEAT. Of the Tuapeka seat the Po/»t says :— " The indecent haste with which the Government u-jatr circumstances of a very questionable legality pushed on the election for W&itemata will ba remembered. Ministers thought Mr Jackson Palmer would be able to carry the seat by assault, and so they cast aside all scruples in the effort to hurry on the election. They have not shown the same alacrity in regard to the existing vacancy for Tuapeka, although the necessity is more urgent, as Parliament is on the eve of meeting and no legal difficulties stand in the way. They are not, however, so confident of being able to carry the Tuapeka seat, and they would evidently prefer the district being disfranchised altogether rather than see it represented by a political

opponent. They are consequently ignoring the clear requirements of the electoral law in this case as much as they stretched them in regard to the issue of the Waitemata writ. The Electoral Act provides that when a vacancy occurs from death the Speaker shall issue his warrant 'forthwith' to the clerk of writs, directing him to issue a writ to supply the vacancy. When there is no Speaker, the Governor is directed to act for him. Whether a Gazette notification of the vacancy is required when the vacancy is caused by death is not very clear ; but even the Gazette notice, if required, has not been issued. The late member for Tuapeka died on the 4th inst., and no public step towards the election of a successor has yet been taken. , At the best now the constituency will be unrepresented for the first month or so of the session. The delay in the issue of the writ is a most improper one. Tbe reasons influencing Ministers in keeping the seat vacant as long as possible are palpable." June 19. RECONSTRUCTING THE CABINET. ! The report of the Royal Commissioner, Mr O'Hara Smith, on the publication of Colonel Fox's letter was, I believe, considered in Cabinet this afternoon, and so far as I can learn there are good reasons to suppose that there will be an early resignation of at least one portfolio and a reconstruction of the Cabinet. THE SPEAKERSHIP. The election of Speaker is a subject of increasing interest, both of the candidates being on tbe spot. Ido not alter my previously expressed opinion that Major Steward has the better prospect, but everything depends upon the Premier. If Sir Maurice O'Rorke get the Government nomination — and he has not yet got it — I believe he will win. If, on the other hand; it is not made a Government party question, the tea party will win and return the late Speaker. CHAIRMANSHIP OF COMMITTEES. For the Chairmanship of Committees, Messrs Guinness and Joyce will compete, but if the Government put Sir Maurice in the chair they will, I hear, try and mollify Major Steward with the minor office. THE STANDING ORDERS. Major Steward has drawn and forwarded to the Government voluminous proposed amendments to the Standing Orders, but they have not yet been considered by the Cabinet, and when they emerge from the ordeal it is likely, I think, that amendments will have been made of a much more drastic nature than ever contemplated by the late Speaker. There is au opinion abroad that Ministers are not sincere in this matter, and that the proposed new Standing Orders are only meant to be pitched on to the floor of the House to be worried by members. This is a mistake, and I am confident that the Government are in earnest and determined in their intention to reform the methods of parliamentary work, and the presence of many opponents of party government in the new House will naturally "prick the sides of their intent." As to Major Steward's amendments he proposes that motions for adjournment should be limited to two per diem — one when all the questions have been put and another for any specific purpose which may be desired by the mover. On the first class of motions the remarks must be confined to the subject of the questions, on the second to the specific reasons assigned for the motion. He also proposes that the discussion on a motion to go into Committee on a bill be confined to the bare question " That the Speaker do leave the chair " ; and that the discussion on the principle of the bill be not then permitted. The motion to "pass" a bill after the third reading it is also proposed to abolish, to prevent debates on the motion " That the bill do now pass " ; and in the case of a motion to amend the title it is proposed to limit the right of the House to saying yes or no. Another amendment deals with and simplifies the form of putting the previous question. This may be moved at any time, and, without debate, the Speaker shall call upon members supporting it to rise in their places. If not less than 10 do so the question is at once to be put. A two-thirds majority of those voting is required to carry it. When the House, or a Committee of the whole House, has decided that a question ' be now put,' the mover, proposer, or introducer of the question shall, if otherwise entitled to reply, be permitted to speak in reply before such question is put, but shall not in such reply debate the matter in the House for more than 30 minutes or in Committee for more than 15 minutes. PROBABLY A STORY. The Post this evening tells the following remarkable story : — " Tho erection of two sentry boxes at the rear of the ' largest wooden building in the world ' has recently occasioned some comment. It has transpired that special precautions are now adopted for watching the exteriors of the Government Buildings, Government House, and the Parliamentary Buildings at night. The reason for this is, we believe, the receipt of information by the Government from a reliable source of an incendiary conspiracy to set the Government Building on fire, and it is believed that the design included the simultaneous firing of Government House and the Parliamentary Buildings. It was, of course, perfectly right to take every possible measure of precaution to render the carrying out of •uoh a diabolical scheme impossible, but it is to be regretted that these precautions were taken so openly as to put the would-be incendiaries on their guard. It would surely have been possible to have adopted effectual measures of protection secretly, so that the miscreants might have been lulled into a false security and been caught red-handed. A number of men are now at work cutting away the dense undergrowth in the shrubbery around the departmental buildings in such a way that the sentries can see under the trees and in order to prevent these being used as cover for the incendiaries."