member then proceeded to discuss the legab'ty of the sale, paying that the Government ought to have laid before the House the opinion of their legal adviser upon the matter ; but he doubted wnothor a legal gentleman could be found who would risk his reputation by stating that the action of the Government in issuing Orders in Council was legal. This agreement was not only a violation of, but a fraud on, an Aot of Parliament. They said the 1-tnd bad been open for sale for years, but it had never been open upon the same terms as tho.=e upon which Mr Russell obtained it. Surely the Colony was not con fined to one capitalist who represented a Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. He depre cated the bad example set by the Premier to new members, in not conducting a debate on administration without calling an' honourable member a lunatic. Referring to the ridicule the Premier threw upon the Superintendent of Auckland for imagining Auckland ran the risk of being bombarded, he called to the recollec tion of the Premier how he bombarded the Court Houses in Otago, because certain dele gated powers were not given to the Superinten dent. He cheered the remark of the Premier in deprecating the action of Sir George Grey in appealing to a power outside o,ur local Parlia ment. He would remind the House they had a local Parliament in Otago, and people there claimed the right of administering their local affairs without intervention of any other power. — (Loud applause from the Opposition.) As far as the defeat of the Ministry was concerned, he did not wish to see them leave the Govern ment Benches, not at least, till he saw the Fii ai.cial Statement. 