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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 4038, 7 December 1881, Page 2

Thebe are some very grave misapprehensions about the conduct of business in Wellington by which the unwary and credulous are apt to be imposed upon by the designing and malevolent. One is that the main factors in politics, are the men who are most constant in their attendance in the House, and the most garrulous in debate. Unfortunately the House of Representatives is not what it is .thought to be— ■& representative portion of the Government where public questions are fought out on their merits, and votes are given after careful consideration. It is not too much <o say that for the last ten years, at least, scarcely a vote has been influenced by debate or argument. Crucial questions are all decided outside of the House, and men are counted on by the whips on the various sides, not by what they say or think, but by what they have previously determined to do. The caucus or the lobby are the only factors in our politics which make or unmake Ministers under our present form of Government. Mr Mac Andrew, for instance, never speaks in the House but when he is compelled to do so, but who will say that he is not one of the most important factors in the General Assembly. All the men of influence, with one or two exceptions; are silent men. The result of every division is known almost to a man before it is taken. Men vote in certain grooves and run with certain parties. Their absence or presence in the House influences no important result. A "catch" division effects no end, as the House re-considers the decision hastily arrived at, and amends it at a subsequent sitting.