SOME CRITICISMS BY MR. C. LEWIS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12971, 26 November 1907, Page 7

SOME CRITICISMS BY MR. C. LEWIS.

"And about time, too," replied Mr Lewis, when a representative of "Tho Press" congratulated hitn on getting homo from "Wellington.- "Apart from the physical weariness born of sitting up. until 3 or 4 a.m. in hot weather, I confess I felt inoro humiliated and degraded by tho proceedings of Thursday night than by anything that hae ever happened in Parliament. It was bad enough to see men in tho tuuno of religion openly and flagrantly breaking promisee they had repeatedly made, and deliberately voting against thojfc expressed convictions—to suppose that they ever had any real convict ione would be ridiculous—but it was worse, because more of a novelty, to sw> Parliament dominated by a leering crowd of 'gums, , 'whisperers, , a-nd bookmakers, for whoso special accommodation provision was mado in Mr Speaker's Gallery. The ordinary public gallery wne not good enough for these gentry. Next session, I shall expect to see a few of the moro notorious of thorn behind the Chair. That is my abiding, lieoausc most recent, iniimwMon , of the Parliament of Nfav Zealand. You may know a man l»v his lriende. As to the Gaming Bill,' i have never scon anything to rmiitl tho persistence with which tho Premier clung to the assertion thai da net- n> merely #avo clubs- flic power to license bw>lcniakere. It was this irrepressible tendency on hie part that was r<*ponsiblo for tho waste of time Which ho will presently allege to be the cauee of the inordinate length of the session.Is that hie usual practice? Well, we'll come to that presently. Meanwhile, I can only say again what I h*ve said before, .that tho peculiar feature of the session haa been the effect produced upon tho Government side of tho House by tho state of Mr HallJ ones a hoaltii. Last year, •Wβ were supposed[to be going to an election, so that Ministers could rid themselves of certain inconvenient, because somewhat independent, supporters. This yenr the Premier can say that ho has got them so tame that they will ©at out <V>|s h ? ml - An d the indecency of the. whole thing, and ite brutal franlcdone artistically at least. But no f One arrived at the/conclusion thit he is the only possible candidate, and say* eo-boaete of- it. Another man con. eiders that -if Mr Hall-Jones would leave a vacancy in Canterbury there is an oven bigger vacancy in. Wcstland* that a recognition of thi» circumstance might create another vacancy, for filling which his qualifications aroipr*eminejit, and ao on. And so tno fervent loyalty to Ministers the eagerness to defend them, the readiness to assist, the desiro to consult, tho unfailing 'Hear, near," So also tho serious air, the quiet importance, the refusal to speak mucft above a whisper, the ■.■ general state of preparedness, and the continual exhibition of worthiness—Oh dear, oh dear I So when jou read about tke wonderful manner in which 6ir JotMtn Ward hag subdued and tamed the aott unruly among hie follower*, and kept hie team together, don't ■ forget what he owe» to Ur Bi!1-J«m. &o also when you hear about members voting for or against a given proposal, remember that the merit* of the question had nothing to do with a good share of the votoe." ■ \ "You were talking about on* cause of the waste of timef" , ;'<■ *1 was. .The Premier in one respect outdoes anything I have ever, encountered or imagined. .Take a ease: 'Tlie Premier says it it a wet day, Mr speaker.' *I did not. , 'Whatf" 1 <\h] not say it was a wet day/ 'Yon oiil not say—oh, com© now/ ■ t S6 f ,1' wrtainty did not nay ao, and 1 am not going (growing angry) to allow you,or unyona eke to put words into my mouth t&at I never utod. Mr Speaker, I claim that the hon. member shall withdraw/ <Oh, certainly, air. Woukt, the Premier repeat what he did sajr" 'I saicTit was raining.' (Loud chertts of approval from Government benches}. Or if it ehonld be after nightfall you are told that lie was not speaking-er the day, but of the night. When w« add to this his extraordinary and persistent resort to statement* similar to hie assertion that tho Gaming Bill "gives clnbs tho power" to license "bookmakers, you <rtn realise that some time wonld be occupied over clatisses wfiieh nobody tinderstands even to-day, i When Mr Seddon was angry, ho stormed and ehotited. for Joseph Ward pouts and snlkd, and h touchy and poevlsh beyon/l, > toclicf. For all that, woput up plenty of fefpslation if quantity counts. ■ The three Land Bills and tho Tariff ' represent quite a reasonable amount for one sessfon.. It. was not the dej>iro to pass la-ws that canned tie to be so late 'in rising." . "\Xlv%i -wee it, then?" "A deliberate design "to squeeze out of pnfcitics anyone: but tftio purely profreaiomvl politician.' 1 «ro eoeakttjg wwii no reference to the honoririirro. The'most purely . profeasion*l'gotftician* f know are among the wealtihaest members of iho Houfto. Whett c. man makes' a scot in Parliament his one end only aim, when ho enWdanatM overytliine flso to polities, libandons his profession or imiM'nctM, soil* of let* hie farm. *> that !h« miry £ive ell liiw timo and cnergicn to keeping•■iiis seat, that is whM 1 c<!U o rrofeesioflal flcJftrioUn. Of ooinreo you find Wm on the winiiaatg side. Oretsping nansitew like/ivy cannot rise from the cround, exoepi by di'it-ginc *o eomething elronger <SmUi themst'lvee. !Bqually, of course, he is a turn-coat. The number of men who began by standing nneudcecsfully m op|>oiients of tie Government and at the very next ©lection were found ite foval, Jnimhlc, and as a consequence sutx'OKHful, eniJpwters, is yery much larger than many peoj>lo *re aw*r<?. That is tho typo "Ministers aw! LUienklism demand; no other* need eppJy." As to other legislation of interest passed tlurinc the ecsfcion, Mt Lewie remarked r/Tlie Pure Food Bill is * enough Bill, nnlese it is Roinß to be rigidly enforced. The Flour Duty Bill 9* of intereet; Bren in T&mmto , yon wJU find the Premier amenting that it givcM tho Oonrt power to reduce jibe prico of floor or from any given sum to any otiber. Of course it dot* nothing of the kind, but tWa throw* an interretinc light upon his grasp of the intricate clause* of. tay. the iiaDd Tex Biil. The variooe BUls dealing with \hv puttie service exhibited a good many members, not aa independent arbiters, but <m eunpliante dependent for their poeitloTm npon fche s*rvnnts of tfhe Btate< and willing to pay, with public money, any price, c* long «s they could claim credit for haying m.a<Jo the highest bad. After all tlho lond-voicfd determinatiion of the Miniisit nu perlwpfl not eirprieinfi tlmt the Induetiriefl. Conoiliation; and Arbitration Bill fchouM be ehehred in favour of the Bill to givo *• legal steals to bookmakers: That circumstance. Mr Ball-Jones's illness, the attitude of membere towarda tie servante—or masters, if you prefer the term—of the State, its inordinate length, end the dosing scenes, combine to produce ay impression of the session of 1907."