THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1901, 30 July 1863, Page 2

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

The members of the General Assembly for this Province bud uu interview on Tuesday with the hon. Reader Wood and the hon. W. Manjell, at which the subject of an early meeting of ibe Assembly was discussed. We are informed that an opiniou was expressed that under present circumstances it was not expe" dient to call an immediate meeting of the General Assembly. We believe the chief reasons urged in support of this opinion were, that as the war in Waikato had commenced, as there was a possibility of ah outbreak here, and as tbe Province was consequently in a state of insecurity, it was tbe duty of the members to remain at home. We give this information simply has it as reached us. Our contemporary tbe Spectator furnishes another account of the above, virtually the same in its chief points. We recuscitate it for general perusal, merely remarking that tbe latter portion of the paragraph in italics, " that the members would be absolutely precluded from attending the Assembly unless it were held in this Province" is incorrect. We have the best authority for stating that while it was thought an early session was unadvisable, yet there was by no means a unanimous determination expressed not to attend, provided such a session were held at Auckland. We subjoin our contemporary's paragraph : — Yesterday the members of the General Assembly of this Province now in Wellington had an interview with the hon. Reader Wood the Colonial Treasurer, and the hon. W. Mantell, at which they expressed their unanimous opinion that uuder the present circumstances of the Colony it was not expedient to call an immediate meeting of the General Assembly. The principal reason assigned for this decision, it is understood, was , that as hostilities had actually commenced by the invasion of the Waikato country, and as the Colony was in a stats of open warfare, such a time was exceedingly inconvenient for the meeting of the General Assembly, and in the present unprotected state of this Province it was a duty incumbent on the members to remain in the Province and exert their influence in maintaining peace and order, and they would therefore be absolutely precluded from attending the Assembly unless it were held in this Province. The news since received from Auckland shews the prudence of the decision at which they had arrived.