ABOVE THE SPEAKER’S CHAIR.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 76, 6 December 1887, Page 3

ABOVE THE SPEAKER’S CHAIR.

[nox ora wnxmoTos ooßßasrosnsxr.j Fxox my coign of vantage in the Press Gallery it is vastly amusing to watch the far too frequent passages-at-arms between those doughty opponents Major Atkinson and the ex-Colonial Treasurer, Two notable men these, and subjects always of flrtt and foremost curiosity with the tenants of the Speaker’s and Stranger’s galleries. There is the true Semitic cast about Sir Julius, the swarthy complexion, the heavy, almost blue-black, hair, but that heavy looking figure is the outward covering of a keen and ever watchful spirit, a shrewd and far-seeing mind. When a debate lacks in interest, when bores, all too plentiful alas, inflict upon the House their thrice wearisome verbosity, Sir Julius lies back with an apparent enjoyment of the luxuriously cushioned seat, and seeks—and I trust finds—solace in one of those cheap red-backed editions of Gaboriau or De Boisgobey, which, as the advertisement takes care to inform u», are “ the favorite reading of Prince Bismarck." But let a point be made, an allusion to alleged peccadilloes of the apparently unconscious reader, and his attention is alert in an instant, the book is dropped, and the band goes like clockwork to the ear which through a most lamentable infirmity fulfils so weakly its office.

For Atkinson, as for the wicked, there is no rest, no novel reading, no easy-going nonchalance as to what is going on around. The member for Bgmont could not be idle even did he so desire. An experienced old stager with a troupe of untried men, his is the duty of coaching, and guiding his Colleagues into the straight paths of Ministerial practice. The task is no easy one. The natural aggressiveness of Fisher has to be cooled down—judiciously and with strategy, for the penih-’r io# South Wellington likes not the curb ; Fergus tdo, who is of a iaxv nature, has to be stirred up, and Mitchelson encouraged in like manner. But the Major is tn his glory when surrounded by files ot papers, anon busily conducting his correspondence and rising to defend in his own slashing style the deeds of his Ministry. Here is no sluggard, no trifler with duty, here rather at times is an excess of energy, an inclination to seek a fight for the purpose of shining therein, a tendency to hit all round, aggressiveness accompanied by an occasional acerbity of tongue which spares neither friend nor foe. With his reddish beard now tinged with grey, his rasping, penetrating voice, his short jerky sentences, and his all too evident pride of the majority at his back, the Major is always a staking noticeable figure in the red-cushioned arena below, —

4 aartain happy knack of epigram, and a combination of Calidowan logical coldness with colonial cheek have raised Mr Scobie McKenzie to a certain eminence of reputation more marked out of the House, perhaps, than within it A slight, dark browed, almost insignificant looking man is the member for Mount Ida, who -its next to the Knight of Kawau, the New Zealand Grand “Id Man, as it is now the fashion to designate Grey. Scobie, as he is shortly and familiarly known, is a popular member, but he scarcely ■eems to bear out the reputation he seems to enjoy outside the House. He Unsteady debater, certainly not a natty man like Beddon on the one side or Beetham and Bussell on the other After much cogitation, many hours of what iayulgarly known amongst sctiool bov’ in the library, he delivers himself from time to time of What is really a clever, comprehensive speech, one which perhaps savors too £*h to the student and bookworm, “bounding In metaphor, nch m similes and epigram—a speech, however, which reads better than it 1* heard. There is toomuch of the rail-sitter about Scobie to be pleasant, too much of an evident inclination to pose as a philosophic obServer looking down upon mankind ESXy ar. intended to. Bumor hath it that the member for Mount Ida is at present bursting with an undelivered speech, bristling with statistics on the Financial Statement and that he is vastly annoyed at the action of the Government placing the debate so low down on the order paper. Perhaps, however, Scobie may, like Grey, warm in his orationi on one of the numerous Government Bills—if so the House will be glad he *r it, but it will not alter the situation one iota

In one respect. the member for Te Aro Mr A. Stuart Menteath, resembles his seatmate Scobie, for both are opponents of anything like a Protective tariff. They are vastly different, however Tin personal appearance bcobie i*s short, dark, and inclined to be untidy in his attirt, whilst Menteath « of most extreme elongation, fair haired -the curly-headed boy he is sometimes irreverenlty entitled and almost masher ifC in his 'spick and span One can hardly imagine such an eminently city-looking i ° dl " dua L ha , v ' ing been member for such an out of the way place as Inanguahua, but it was £ that capacity that Menteath made felt first boa to the Speaker. Once in Wellington his political opinions overwent a noticeable change. Vogelism Tnd a devotion to the Midland Hallway were exchanged for a blind worship of Atkinson, a strong denunciation of the line as a political job. Dick Beeves, the sturdy ready Eadical, sits once more for hie old constituency. In defeating Fraser, who was an unctuous amiable kind of nincompoop, Beeves deserved well of his country and there can be no doubt thnt the Ministry have in him a moat capable supporter. So far this session he has only made one big speech, that on the Midland Bailway, but it was a m.-ist favourable and effective attack which was by no means to the taste of the more ardent cnampions of that scheme As a speaker has a nasty trick of frequently dropping his voice to comparative inaud-