OVER-SENSITIVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 264, 7 November 1932, Page 6

OVER-SENSITIVE.

It is a curious irony that the leader of the party which is most free with charges against the mental and moral equipment of its opponents should display what the "Evening Post" calls "delicate sensibility" when he considers that the honour of Parliament is impugned. It was at Mr. Holland's instigation that Parliament set up a Committee to consider whether Mr. Macintosh, a member of the National Expenditure Commission, had committed a breach of privilege by saying, in an addendum to the Commission's report, that the present financial difficulties of the Dominion were in a large measure attributable to the inroads made on the national funds by members of Parliament for the purpose of "placating constituencies and, possibly, securing continuity of membership." The country laughed when it read that Parliament was going to see whether this was a breach of "privilege, for it knew that the same charge had been made over and over again in the past. The Prime Minister, an old hand at the game of politics, said it seemed to him "much the usual charge." However, it was agreed that there should foe an inquiry, and we now know the result. The Committee could ge,t no satisfaction from Mr. Macintosh. What he had said, he had said, and quite naturally he declined to reveal the sources of his information. So the Committee, "while regretting that Mr. Macintosh should have taken up that attitude, recommends that in view of his advanced age no further action be taken." That is exceedingly kind of the Committee, but it leaves the honours with Mr. Macintosh. That gentleman was asked to help in a very important national work. He did so at risk to his health, he gave his best service and he manfully stood by his opinions. It should be noted, however, that he told the Committee that after his ordeal he would never again serve on a Commission, and perhaps other men of standing, asked to serve the country in this way, will be deterred by his experience. Parliament should have considered this possibility before it proposed to place Mr. Macintosh in the witness-box. As for its standing in the public eye, that will be enhanced, not by looking , for breaches of privilege, but by doing the vvyrk