PARLIAMENTARY.

Observer, Volume 4, Issue 97, 22 July 1882, Page 292

PARLIAMENTARY.

(by telegbaph.) _Fbo_u: Oub Special Coeeespoxdent. OVER THE SPEAKER'S CHAIR. WEii__NG.TO->r, Thursday. — They don't take kindly in the Council to Oliver. — The betting is 3 to 1 that Pilliet runs crooked. — Whitaker sen., is as tired of his Government, I ahi'told, as Walter Johnston is. ■£— Some people say that Shrunski has a. " down" on Seed, of the Customs, hence the^Peusiou Bill. ' • — Wi Tako's vo€e carried the Pensioners' Bill. He always votes 'on the Tory side. — Maoandrew talks of putting Montgomery on fi3h diet, as boing'likely to increase his brain power. — An aged member of the Assembly defined woman as a creature with long hair and short* views. — Progress and poverty is becoming a kind of text book in the Asssembly. Men now quote George, and have forgotten Cooley. — Eancy Sir Wm. Eifczherbert being prepared to fight out a constitutional question with Sir Erskine May iv defence of his own pension ! —Don't the Council hat Grey just a little. Let the Observes offer a five or ten guinea prize for an essay on the " uses of the Legislative Council." — I am still of opinion that the Obseeveb. readers can bet against the passing of Feldwick's Telegram Bill. — What riles Otago most, I hearsomeSouthern members say, is that it should be represented by Dick aiid Oliver— both Dicks, by the way. . , — I don't think the law officers of tho Crown love Ponton, and people say Fenton does not love the law officers. • . . - — The Government draws a distinction between salaries and wages. The former should bo increased, they say, and the latter decreased. . — Twice tliis session an unprecedented thing has happened, all the members of tho Lower House being at Wellington, together. — It is said that the rotten wood of the old portion of the' Parliamentary Buildings is the cause of | tha miasma so fatal to health. - — Holmes wanted farmers' wives and daughters to be brought under the operation of Green's Eight Hours Bill. " • , ' . . — Petrie, of Greymouth, thinks that only two men of the old members will.be in any new Ministry-,-all the others will have to be taken out of the recruits. , . — The .West Cpasb'men are men of many expectations. Eitzgerald expects to be made Minister of Mines, Weston Aitorney-Geueral, and Petrie Post-master-General. — Richmond wanted to make out when -De Lautour applied for admission as a barrister, that men could not pass as such with only three years servitude; but Stout, Downie Stewart, and .Macassey did so. When | application was made for DeLautour's admission, half the House wis in Court. ..-.''.'. I ; • ' '■)'''

— When the Public Works Estimates come on there Tvill bo some strong language used about Clayton, ahd his son-in-law (Yogel) may be hero to hear, some people hope. • . — Dillon Bell, is the only man the rejected Pension Bill could injure ; but he is not in want of any pension, nor would he be at all likely to claim one at any time. — It was too bad of Scotland to seek to have the standing orders amended to prevent members of the Legislative Council indulging ia the use of obscene ' language in the General Asssembly. —The man in the street says that Walter Johnston is very tired of the whole thing. People now begin to believe, he says, that he is the most respectable man in the Ministerial crew. — Late last week Atkinson said to a member, who is well-known, " Why don't you bring down a vote of want-of-confidence at once, and settle matters ?" " No," was the reply, " we prefer to see you bleed to death." — Christchm'ch must be the most profligate place in the Colony, from the return Col. Brett obtained of tho cases of indecent exposure there in 1881 :—Auckland, flve ; Wellington, three ; Christchurch, twentynine. — It was known last Eriday that Atkinson's Insurance Scheme would not be debated on Monday night, but the Post came out with a leader saying it would come on, whereas the Order Paper showed the contrary. — It was great fun to hear Whitaker speak against private members bringing in bills affecting public policy to those who remembered his introduction of Hare's system of representation into Parliament, while he was a private member. — Some Scotchmen have a senso of humour. I asked a Scotch member how long this state of Ministerial decomposition would last, and for an answer he said, " How long will a man lie in the earth ere he rot ? Faith, if he be not rotten before he die, he will last some eight or nine years. A tanner will last nine years, his hide is so tanned with his trade. The men in the Government are all tanners." — The Post announces that members can li^e in Wellington for £2 a-week in comfort and respectability — that is, if members sleep three in a bed, like Ministers did at Matamata ; and it is agreed that what is good enough for Miuisters is good enough foi' members, but this semi-official estimate of the cost of living was probably, furnished by Bryce. — When Rons Marten, to order, announced in the Post and Auckland Herald that the Crown Lands and Eating Bill of this year was tho same measure brought before Parliament last year,. l at once came to the conclusion that they were different, and so I went to Rutherford, the bill clerk, and got the Bill of last year to compare it with this year's Bill. My suspicions were abundantly verified ; but I suppose Bryce is answerable for the untruth, or some other member of the moral Ministry. — A cabman saved the country from impending bankruptcy last week. Smith, of Waipawa, had given notice that on going into Committee of Supply he would move that the ten per cent which was taken off salaries should be put on again. When Atkinson heard this, he went to the door for Montgomery to tell him that he should regard the motion as one of confidence ; but Montgomery had gone to lunch with Hall, whither Atkinson followed, and while explaining the seriousness of the motion, the c:_b_nan, mistaking his orders, drove away ; and before the Treasurer could get to the House tbe Land Bill was called on, and the country was saved. Had the cabman waited, the House would not have gone into Committee of Supply, and God only knows what would have happened.