The Hastings Standard Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1896. PERSONALITIES AND PRIVILEGE.

Hastings Standard, Issue 68, 15 July 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1896. PERSONALITIES AND PRIVILEGE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Withix the sacred walls of Parliament, when the Speaker is in the Chair, the speeches of members are privileged. This is a very useful and very necessary provision, and has been made with the view of permitting members of Parliament speaking their minds fully and freely without any terrors of proceedings at law. Like every other good thing this privilege is greatly abused, and in the Parliaments of the self-governing colonies scarcely a session passes without an indecent exhibition of gross and brutal personalities.

There is much said in the House about people outside of Parliament that would never be said of them but for the gross abuse of privilege. With some members it has become a chronic disease, and from behind the hedge of Parliamentary privilege they shoot their venomous darts at the defenceless persons who have come within the range of their malevolence. In the first session of a new Parliament the members, flushed with victory and a newborn zeal for the public welfare, indulge in very slight outbursts of personalities; in the second session the early excitement having worn off, old grudges are paid at convenient intervals. It is in the last session of a moribund Parliament that the overflow of Parliamentary brutality may be specially noticed. We can assign no reason for this, except perhaps that some members look upon "mud-sling-ing" as an exhibition which is greatly appreciated by the electors, and so fancy that by indulging in personalities they pave the way for a successful general election. Unfortunately, there are some electors who mistake coarse vituperation for independence, and so credit the member for a virtue where a fault should be debited. The member of Parliament who seeks to falsify the balance-sheet of his political conduct by the abuse of his Parliamentary privilege apparently forgets that a strong and exacting body of electors has been added to the rolls, who will demand political probity as the first great requisite in a member of Parliament. In short, the members of the House of Representatives who so assiduously " play to the gallery " reckon without the female voters. During the past three years the women of the colony have taken great pains to make themselves conversant with politics and politicians, so much so that the results of the approaching election will, we think, be a complete surprise. In 1893 the women took their politics from their fathers, husbands, brothers and cousins, and if they made mistakes they can scarcely be blamed, but now that they have enlarged their views by close study, they cannot be overlooked by the Party managers. Shooting at unarmed men from behind the hedge of Parliamentary privilege is a strong feature of our House of Representatives this session. The ex-Colonial Treasurer, who is now canvassing vigorously for the sympathy of the people of Southland, started the ball rolling, and the scurrilous phrases and impertinent personalities that formed the bulk of his famous speech, instead of helping him, have tarnished bis political life. Since Mr Ward furnished the country with a discreditable exhibition of political pyrotechnics, we have had a quiet interval, which was disturbed last week by the Minister of Lands, who appears to labor under the delusion that the crowning effort of his political career should be directed against Sir Walter P>uller. We have no desire to enter into any details .respecting the Ilorowhenua Block and Sir Walter Buller's connections therewith ; all that we are concerned about is the pitiless nature of the attack made upon him by Mr •John M'Kenzie. It is no doubt very entertaining to some people to witness the privileged onslaught of the Minister of Lands, but such people should endeavor to see how the game would look if they occupied the position of Sir Walter Buller. And because a journalist commented in strong terms on the stand taken by Mr M'Kenzie, the Minister, with a brutality that can scarcely be pardoned, called the journalist a " base liar." Fortunately, for the dignity of Parliament, the good sense of the Speaker prevailed, and the Minister was obliged to withdraw the coarse expression. These unseemly displays of revengeful personalities are a menace to the public, and every effort should be made to put a stop to them. To-day it is Sir Walter Buller that is the victim, to-morrow it will be somebody else, and none of us can say when we may be singled out for the spiteful attention of some cross-grained, coarse-minded, and vulgar-tongued member of Parliament. Let us hope that the influence of the women will be in the direction of ridding Parliament of the cowardly monsters who abuse their privileges as legislators.