THE NEW HOUSE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7032, 10 December 1890, Page 1

THE NEW HOUSE.

{New Zealand Times.) Of the seventy-three members who have been elected to the House (the Northern Maori Beat being vacant), forty-six sat in the last Parliament, twenty-seven did net, and twenty have never before been elected. Twenty-four members of the last Parliament have been defeated. One remarkable feature of the elections is the defeat of three gentlemen who occupied a very •warm corner in the Chamber to the right of the Speaker. Prom that corner Mr Barron has Btood up many a time and oft to talk retrenchment, Freetrade, and the abolition of the Property tax; Mr James Allen, loud of voice and vigorous in tone, has talked mining or finance through many a weary hour ; and it has often happened that an empty Chamber has suddenly been filled by the newa spreading to the lobby that " Bruce is up." No man's defeat will be more regretted than that of Mr Bruce, who is a very fine speaker, a conscientious politician and an honest man. His two friends will be missed, certainly; but ib is the Bruce whom both parties will most heartily sympathise with. Indeed, of the middle party as a whole it might well be said, as of Hans Breitmann'e, " Where is dot barty now ? " Captain Eussell has joined the Ministry, Mr Menteath wants no more politics, Messrs Bruce, Barron and Allen are out; and Mr Scobie Mackenzie, Mr Macarfchur, Mr Mills, Dr Newman and one or two others are the remnant of the strongest party (intellectually) that recent Parliaments have known. It is to be admitted that the elections have given us some resultß by whi«h progress of business will be facilitated. Sir George Grey's retirement may practically mean the withdrawal for the present of the Law Practitioners, Elective Governors and Contagious Diseases Act Eepeal Bills, because no one can hope to have the same success with them as Sir George had. On the other hand, if Mr Seddcm takes them up, tbe new House may be found willing to traffic in that kind of thing. There will be no more jeremiads from Mr Moss, no stonewalling, Treaty-Waitangi speeches from poor Taiwhanga and liichard Beeves, or State Bank talk from Mr Yerrall. Mr Kerr cannot have that annual fling at the Stock Department again, and Mr Buxtons well-aspirated tonea will not be heard. As against that there is a whole shoal of advanced Liberals who will exhaust land, labour and all other questions every time they get up. Mr Kees, for instance, who once spoke over twenty hours ; and Mr Hogg, who is a capital speaker and abominably ready. When Masterton has had discussed the rights of the wage-earning classes, Protection, or the land question, he will be an inventive genius who finds anything fresh to say about it. The Opposition may be considered to have done splendidly in the elections, considering tbe disadvantages under which they went to the country. Their numbers will perhaps be reduced upon careful analysis and the definition of the doubtfuls, but still they are very strong. Only one man is wanted to make them victorious, and that one a leader. Only a very strong man can hold the party together and consolidate forces which will at first be difficult to work in a team. Judging by past experience, Mr Ballance emphatically will not do, though the probability is he will be chosen again. He will at any rate have a very able lieutenant in Mr W. P. Reeves, and some of the new men are said to be very strong —notably Mr Shera, Mr Macdonald, Mr Earnshaw. The Ministry, on the other hand, have gained tremendously in individual strength. Mr Bruce is their most serious loss, and Mr M'Gregor will also be missed, but outside the Cabinet they still have Sir John Hall, Mr Macarthur, (who may be Treasurer after all) and Mr Scobie Mackenzie, Mr W. S. Allen, Mr Wright and Mr Eolleston— all first class men. There are Mr Bryce and Mr Duthie, too, who, though they are catalogued independent, are not at all likely to follow Mr Ballance. How have the Skinflints fared? Skinnintism became snch a general craze last session that it is difficult now to pick out the followers of that policy. Mr Goldie, the arch-cutter, is back, with him sturdy Marsden Thompson. Mr Saunders, who is a treat to listen to on any big question, but positively painful otherwise, is in again, but Mr Allen has gone out. Many of the new members are for retrenchment, but the probability is that Parliament will be too busy with abstract questions to think of reductions. A good time is before vs — a time when everyone will have his way of " putting the people on the land," of " restorine prosperity to this grand country," and of " relieving people from the burden of taxation."