The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1896. THE CONTEST FOR MANUKAU

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 284, 30 November 1896, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1896. THE CONTEST FOR MANUKAU

fer the earao that lacte araishiajoa, for the Mvms that nesSs reEsstaaee, Tor the future in the distunes, And th» cood that -we can to. /-;,■

In the recently-published tJ History of New Zealand," by Mr Alfred Saunders, M.H.R., a settler of 54 years' standing in New Zealand, there occurs the following passage, which possesses a special interest to the Maaukau electors at the present moment:—

The third New Zealand Parliament, now numbering fifty-three member*—fcwen iy-eix of whom were new men—met, for the first time, in Auckland, on Monday, Jane the 3rd, 1861. Over thirty-five members presented themselve* to be sworn in on that day. All the Wellington members were absent, baring been delayed in their passage by an accident) to the Sfcorrabird. NotwifchafcaDding a very courageous and vigorous maiden speech from the young member for the town of Onehunga, George Marines O'Rorke, and regardless sf the public promise well-known to hare boen made to the Pietoa electors by Dr. Monro, that gentleman was elected Speaker before the Wellington members had been able to take their ee&tt. Mr O'Rorke woald have oupported the Doctor, and probably the Wellington members would hare done so too; bat Mr O'Rorke very properly objected to & proceeding that deprived a large and important portion of the members, who were absent through no fault of their own, from any raice in an election of ■0 mncb importance to both tides of the House.

Thus began the distinguished parliamentary career of Sir Maurice O'Rorkc, which has extended, with only one short interval of three years, over a period of thirty-five years. The maiden speech oi the young member for Onehunga was characteristic of the man and his principles. In later years Sir Maurice stepped down from the Ministerial Benches as a protest against the growing power of Vogelism, which was strangling free government in the country and placing it under the heel of an upstart plutocracy.

Of Sir Maurice O'Rorke's services as a Speaker we may safely leave his opponents to testify. In to-day's issue of the "Herald" appears an editorial urging the electors of Manukau to reject Sir Maurice O'Rorke and elect his opponent, Mr W. F. Buckland. In the course of this article the writer says: "Sir Maurice was the best Speaker .that this or perhaps any other of the Australasian colonies ever had, and for many years under his guidance

—-in which courtesy and firmness were admirably blended—the conduct of the New Zealand House of Representatives was recognised as a pattern to all the colonies." The writer might have added further, that the weak, vacillating, and incapable Speakership of Major Steward, who succeeded to the chair during the interval when Sir Maurice was absent from the House, caused all parties to welcome the return of the veteran Speaker with acclamation ; and his intimation that he contemplated retiring from public life elicited at the close of last session a strong and earnest request from members that he would reconsider his decision and give ansther Parliament the benefit of his ripe experience and rare talent in an office which requires great tact and judgment.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives occupies a very difficult position. He has to hold the balance evenly between parties, to prevent, by prompt interposition, members from transgressing the bounds of decorum in the heat of debate. Ministers, as well as private members, are subject to his ruling, and there is not a leading man in Parliament whom Sir Maurice has not at one time or another had to call to order. It is surprising under such circumstances that so little of personal bitterness remains and that the testimony to his conspicuous fitness for the office should be so universal. These golden opinions are largely due to the courtesy which characterises Sir Maurice's rulings, but he can be scathingly severe when occasion demands. To young members who are unversed in the forms of the House, be is ever indulgent and they find in him a friendly counsellor to whom they can at all times appeal when in any difficulty.

What reason then, it may well be asked, does the " Herald," as the mouthpiece of the Opposition, while acknowledging Sir Maurice's distinguished talents and services, give for the advice it offers the Manukau electors, when asking them to reject their old and tried member for such an unmitigated failure politically as Mr W. F. Buckland ? The reply is simple. - Sir Maurice O'Rorke is a supporter of the Government. "In his position as Speaker," remarks our contemporary, " he has not been io conspicuously a supporter of the policy of the Govern ment as if he had been on the Moor of the House, but his unreserved and pronounced approval of all that the Government has done places him in the ranks of those who gave such an unreasoning following to Ministers during the past session. With a disingenuousness that we should not have expected from Sir Maurice O'Rorke, he identifies Liberalism with the course of policy of the pjesent Government."

Our. contemporary speaks of Sir Maurice as being "once a Liberal among Liberals," and yet it expects him to range himself oa the side of

Captain Russell and his sqaatocratic political allies. It goes further and asks those who for 35 years have supported Sir Maurice a3 a Liberal to throw him overboard and vote for a politician of Mr W. F. Buckland's calibre and opinions. We have heard many lamentations from our contemporary over the supposed degeneracy of the Parliament of New Zealand, its lack of the dignity and gravity which once made New Zealand conspicuous among the legislative assemblies of Britain's colonial empire, and yet it proposes to advance -these by replacing the model Speaker of Australasia in favour of the author of lhat offensive piece of Parliamentary buffoonery, " The Washers and Manglers Bill." We shall be greatly mistaken if the polling on Friday does not show that the electors have rejected the suggestion with the scorn it deserves. When Mr Buckland was elected before he had no political past. A great opportunity was afforded him, and we believe the most ardent of his former supporters will admit that he disappointed them. He was in Parliament three years, and one might suppose that our morning contemporary could have fished out some act or incident in his career as a representative of the people which might be put forward as a set-off against the admittedly high claims of his opponent. But the one recommendation it has to offer is the assurance that he will oppose the Government. It does not even set out in his favour the "Washers and Manglers Bill ; " no doubt it was thought better to draw a veil over a piece of buffoonery which one would hardly hare expected to see in a well-conducted debating society, and which, so far as it had any purpose at all other than to raise an inane laugh, was intended to cast ridicule upon the efforts the Government were making to improve the condition of the workers in factories.

We heartily commend the tone adopted by our contemporary when referring to Sir Maurice O'Rorke. It stands out in pleasant contrast to much that has appeared in its columns with regard to the Seddon Ministry and its supporters. Its recognition of Sir Maurice's services is eminently fair and even generous. It would remove much of the asperity of publtc life if the same tone of calm criticism and friendly discussion were more commonly adopted. Of course, we could not expect our contemporary to endorse Sir Maurice's attitude towards the Government; still it rightly says that his position as Speaker removes him very much from the party arena —indeed he rarely enters it at ail—and that fact may furnish a sufficient justification to those electors who, while not approving of the policy of the Government, yet feel reluctant to vote in ihe direction of depriving the country of the valuable services of Sir Maurice O'Rorke, He has re-entered the political arena at the urgent solicitation of a large section of the Manukau electors, and we hope that they will unite in giving the veteran a majority such as he has never experienced before in the whole course of bis parliamentary career.