POLITICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8480, 6 July 1907, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

j (From Our Parliamentary Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. AN IRREGULAR ADJOURNMENT. Parliament has the melancholy duty from time to time of adjourning for a brief space as a mark of respect to the memory of some deceased legislator; but for it to set aside public business because of a wedding is a unique experience. Yet this was done by both branches of the Legislature on Wednesday, when tha House, upon assembling at 2.30 p.m., immediately adjourned on account of the wedding of the son of one ox the newly-appointed members of the Legislative Council to. a daughter of the late Mr Seddon, 'and the Council rose for a hour, resumed, and finally adjourned without transacting any business. The reason for the adjournmant of the Houses was not officially stated in either case, and so it wil I not be entered upon the records. Members never looked so eminently respectable in the two Chambers as on this occasion. Most of them were in ceremonial dress, and carried tall silk hats in their hands. The chief defect of the ensemble was thej absence of the Premier's Court uniform and cocked hat. THE CAUCUS AND ITS VALUE. The substance of the official report of the Government caucus, held on Wednesday, might have been written in advance by an experienced pressman. It was unlikely that such a report would have indicated anything but a happy state of unanimity. It is essential for party purposes that the uninitiated should' be led to believe that "all in the.garden's lovely." Hence the resolution of loyalty to Sir Joseph Ward and his Government, which, we are told, was carried with cheers. But it: so happens that there are members who. while adhering to the party on general lines, are indisposed to allow their constituencies to suffer, or public abuses to continue, without pro test, even for party's sake. There are others who consider themselves beyond anything. This is another way of saying they consider their seats before every other] consideration. To keep themselves right with their constituents they are quite prepared, upon emergency, to overlook slavish loyalty to party, and to battle for their constituencies as a means to an obvious end. These members are not going to sacrifice constituents or silver, as the ease may be, at the mere cry of party, and therefore the unanimity with which the resolution of Wardian loyalty is alleged to have been passed cannot be taken as implying the absolute support of the 56 members present and for at the cau-

cus upon all the Government policy measures. Although therej is still a tendency towards interference with elections by the Government of the day, there is now no exceedingly dominant personality at the head of affairs to terrorise or cajole,as the colony had become accustomed to, and members now show a greater tendency towards , independence of action. Criticism during the session is therefore likely to be keener than usual, and Ministers will not find it so easy to achieve their ends as formerly. It is 'an open secret that the Premier came in for a "bit of a. talking to" for not having held previous caucuses, and was told —so I am assured —that had he done so there would not have been so much trouble over the Land Bill. Sir Joseph took up a stand which—outside the party, at any rate—will meet with a good deal of approbation. He told the caucus that he did not believe in Government by and did not intenp to countenance it. RAILWAY MISMANAGEMENT. Mr Hornsby is apparently one of those members who, while recognising the claim of party, feel it incumbent upon them to conserve the interests of their constituents and to speak out boldly where there are public abuses. It is said that he spoke out pretty strongly on the subject of railway mismanagement at the caucus; and certainly he did so from/the floor of the House last night. He did not mince matters. He strongly protested against the General Manager being in the position of a Czar, issuing ukases to the men, who had no appeal against them; and he also condemned the constitution of the Appeal Board. He maintained that the railways should be administered by a Ministerial head and the . best Commissioner who could be got for money. The Minister should, he declared, confine himself entirely to the work of the one Department. Mr Hornsby proceeded to show that the men were overworked and underpaid; that chances were taken by enginemen in order to run to time table; that there was a lack of accommodation for the men, and that the hardest-worked were the . poorest paid. The question of class distinction was* touched upon, and Mr Hornsby averred that this had grown up to a very great extent. He finally appealed to the Minister to thing to ameliorate the condition of the men. Mr McNab, the Acting-Minister of Railways, in replying, said there of the grievances which he was not prepared to considtr, and, possibly, redress. POLITICAL GRATIANOS. "Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice: his reasons are two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shali seek all day ere you shall find them, and when you have found them,they are not worth the search." —Merchant of Venice. There are a good many Gratianos in the Legislature of New Zealand, and the Address-in-Reply is bringing some of them forward. The above quotation is distinctly applicable to them. The Speech affords no opportunity for profitable or interesting discussion except discussion were to lie in the direction of abolishing the useless formality. The marvel is, then, that men professing the possession of common sense persist in rising in their places in .the Legislature and fogging the atmosphere with a drizzle of words. Yet they wear the aspect of serious earnestness when they speak, and apparently imagine they are advancing the material well-being of the country. The whole thing is wearisome in the extreme, but, nevertheless, it is likely to keep the boards over the week. LOANS TO LOCAL BODIES. A return of applications by local authorities for loans under the Local Bodies Loans Act, for the year ending March 31st last has been laid upon the table of the House. It shows the loans granted or provisionally granted to the following local bodies, amongst others: —Counties —Eketahuna, £350; Featherston, £1,080; Masterton, £4,590; Pahiatua. £425; Waipawa, £2,500; Wairarapa South, £649;Boroughs—Carterton, £1.700; Grey town, £2,000; Masterton, £7OO. Town Boards—Eketahuna, £7O; Featherston, £7OO. THE DEADLY PEA" RIFLE AND OTHER GUNS. According to a return laid before the House, there were .368 fatalities in the colony caused by firearms between the years 1896 and 1905. Four- • teen of these were homicide, 151 were accidents, and 203 suicides. Pea rifles were responsible for one homicide, seven accidents, and four suicides; revolvers for nine homicides, fourteen accidents, and 91 suicides; other firearms for four homicides, 130 accidents, and 108 suicides. . i , , PROPOSED COMPASSIONATE ALLOWANCE. Mr Wood, the member for Palmerston North, is asking the Government to place on the Estimates a gratuity for the wife and family of the late Mr John O'Meara, member for Pahiatua, in consideration of the valuable services rendered by him to the country.