AUCTIONS AT WESTMINSTER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 306, 23 December 1912, Page 11

AUCTIONS AT WESTMINSTER.

■T EXCITING SCENES IN STATE ~ ASSEMBLY.

OPPOSITION ROWDYISM. (From Cur Special Correspondent.) LONDON. November 16. \pfcatpv; r \ i.-.v on. m.iv take of Mr. {isquith - ? Parliamentary method.-, it is jmpossii)!- to ju-tifv the outrageously jtjffdy proceedings ni the I'monisi me.mwhose 'OM.Im-- i-ompplled the Speaker to first :i.i.i"urn :"..i- m hour and thi-a io close U.-i W'• •dm\~i i;.'- -itting of the goose of t otnmnn-. i :,. l'nioni-i papers try hard ;m make n n thai the disorderly brh.i\-..>:ir ..;' I 'ie ( >pposition was the ontr-ome "I a -pDntaiienus oiithur.-i 0 f jrrath prmoked In the Prime Ministers attempt I ■ overrule what tinSpeaker wniifii ••, !•• .-..mm.m law - ' of [Parliament. Imi t.i !•■■ unbiased mind this entirely "rearettabli' incident' appears to Iwir been :hr outcome of preconcerted a. : .'>n. The I'niutii-i paper- talk ol ••technically disorderly method-." but rommongense conrpe;- .mc tc, smile broadly a k . such a phrase, fur the behaviour of many of the M.P.V vi- nothing more or less than ""hooligan." and a disgrace to the jMother ot I'ar.laments. One can understand even members of Parliament temporarily iosing their .-.ense of decency in the hea; of politk-al s;ri:c. hut in ttu= case the Speaker gave ;he alleged oversealed M.P.'s a :' ill hour to cool down, and when the -siting was resumed they behaved worse than ever.

The disorder arose out of the Govern- , jnent's attempt to se -ure the rescinding <£ of an amendment to one of the financial (i clauses in tbe Homo Rule Bill, on which r( xiey -were defeated by a majority of 21 a - on Monday. I in Wednesday, as soon as (_] Questions wpre over. Mr. Bonar Law j] asked for a statement from the Chair C( on two point?. The rirst wa. whether the proposal to lie made by the Prime t j Jlinister ita- in order: the second, Whether it did not -ci up a precedent n which was destructive of the safeguard.-, ; r that have been aerumulated to preserve d. the regularity of Parliamentary proce- a dure. r> "I have searhed the records a_s far as d I could." replied the Speaker, "and 1 a find no precedent for rescinding a decision of the Hou»e '-ome to during the d passing of a bill." A- to the other ques- C iion. Mr. Lowther h.-ld that the resolu- v tion Aits in order. "Whether it sets up a a Drecedent which destroy:- all the saf<<tiards which have accumulated is."' he n added, "a matter on which every member v oi the House must form his own judg- f ment."' At the same Lime he expressed 1 the opinion that the resolution would, '" if passed, drive a hole through he stand I ing order which prohibits the reversal I in the same ses.-i.in of a derision pre l vionslv come to. "The House." he said. ' '"has framed, through the wisdom of out F ancestors, what 1 call our common law. " and if the House chooses to alter that, c of coarse, that must rest with the House."' Mr. Asquith -poki lor three-quarters ot an hour in recommending to the House ' Ms proposal for changing the "common . law.'' He admitted the vital char- r aczer of the issue on which the Govern- . went had been defeated, and deelared_ that if Monday's decision remained unreversed it would be impossible for the , Government to proceed with the bill. He . did not claim, .is many of his supporters ( iave done, that the amendment was car- j ried by a "snap'" division, but contended j that the votin<r was not in accordance . ■with the opinion of the House. He ■ claimed that the position was unique in ; parliamentary annals, in that a resolution carried on Thursday by a majority of 121 was radically changed on Monday, i and that the House ought to have aD opportunity of saying to which of its decisions it adhered. While be cited two instances of the rescinding of resolutions, he could, of course, quote none in which the House had rescinded a decision come to during the passing of a bill, but he argued that in principie there was no. difference between tiie blotting out of a resolution and the reversal of an amendment in reference to a bill. The Prime Minister argued that the bvelection showed no growth of opinion against Home Rule, and that the majorities obtained in the House itself proved . the same thing. These being his premises, his conclusion was that the Government would \<" false to the responsibilities and obligation:- it had undertaken if it failed to give members another opportunity of declaring their view. Followed Mr. Bonar Law. whose speech ■wound up with what seemed to be a direct invitation to the Opposition to make parliamentary business impossible. What, asked Mr. Law. were the Unionists to do? He quoted Mr. Redmond as having said, when Mr. Balfour was defeated in 1905: "I believe it is the duty of all those who are in earnest in this matter ■to band themselves together to make the continued life of this Parliament impossible"'; and Sir Edward Grey's comment on Mr. Redmond's speech: "The hon. member spoke strongly, but not a bit too strongly." This, said Mr. Bonar Law, ■s-as what these gentlemen would do were they now in the place of the Opposition: "they would break the parliamentary machine in order to compel an appeal to the people." "Now, Mr. Speaker." he said, "1 am going to leave it at that." Mr. Bonar Law e#Jed by moving the adjournment of the debate. This motion was defeated by 327 votes to 21S, and then the fun began. Mr. Robert llarcourt sought to address the House. The Unionists refused to hear him. They broke into a chorus of cries of "Adjourn, adjourn." and "Sit down." 1 After facing the storm for two °r three minutes Mr. Harcourt resumed ius seat. Sir Frederick Banbury and Captain Vrajg, however, managed to get a hearing, but the latter's reference to tbe contemptible position of a Prime Minisl "_ '"'ho was willing to tear up a ruling had lasted for centuries" brought loud cries of "Traitor!" from the Opposifaon benches, and brought the Speaker to JM6 leet. He gravely rebuked the memDeT^. h"d. use of the word, and, as Sir William Bull persisted in repeating this unparliamentary expression. Mr. Lowther directed him" to withdraw from the House. Sir William obeyed, but shortly after the not of vituperation hroke out again, and when Sir Rufus Isaacs rose to speak he was greeted, with flouts of _ -Adjourn:" "Divide!" and srrime Minister!" These were continued without intermission, so that it -was impossible for aim to make bis voice beard. The Speaker intervened, and, addressing tbe Opp osi t3°ii. said that as Lnionist speakers bod been heard in he asked, in the interests of fair play, that the spokesman of the Governnwnfc should also he heard, But Us plea **» in. vain, for as goon as Sir Rufus at-

