SHOULD BE MADE AN EXAMPLE OF.

Evening Star, Issue 12900, 24 August 1906, Page 4

SHOULD BE MADE AN EXAMPLE OF.

[Special to the Star.]

.CHRISTCHURCH, August 24. Referring to tho M‘Lachlan incident, the Press’ says:—We think that the responsibility for tho preservation of the order and good name of the House rests primarily on the shoulders of the Prime Minister. We can quite understand, however, Sir Joseph Ward’s reluctance, to move in such a .matter. Most people would prefer to avoid unpleasantness, especially when dealing with an old member who in days gone by held 'a different position in tho esteem of the public; bub for our part, wc think that ihe electors who sent Mr M‘Lachlan to Parliament are those to blame, and then Mr M'Lachlan himself. There is.no donbt, however, that the peculiar fashion in which he chooses to represent his constituents does not tend to raise Parliament -in ihe estimation of the public, and must be distinctly disagreeable to his fellow-members It would be a good thing if his friends could induce him to absent himself from the House for a time if he cannot be persuaded to abandon his eccentricities, and, failing this, it is the bounden duty of the Premier to take action.