POLITICAL GOSSIP IN WELLINGTON.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8535, 27 July 1889, Page 2

POLITICAL GOSSIP IN WELLINGTON.

I TELEGRAPHED DV 008 COBBESPONDENT.J

STONEWALLING CONTINUES.

Saturday, Jaly 27. — Mr Taylor spoke till ji quarter- pact five, and was followed by Mr Richard Reeves. PREMIER OFFERS TO COMPROMISE MATTERS. At sis o'clock an adjournment wtta made till 7.30 p.m. In the meantime, a meeting of town members was held, to which it was intimated that the Premier was willing to report progress at onco, and adjourn till Monday night, if they would allow the motion for committal of the bill to bb carried. This proposal the meeting rejected at once. They are willing to let the motion be put if the Government will then adjourn till 2.30 p.m. ori Tuesday, but they look upon nib offer as insufficient, and, moreover, as a sign of weakness. The Qorernment stated they made their proposal ostensibly oil account of the death of Judge Gillies. A PORTRAIT IN OILS. A portrait of Sir William Jerrois haa lately been suspended in the Parliamentary Library. Mr W. P. Reeves called attention to it the other day, and suggested that it was necessary to set op some standard as to the merit of pictures that were given a permanent berth in the Library. If, he said, the Library was turned iuto a kind of rival of Madame Tussuid's, it would cease to be used as a place of recreation for members seeking refuge from the stifling atmosphere of the House. The Premier referred the hon. gentleman to the Library Committee, of which he is a member, for information. BALLOTING FOR AN OPINION. The very unusual course to ascertain the feeling of the House on the proposal to restore the number of members to 91, was tuken in the House on Wednesday. In each member's pigeon hole a printed slip has been placed, of which the following is a copy :—": — " Ballot paper (to be deposited in ballot "box in Mr Otteraon's room by 12 o'clock noon on Friday, 26th Jul) ). Proposal to restore the number of European members to 91. Aye — No. Strike out either ths word 'Aye' or the word ' No,' leaving uncancelled the word which represents your opinion, bat writing nothing on the paper." Mr Barron brought the matter before the House as a breach of privilege. The Speaker explained that Mr Ballance had' asked him for permission to circulate these papers, and he had given it. Mr Ballance, iv reply, took the entire responsibility for the distribution of the ballot papers. He had asked ani obtained permission of the Speaker to do bo. — The ballot box was emptied on Friday, when it was found that 57 members had deposited papers in it, of whom 49 were in favor ot returning to the 91 members. A VERY SENSIBLE AMENDMENT. The Post sayß it is stated that sove member has actually drafted a clause for insertion in the Representation Bill, depriving the City of Wellington of all representation in Parliament. REDUCTION OF MEMBERS. The Press haa an articlo to the same effect, and says :— " The House is evidently drifting baok on th» true solution of their present difficulty, the repeal of the act of 1887, by which the Honte of Representatives is reduosd to 70. Of course we shall be told that such a pioposal would be discreditable to the House, that the suggestion of reversal of legislation deliberately adopted little over a year and a-halt is a shameless one 1 The fact if, that it is not only the House, bat the country that has boxed the compass, and come round to the point they started from. Nor are we at all inolined to stand upon oar dignity «r pretend to take up a too virtuous attitude. It is quite apparent that the difficulties into which the reduction of members is plunging us are greatly in excess of the supposed good to be derived from the measure. "TWO MISCHIETOUS DEVILS 1" An amusing incident happened during Mi Moss' speech on Thursday morning. Being annoyed by Dr Hodgkinson and Mr O'Conor talking, Mr Most paused in the act of reading a question, and, said, " Sir, to this passage I would invite the particular attention of the members of Wallace and Buller — two misohievons devils 1" The Speaker immediately demanded the withdrawal of that expression, and repeated his demand, when Mr Mosb explained that he was only reading from a book. " This is Haasard, Sir," protested the member for Parnell, " It's a speech delivered by Mr Richmond, now a Judge of the Supreme Court." The Speaker sternly replied that he could not allow a passage of that sort to be read in that way. AN ATTEMPT MADE TO STOP THE DEBATE. A peculiarly wily effort to stop the debate was made by Mr Scobie Mackenzie at about h&lf past five on Thursday morning. At that hour Mr Mackenzie moved "the previous question," which is that the original question (in this case "That the Speaker leave the chair in order that the House may go into Committee on the Representation Bill") be pat. " The previous question" may be discussed at any length, the same as any other motion, but if it is eventually carried on division or otherwise, the original question must be put forthwith without debate. Very few of the town member! being in the House when ihe question was being put, when Dr Fitchett returned hurriedly to the rescue of his comrades; and simultaneously Mr Jones rode and applied to the Chairman for information about this question. As Dr. Fitchett iusioted on knowing all about it, the little plot failed entirely, and Mr Jones proceeded to speak to the bill. The Speaker promptly stopped him by saying he ouuld not discuss the main question ; and tho member for Hoathcotp, uaabie for the moment to enlighten tho House on any other subjeot, sat down. This decision was at once appealed against, and subsequently the Speaker admitted that he had been in error in giving it. Mr Jones was not allowed to speak again, however, the unanimous permission of the House being denied him. MR. MARCHANT TO THE RESCUE. Mr Marchant was so displeased with the manner in which Mr Jones waa treated, though on the other side, that he offered his services to the opponents of the bill to speak for an hour or two when they plemed. He accordingly began when Mr Withy sat down at about 10 o'clock on Thursday night, and spoke till half-paßt 11, an adjournment of half an hour being granted tor supper in the meantime.