A GOVERNMENT CAUCUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 24

A GOVERNMENT CAUCUS.

'the premier modifies his motion. Wellington, June 28. i That the Government were in a pretty tight ! corner on Friday night in connection with the Prenrer's motion for the setting up of a bank committee of inquiry i« undeniable. Any other man in the House would probably have suffered a defeat under similar circumstacccs, hub the ! Premier is a born fighter. Ho will " never say die " ; and an onlooker, whatever his politics, cannob bub be impressed with the wonderful generalship wibh which be covers a strategic retreat and "bobs up serenely" at a later stage. His ability is undoubted. He has a wonderFul perception of character — at all evenbs of the character of the c!asa of men who make up the rank and file of bis following. He has also the happy and necessary knack in a leader of banding them to his will. It is equally notorious that he does ib all himself. Tne "only strong man in tho Ministry now besides himself is the Hon. John M'Kenzie. The Premier has, no doubt, long ere this recognised that Mr Hall-Jones as a Minister is not a strong man.- Mr G. W. Russell, who has considerable ability »ad good . debating power, would have been more serviceable, notwithstanding his unpopularity, than any of the now Ministers tbe Premier bas from time to time taken into his fold.

The debate on Friday showed up the weakness of the Government following, and it is evident that the Premier himself, intheabsenca of the Treasury officials, is not strong enough in finance, As speaker after speaker rose acd, in trenchant terms critioised the Premier and some of his colleagues, King Richard declined saying anything, bub was "evidently wrapt in thought on the Treasury benches. The climax

