DRUNKARDS IN PARLIAMENT.
Manawatu Times, Rōrahi XXVII, Putanga 7921, 8 Huitanguru 1904, Page 2
Mō tēnei niupepa
DRUNKARDS IN PARLIAMENT.
A contemporary thinks the secretary of the .New Zealand Alliance is getting reckless and that Parliament will be calling on him presently to show cause why he should not be committed for contempt, or something equally awesome. He has been telling the peop c of Greytown what a disgraceful lot of drunkards the colony's representatives are. Fully 10 per cent, of the House of Representatives, says this Christian and veracious prohibitionist,although not perhaps to be designated as drunkards, occasionally get drunk. If Mr Isitt is telling the truth, the colony ought to Lvl mightily ashamed of itself for returning such men to Parliament, and very angry with Mr Isitt for calling attention to it; and, if Mr Isitt isn't telling the truth, he ought to hear some more about the matter pretty soon. Fully 10 per cent.' of Parliament, he says, occasionally makes a beast of itself. The House of Representatives consists of eighty members, of whom, according to Mr Isitt, eight more or less apparently take too much liquor. Who are the eight ? Having gone so far, Mr Isitt ought to go a little further and let us know the worst. [ But the " boss" prohibitionist is too wary a bird to deal in anything so dangerous as details, Generalities are good enough for him. Everybody knows that Parliament is by no means absolutely sober. Nobody ever heard of a body of eighty politicians that was. But we don't want Mr Isitt making general charges against our political institutions for the edification of Australasia. It is a poor sort of individual who is always crying " stinking fish," and, true or false, no patriotic New Zealander will thank Mr Isitt for his characteristic advertisement.
