MR. BALFOUR ON THE PRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 129, 30 May 1908, Page 11

MR. BALFOUR ON THE PRESS.

As the member of Parliament who makes more speeches than anybody else, it was but fitting that Mr. Balfour should be the guest of the evening at the Press Gallery annual dinner at Westminster. Mr. Balfour is a great asset to the Press. As Mr. Spencer Leigh Hughes aptly expressed it, he is " the raw material of a great industry," Mr. Balfour ac-

eepted the description, and gallantly replied that he had nothing to complain of, but very much the contrary, in the way in which this particular raw material has worked up for public use. "Like other politicians," he said, amidst laughter, " 1 have those who criticise my views, and those who applaud them —those who understand.them, and those who explain them. I have ho quarrel with any of these various classes and commentators except perhaps the last. I am always happy when 1 am being praised, 1 may j have a moment of uneasiness when 1 am being explained. That is, I suppose, common to all mankind. We are all equally resentful when there are people so extraordinarily perverse as not to understand us. I have greatly suffered in this way, but I bear, my sufferings, I hope, with adequate philosophy." An acute Pressman once observed that members of Parliament never think their speeches too long, and the public never think them too short. Mr. Balfour recognises this perennial difference of opinion, but he complimented the Gallery handsomely on the impartiality of their reports, and the work done in improving members' oratory and spreading their opinions,'or what passed as their opinion-". He also told a good story of a Gallery reporter of a hundred years ago, who came into the Gallery one night after having dined too well at Bellamy's. He was bored with the debate, and presently he rose and asked the speaker for a song. The whole House, except the Speaker, was convulsed with laughter, and the Sergeant-at-Arme went to the Gallery and inquired for the catprit. The culprit re-

to a respectable acquaintance sitting below, and this gentleman was instantly taken into custody as the author of the outrage. Mr. Balfour said it would be unfortunate if a present-day reporter were moved to ask the Speaker for a song, but he recognised that the <iallery must olten be bored with the debate. Lord Kosebery, who sent a letter of apology for non-attendance, also expressed sympathy with the long-suffering reporters. " 1 never view them at their labours," said he, " without a feeling of the most profound compassion. For on the rare occasions when they are reporting a very good speech they are not able to enjoy it; and on the innumerable occasions when they are reporting a very bad one, they must undergo a torture too great for words, besides remorse for waste of time, and a consciousness that they are reluctantly . preserving that which on every ground ought to. perish instantaneously."