was reached when Mr Collins arose in his plaoa ■• to second Mr "Riccarbon" Russell's amendment. . It was a oomplete surprise. The Premier turned slightly in his seat and gave tha speaker one of those steady side-long glances of bis which, if they indicate any thing, certainly indicate displeasure, and one could almost imagine his saying, "All right, Mr Collins, wait; till I get hold of you to-morrow." Mr Collins, however, continued to pour forth- his denunciation?, and the Premier, more surprised than ever, turned to Mr MiiW, the Government whip, and murmured something, <no doubt, about the laxity of the discipline in regard to this unruly i mambsr of bis household, who deigned to oritfciie him. One could not bob feel sorry for the whip. Jjater on, however, as I told you on Friday night, the debate cooled off » little and the whip was sent round. Evidently the time had come for aofcion, and a display of the Premier's generalibip. We divined that "adjournment " was the card he had at length made up his mind to play, and so it was. There was a perfect storm of noes, avd somo one, who did not know the Premier, si\id, " B? Juve, Diok'a licked." But it waa nob so. Sic Mvucice'B line clear voice was next heard, " The Ayes will go into the lobby to the right;' the Noes into the left," and mambora filed slowly out of the chamber. It certainly looked, a close thing, bub as the Premier came through the right band lobby door wo noted that bis face, wh'ch c\rliec in the eveniug was rtlher' serious, w«s now wreathed ia invhs, and weknew that Mr Seddon bad added another to his long lisb of victories. The numbers" were 32 to 28. As, however, Mr MitcheU 1 Ron (who had paired) was locked in, he recorded' his vote for the adjournment. So that the 1 Government majority, was in reality only three. It was a cose Bhave, and the Government* were undoubtedly in a tight corner as the re»ulfc" of the Premier's action, the tightest corner" they have been in for a long time. The debate' was adjourned till 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, and as wo wended our way homeward in' the early hours of the morning, we began to have visions of a caucus and the application of the whip to the recalcitrant ones. We all knew, too, what would be the result of the omoas. There is « general election at hand, and the Premier bold* the key to the position in so .far as the more' servile of hi% followers are concerned. No doubt some of these will never see the inside of Parliament aga ; n, but they live on hope and the Premier's influence ; whereas if be were to get his b&ck up and leave them to their fate it would, ia regard to more than one follower, be a cane of Othello's occupation gone. 'Joe Government caucus was held, on Saturday afternoon and laatt d over two hours. As was expected, the Premier backed down ptelty considerably from the position he had taken up, and, it is stated, promised to amend his ways. There was a good attendance of Ministerial suppdrtsra. Mr Pink«ton was unable to be preient, having made a prior engagement. Mr Collins was not present either, but his absence was accounted for, and it is upderstood he. will fall in with' ths line of action agreed to at the caucus. Me " Riccarton " Russell was not present—indeed,he was not asked,— -neither was Mr Pirani, oneot' the prominent members jof. the Ltft : ,W}bg.. 'Mr. Gf.'-J'. Smith/ howo?er< V*s present, 'Wnd °it is understood that he has fallen in with the views* now, ta b» formulated. After soms consider- • able discussion it WA*resvlveti that -he Gfovam-' ment' should nominate seven members of the Committee of Inquiry, the remaining /ourmembers to come from' the Opposition side "of *" tho Home; indeed, it was agreed that Captain Russell should be allowed to choose the four 1 members from his side of the House. 'It is nndfr<tood, however, that in view of statemeuts already made by Captain Rusiell anH s Mr Bucbauan, they will not be amongst, the four members to 'ba choien from the Opposition side of the- House, and Mr Duthie. is distinctly objected to v The oxouse for lowing out Mr Duthie is that his speech the other night was a very bitter one, ' and showed a certain amount of animus. . The Premier, however, has no objection to the selection of Mr Geo r ge Hutchison as a member of the committee. The point that caused the greatest amount of discussion at the caucus was the order of. reference. Mr Montgomery was very strong on this point, desiring that tbe scops of the inquiry should be limited and nob go back further than 1893. He was, however, almost alone in this, . though it is stated that at Bisfc ha received some little support from Mr M'Nab on this point, bat practically he stood alone, and it was eventually decided that the inquiry should over the ground back to 1887, when the first noto of warniDg as to the position of the Bank of New Zealand was sounded by Mr Buokley. It it, of course, understood that all the principal officers of the Colonial B ink and the Bmk of New Z-aland will bs examined, and that exoffice ra who were in the bauk will be examinedif necofsary, . ■ Ai to tbe order of reference, ib is tacitly' understood that though the committee wilt' have po-rer to go back to 18S7 they will exercise' their power with due discretion and not uaduly : rake up the affairs of dead men. It was further j resolved that the Govtramenb members of the • committee would be the Premier, the Hon. : John M'K^Dzle, Messrs Montgomery, M'Gowmv Maslin, Tanner, and G'ahatn. From this it will ba seen that Messrs Maslin and Tanner replace Messrs Houston and Collins. Mr Houston, who was present at the caucus, agreed to allow his name to be removed ; while Mr Collins had in hit speech on Friday night' stated that hs w.-uld not aeb. The number of the committee is thus iucreasad from 10 to 11. So far the Opposition have not had an opportunity of deciding what line of action they irill take. Two oourses are open to them. One is bo refuse to act on such a committee, and the other ie to make the besb of it and nominate ' four members. I should not be at all surprised, however, if they refused to have anj thing to do with the committee, on the ground that it will be dominated by Ministerial influence—the Government having seven votes to four ; also on the ground that some of the ablest men in fche House are, from various reasons, barred from acting on such a committee. In this case they will no doubt hold out for a Royal Commission consisting of a Supreme Court judge and two ezpert accountants, from outside New Zealand if necessary. What the Government would do in the event of the Opposition declining to act is not clear. It would be a farce to proceed with their own committee. They might endeavour to throw the onus of burking inquiry on the Opposition if they refuse to set, and go to the country on tbe point, June 29. . I have good reason to believe that the Oppo« sition will refuse to act on the Premier^ proposed Banking Committee, for the reasonr • already stated. They will hold a meeting' to-morrow to finally determine what action to take.