A NIGHT OUT.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9882, 12 November 1897, Page 3

A NIGHT OUT.

Greatly to the surprise of everyone, the Premier to-night brought up the election of Sessional Committees again, but Mr Seddon would not grant a fair representation, and the Opposition stood nobly to their guns. The result was a most amusing stonewall, in which the honours were carried off by Herries and Scobie Mackenzie. The latter spoke for his full- half hour on the question of adjourning the debate, a most difficult task, aa the main question cannot be referred to. Mr Mackenzie, like all the other speakers, was frequently pulled up by sir Maurice O'Rorke, but he cleverly got into line again, and escaped the dire threat of the Speaker that he would have to ask him to discontinue. During the course of his remarks he referred to what Mr Chamberlain had termed the " booming eloquence" of our Premier, though he (Mr Mackenzie) imagined that the cable man must have left out an "1" in the word. The debate on the adjournment was continued till nearly twelve o'clock, when Mr Hemes again took up the parable, and after so many members had been called to order for evading the question, he made the hit of the evening by stating that he felt very much like a man who had to walk on a tight rope. He would, howeVer, fix his eyes on the Speaker and look neither to the right nor the left, lest he fell into the pitfall of disorder. Mr Herries then proceeded to speak on the question of adjourning the debate, and when the hour of midnight had arrived the Premier, seeing the game was up, agreed to an adjournment, amid the laughter of hon. members on both sides of the House.