tempted to make himself heard he was! shouted down. Finally the Speaker in- ~ tervened for the third time. He an-' nounced that he thought it his duty to suspend the sitting for one hour. When the sitting was resumed, Sir Rufus Isaacs again went to the table, and essayed to speak. His voice was drowned as before, and he gave up the attempt, and resumed his seat. Then a Unionist member rose to continue the discussion. But his political friends woudd not allow him to proceed. His voice was drowned as the Attorney-General's had been, and the Speaker brought the sitting to an end.. He remarked that it was obvious that the Opposition was determined not to allow the debate to proceed. Strange a- had been the scene while the Speaker wa.> in the chair, it became still more remarkable after he had left it. The Unionists stood cheering for some minuc--. Then one of them threw a book across the House, which narrowly missed Mr. Lloyd Oeorge's mead, and then another Opposition member seized a small calf-bound book which was lying on the arm of the chair, and flung it at Mr. Churchill. It hit him in the face. Mr. Churchill puked up the missile, and seemed about to throw it back, but Mr. Burns and sonic of the ether Ministers restrained him, and induced him to go with them out of the House. The incident naturally aroused a good deal of feeling, and from the Liberal side were heard indignant cries of "Gentlemanly conduct:" and -Gentlemen of England!" But happily no other untoward incident occurred to" bring further disgrace on our '•imperial Parliament."' THE GOVERNMENT DEFEAT. When the House met again on Thursday it was senerallv expected that there would be more " fun." but though there was a lively scene in one of the committee room*, members and visitors who fere in the hope of further indecorous emonstrations were, happily, completely isappointed. Overnight the Speaker, he Premier, and the King's Private Seceta rv Lord Knollvs, conferred together, nd as a result. Mr. Lowther, on taking he chair, suggested an adjournment of he House to enable the Government to onsider their course of action. Mr. Asquith a-equieseed in this suggesion. and the House adjourned until iondav. It is understood that the Preoier will not proceed with the rescindncr resolution, out of which Wednesday's jsorder arnr.e. and that the course .dopted will be the withdrawal of the evolution on which the defeat of Monlav took place, and the substitution of fresh but practically identical motion. Incidentally, Mr. Ronald. M'Neill teniered a frank and--manly apology to Mr. "hurehill, whom he struck in the face vith the Speakers Rule Book, and the ipology was at once accepted. The Government defeat, in which Wedlesaav's wild scenes had their root, was ipon *an amendment to a resolution >assed in Committee the preceding Thursday. which authorised certain payments to be made out of the Imperial Exchequer to Ireland under the Home Rule Bill. When the House was called apon to consider this resolution. Sir Frederick Banbury moved -an amendment j providing that, exclusive of Irish 1-axes, and of the savings to the Imperial -Ex= ?hequer in respect of reserved services transferred to the Irish fioverument, the total payments by the United Kingdom to Ireland should not exceed £2.500,000 per annum. This amendment the Government refused to accept, a division was taken, and to the utter surprise of the Liberals, Che m-ajoritv against the Government wba-22—the-'-figure*, being- 22S to 206. The Unionists went temporarily mad, with delight. Before the figures "were actually made known- "tirey- -knew the Government had suffered defeat. Leaping to their feet, they broke into deafening cheers, which were renewed again and again. Handkerchiefs and order papers were tossed into the air or waved aloft with frantic energy. When the figures -were called, they redoubled their frantic cheering. It became a scream of triumph which ended in howls of " Resign, resign!" And that cry was echoed in the Unionist Press all over the country-next day. and Mr. Asquith was pelted with *" precedents showing what an awful political crime he would be committing if he did not immediately take steps to give the country a chanre of telling him what electors thought of his Government in general and his Home Rule Bill in particular. But Mr. Asquith declined to bow to precedent, and instead produced a design to wipe out his defeat. The Unionist' papers, sq to speak, foamed at the mouth over this move, and 'called the Premier all the nastiest names they could think of, but all to no purpose. In effect he said. "Hang precedent. My defeat doesn't count. My majorities since the commencement of the session have averaged over a hundred, and this particular vote, therefore, cannot represent the true opinion of the House, so I shan't resign." Hence Wednesday's edifying enterainment.