M.P. talked in his sleep

Press, 17 June 1983, Page 1

M.P. talked in his sleep

Parliamentary reporter

The member of Parliament for Marlborough, Mr D. L. Kidd, talked in his sleep. The members of the special Parliamentary select committee who met on the Waitara marae this week know, and so do Te Atiawa Maoris. Mr Kidd is chairman of the select committee hearing submissions on the Synthetic Fuels Plant (Water

Right) Bill. It held two days of hearings this week on the Taranaki marae. The committee members slept on Tuesday night on the marae after a full day of hearings and an evening session. They also dined well on seafood, from the Motunui shellfish beds: paua, green-lipped mussel, oyster, crayfish, and smoked eel.

Mr Kidd slept on the floor of the marae with the other

committee members and the Minister of Energy, Mr Birch. The member of Parliament for Selwyn, Miss Ruth Richardson, first heard him stirring towards 6 a.m. and muttering to himself. Nothing was very clear until he suddenly said: “Well then, I’ll put you on the bottom of the agenda and I’ll have you brought up from the cells when we’re readv to hear vou.”

Miss Richardson kept the secret until the big hangi that afternoon. Mr Kidd in his informal address there told the assembled Te Atiawa that he had “slept with Ruth Richardson.”

The elders offered Miss Richardson the right of reply. She took it and evened the score. The chairman talked in his sleep this morning, she said, and this was what he said ...