WELLINGTON.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 2434, 16 May 1874, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(From our own correspondent.) 14th May. The great debate of the session is now a thing of the past, and the Government has been victorious by a majority of three on Mr Andrew's hostile motion. I anticipated this result in my last letter, though at that time it was not thought that, at best, more than a irajority of two would have been obtained. However, at the last moment, a Government supporter, Mr Henry Carter, came up from Canterbury expressly to accord his vote. This said Mr Carter had been playing fast and loose with his constituents — promising to come up and support the Government, then backing out and declaring that it was impossible for him to come.- Blow ever, at the eleventh hour, somebody suggested the idea that a special messenger should be sent to fetch the recalcitrant member,, and straightway Mr E. T. Gillon, of the ' Post,' volunteered to undertake the duty. I havn't the least idea who suggested the project to Mr Gillon, or what was the nature of the arguments he employed to induce Mr Carter to come up. Suffice it to say that Mr Gallon's mission was successful, that both reached Wellington in the steamer on Sunday, and that Mr Carter duly spoke and voted with the Government. Certainly it would be an inteiesting matter of enquiry how Carter came to be " converted," but 1 fear the whole thing must remain an unfathomable mystery. Mr Gillon says that the conversion was the result of his (Gillon's) " impassioned eloquence." Well, perhaps it was, but I am a little sceptical on the subject. By the way, Mr Graham had a dig at your Mayor, Mr Robert Pharazyn, during the debate. Alluding to the fact that Mr Pharazyn, formerly a staunch Government supporter, was now going to vote with the Opposition, Mr Graham said " that no doubt the hon. member had been piously brought up," —

an assertion which Mr Pharazyn indignantly protested against — whereupon Mr Graham finished his sentence by saying, " not only piously brought up but especially taught to reverence that Commandment which enjoins the paying of honor and obedience to one's father and mother." The hit was palpable, it being notorious in Wellington how very bitterly Mr C. Pharazyn, senior (your Mayor's father) is opposed to the present Government, and how strongly he has striven to use his influence against it during the last week or two. In truth, every one knew there was mischief afloat and plots being hatched agaii)3t the Government directly the worthy old gentleman in question was seen button-holing members in the vicinity of the Council Chamber. However, " all's well that ends well." The Government is now safe, the session will close at the end of the week, or the beginning of next, and the beaten chief of the Opposition will have time and opportunity to bemoan this discussion during the calm of the recess. Mr Brandon did not vote at all in the division. It seems by his speech that he thought both the General and Provincial Governments to have been wrong iv the late dispute, and his amendment, embodying that view, having been lost, he declined to take part in the discussion.

Mr Morgan's motion, for a readjustment of the representation, to be embodied in a measure to be brought forward by the Government next session, was discussed last night, and ultimately withdrawn by the voices, Mr Morgan's idea in, that Wellington City should ouly have two representatives in the Council, and the town of VVanganui one, but that the gross number of members should remain as at present, those taken from the town being given to the country districts. The general feeling of the Council was against Mr Morgan's resolution, some asserting that taking population as a basis, the present apportionment of the representation was fair enough, while others urged that the time had not yet come for readjustment of repiesentation but that such a thing would require to be dene when the country districts had become more fully populated and settled. Mr Carter has got a resolution adopted by the Council in favor of the Government giving £200 for providing a free public

Reading Room in connection with the Weiliugton Anfchenaeum. This has caused Mr Morgan to give notice of a motion ' having for its object that a grant of £100 ! should be given in aid of the Public ■ Library established by the Odd Fellows at Wanganui. This comes up for discussion to-night, and I hope will be carried. If I Wellington City is to get Government aid 1 for an object of this kind, it naturally follows that Wanganui and the Wairarapa have a right to urge similar claims. Mr 0. Pharazyn has also taken action to obtain a sum of £100 for a free Public Library in the Wairarapa. Mr Buckley's motion, to the effect that a sum of £200 should be placed on the estimates for the construction of a bridle track from Blackie's to P«iikakariki, has been carried. Ido not yet know what recommendations will be made by the Select Committee on West Coast roads, but 1 expect that tLe adoption of a line from the Upper Hutt to the West Coast, will be one of them. After all, the restrictive party in the Council have contrived to expunge the clause from the " Public House Management Bill " which provided for such houses being open during certain hours on Sundays. The Select Committee allowed the clause in question to stand, so it was thought that the Bill would pass its third reading without undergoing further alterations. This, however, was not to be, as the Bill, when referred to a Committee of the whole House, had the clause referred to expunged. Motions in favor of erecting Telegraph Stations at Wairoa and Turakina, and guaranteeing the expenses of each to the extent of £50, ha^e been carried in the j Council. The arguments in the case of Bunny v. the Attorney-General have been closed, but the decision of the Court has been reserved. Now that the quarrel between the two Governments has, in some sort, been made up, these Court proceedings create but little interest. The sixth General Synod of the Church of England opened to-day with the usual service at St. Paul's Cathedral, after which the Right Reverend the Bishop of Christchurch delivered the inaugural address.