PERIPATETIC PHILOSOPHERS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3332, 30 October 1871, Page 3

PERIPATETIC PHILOSOPHERS.

10 THE EDITOK OP THE INDEPENDENT. Sib,— Mr Reader Wood will have good cause to laugh in his sleeve at the successful ■way in which he has hoodwinked the members who voted with him for a peripatetic Parliament. It has been Baid that the present House as a body is Tery much inferior to its predecessor in talent and mental status, and if anything were wanting to place the matter beyond a doubt, I think it is to be found in the result of the division on this childish motion. It reminds me of the division on the question of the port of call of the San Francisco steamers. Then it occurred to sundry lion members, in the plenitude of their wisdom, that the chief esaen tial to the success of fch c San Francisco service was that the Bteamers should make monthly cruises along the New Zealand coast, touching everywhere. The vanity nnd the curiosity of every little community was to be pandered to by having an opportunity of Beeing the wonderful Bteamera which should put our own trusty little coasters into the shade. Even little Napier waß attacked with the mania to see the Yankee boatß, and to hear the cheerful twang of the Yankee pronuncia tion. So there was nothing for it but to make the Bteamers call at every place on the East Coaßt of New Zealand where they possibly could call. The novelty of the thing was quite refreshing for a time, bub after one or two trips the Yankees, strange to say, profeired calling at Melbourne and Sydney instead of circumambiating New Zealand. Now we are to have a new plaything — v Parliament flitting about like a will-o'tbe-wisp on a kind of legislative oratorical pleasure excursion — Mr Lightband wants the Parliament to eit in the Provincial Hall, Nelson ; ?*■« Somebody else will, no doubt, like to see bofr members crammed into the Town Hull at • "Wangiinui. If the Assembly is to sit at Punedin, then at Chriatchurch, then at Auckland, and then Heaven knows where — why should it not sit at Wakatip or Taupo ; and with regard to the latter place many very excellent arguments might be used in its fmvor. As to accommodation, that is easily got over. A few hundred Maoris could easily be induced to erect a runanga houee, and an Taupo is in telegraphic communication with Wellington, tho two principal difficulties are provided for, and th^se are nothing as compared with the benefits members would derive from personal observation of the Maori character and habits. Moreover, members would have a magnificent opportunity of vieiUiij! the wonderful scenes of Rofcomahana, and tho.su who are afflicted with goat would be able to bathe in the hot springs, Looking at

! the advantages of this proposal, I feel convinced that hon raembora would willingly volunteer to pay their own expenses, and to fore--1 go the little trifle of an honorarium. Mr Wood is evidently a man of profound I Ecientific attainments. Hiß suggestion as to ! the use of the telegraph wires in procuring information from Wellington for the Assembly sitting in Duuedin is clearly indicative of the intense study he must have dovoted to the question. The transmission along the wires of blue books and official returns, with interesting and complicated tables of figures would bo quite a refreshing novelty in telegraphy. I trust, sir, that hon members will not too hastily condemn my suggestions, but will attach that weight to them which the importance of the subject demands. In times of difficulty, such as the present, it is tho duty of every patriotic citizen to come forward, ns Mr Wood has done, and endeavor to husband the resources of the colony.— l am, &c, The Peripatetic Philosopher.