WELLINGTON GOSSIP.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 829, 11 February 1868, Page 2

WELLINGTON GOSSIP.

(From the Wellington Correspondent of the Otago Daily Times. ) The regulations for Civil servants, published in the Gazette of tlie 31st December, have led to the resignation by Mr Robert Hart of the appointment which he has for sometime held as assistant law officer. One of those regulations runs thus : —“ No professional officer to whom the Civil Service Act, 1856, applies, shall engage in the private practice of his profession, without the authority of law, or the express permission, in writing, of the responsible Minister.” Mr Hart was apprised that this regulation applied to him, amongst others, but that the necessary permission would be given, on his making application for it to Mr Stafford, who is the “ responsible Minister” in this case, the Attorney-General being a nonpolitical head. This piece of humble pie, or arbitrary authority, appears to have been a little too large for Mr Hart to digest, and he chose the alternative of resignation ; which, considering the appointment was worth £6OO a-year, and that his connection with tlie Government in various capacities, would in a few more years have entitled him to a tolerably handsome pension, is a very notable proceeding. It forms a very good commentary on what Mr Fitzherbert said about Wellington, being “ a money grubbing hole,” and shows that he was at any rate in some measure wrong in making so sweeping an assertion. This conduct towards gentlemen whose appointments were conferred with the understanding that they might continue the practice of their profession, is considered to be a very arbitrai’y stretch of authority. A Government is at liberty to make what conditions it likes as applicable to future holders ; but it is not fair to deal in this way with those who accepted office under certain expressed or implied conditions to the contrary. This is about tlie only piece of political gossip current for many days. Everything is stale, flat, and I am sorry to add, unprofitable to all connected with journalism, who have moral courage to avoid noticing tlie canards which the want of something to talk about occasionally produces. A little capital was expected ,o have come to hand when Mr Fox arrived,.and some were foolish enough to expect that that gentleman was going to rush headlong into politics, and improvise a “ policy” on the spur of the moment. From this extreme, these shallowpates have now gone to the other, and declare that he intends eschewing politics, intending “to live and die a Rangitikei settler.” I have no doubt that ere very long we shall see Mr Fox a candidate for the Assembly seat, representing his own district —a dinner at Wanganui being projected, at which the sitting member, Mr Watt, will, in all probability, announce his resignation in Mr Fox’s favonr. I should think that Mr Fox could no more keep out of politics than he could fly, but what shape his course of action will assume is, I venture to say, most undefined even to himself, and will require much thought and consultation to determine. lam sure than Mr Fox will not run a muck for power, and that his views must keep pace with the altered circumstances of the Colony. A beach trader, returning after several years’ absence, would find business very considerably revolutionised, and his old unpretentious shop front would lifive to he replaced by plate glass and such like fixings. The political situation and requirements of the Colony have undergone even a greater change, during the last few years, than its trade has : so that if Mr Fox is again placed at the head of a party, it must necessarily be one whose views are very much in advance of what was current when lie took tho lead previously.