SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 587, 16 August 1909, Page 6

SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT.

A:MOST,'oßtertaining Rebate -which-took place: in/ ' the : Federal 'Parliament ■ on Thursday list brings to H§ht a political oustpm/whjch :has ,; ;-ript yet, : been 'thought of by the members of "our own House of Representatives.. :•' As. . most' ;pep'ple are 'aware, nearly every; M,P,:is: Irmly con-* ■ vinced- that .the -Ye'porters and editors -of newspapers^display a, sad ',lack-.of judgment when- it...cornea' to'-supplying the. public with repprts of,.the Parliamentary • debates', : Not : only, so';the; average. M. P. is convinced, do itj&ci'ncwspappxs dp him' a gross injusticb.by paraphrasing, condensing, or omitting:his speech; they do,tho public, a grievdua wrong by withholding the fujl'story pf his; eloquence. It is this conviction. whioh explains the affectionate regard of-the member for Hansard, , and his energy, in placing his friends on the, free-list l ' and sending copies .-of Hansard- to nearly everybody he knows in his electorate. In Australia, it seems, members 'may ha,ve : their speeches reprinted at their own cost as leaflets or pamphlets from' the Hansard type, and they avail ihems?lves' freely of this charming, way of 'outwitting the stupid newspapers which deal so. harshly with their eloquence. y : At first members appear to have circulated their speeches 'Justus they appeared in Hansard, but, as was inevitable, it quickly dawned upon them that if the leaflets were to be read they would require tP be brightened up.. Accordingly, they'scatter cross-headings through their speeches,. As a result of a complaint by Sir/John F.orrebt against the headlines used by Sir William Lyne, Mr, Deakin brought the matter up in the House,wjth a motion that the Printing Committee should frame rules as to- the insertion of cross-headings. The debate that followed was a very amusing ope, the more so because 'of the intense earnestness of members, Sir William Lyne seems tp have been a very skilful writer of pungimt headlines, as thfl following seleotion from • one of his gpeoahes■■".will show: , "Oonspir* acy of Silence," "Engineering the Fusion," "Sin John Forrest's Intriguing,'- "Mr. ?. CopK's Many Roles," "Whore is the Fusion Prpgrammo?" "Protection Sold," "The Commonwealth Disgraced." Mr. Wedster, who onco spoke for ton hours on end, and still holds tho record, supplied the House with the headlines which ho had intended tp use if he had circulated his speech. They contained all kinds of references, from "ADAjtand Eve" to "Tho Day of Judgment," "Reid tho Conjuror," "The Stiletto," "Troachorous Treatment," "Betrayal of ' Alfred,' , "The Double Shuftlo"—these wero sonio of his neatest efforts, Tho labour members wore airajd. that tha proposal was "an attompt to, provont people in distant parts of the Commonwealth fro°m knowing exaotly what took place in Parliament," but, as Mr. Wilks pointed out, "if the speeches of some mombcrs wore published exactly ai fctoy were spoken there were mem..

bors who would not return to tho Ifouflo," Mr. Wii-ks was opposed to the wliolo practice, and not only to l.ho headlines. Ho pointed out that "it might bo boiiio day that a member, with a gift of %totosquo sketching, would wiint to illu»trato his reprinted, speech with okntchen of, say 'How Dkakin looked aftnr I dealt with him,' or 'How Fibhbu felt after I followed him.''' The iipnliot of the debate, which Dccupind ulmoot n, whole day's sitting, was the carrying of an amendment to tho offcet that any r/iprint should bo an exact roprinl. from Ilanmrd, The diacusßion in not without its lnsßon for our own Parliament, For one thing, local members may fool relieved to-know that thoy are not sjngular amongHt pollticiami in thoir bollef f.hyifc Ilanmrd in Rflntiivl to tho- well-being of tho nation. When next it is Biiggentod that Hansard, if) a waato of monoy and that tho public does not read it and can do without it, they will bo ablo to point out that in Australia there ie almost universal agreement amongst mombors of Parliament , that a blow will bo struck at the heart of tho nation if tho public's Hansard supply is cut off. Evorybody outeido Par-

liamont Sβ agreed that tho bulk of Hansard is rofußO, and that its wholesale publication is a foarfyl waste of money,, and it scorns incrodiblo, that,being tho case, that tho waste will bo allowed to go on for ovor. Ponding some more thorough treatment of. the whoie matter, it would bo a good plan to cut down tho free-Jiflt, to abolish, the member/'priyjlego of receiving. a_ largo number of fro? copies, and to ; raise tho price of Hansard from twoponco to, eay, sixpence ,a numbqr. .If members wished to supplj thoir constituents.with the reports of thoir speeches, they could have thoir eloquence at their own cost. We would even allow them to insert head-lines,'-or humorpus drawings after the kind suggested by Mb. Wilks, The worst feature of the present Hansard is itsji.nlikeness to an actual report of the debates.; Members cut out whole passages, and insert things that they never said at al), V The question is one which sonio friend- of reform mjght with advantage bring up in the House next session.