The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1909. A POLITICAL INTERLUDE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 15184, 23 December 1909, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1909. A POLITICAL INTERLUDE.

Thebe was a very striking little interlude in the political affairs of the Old Country a few woeks ago, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the leader of the Opposition met at a Welsh gathering in London. Mr Lloyd George proposed Mr Balfour's health in a speech marked by warm and generous appreciation of Mr Balfour's great .qualities, and the Conservative leader responded by praising the Chancellor's personality unreservedly. The door of/tho room had clearly been slammed, ••' barred and bolted against politics for the time being. An incident of a very similar kind happened in Wellington yesterday, when the members of the House of Representatives gathered at luncheon in Bellamy's. The lions and the lambs shared the same cold fowls and canned fruits, and having lunched, let us hope, both wisely and well, they proceeded to' pay one another generous compliments. The leader of the Opposition proposed the health of the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister proposed .the health of the leader of the Opposition, and each expressed admiration of tho\ other's-tact and tempor. Coming-in the,, midst of a , strenuous weok, the incidentals particularly welcome. Tempers have been tried severely by tho long hours of the session, and the difficulty of keoping a full House has led once or' twice to troubles likely to be vexatious to the Prime Minister and his colleagues. But no sign of personal ill-feeling was apparent in yesterday's gathering. Sir

Joseph Ward could wish Mr Massey success, with a jocular reservation, and Mr Massey could reciprocate with a personal tribute to Sir Joseph. Such interludes add a grace to politics. They are oases in the dry political desert, where members may rest in cool and pleasant shade for a few moments till their pulses, quickened by political exertion, return to the normal beat. There is no reason why political differences should ever interfere with personal friendships. Occasionally a trace of commonness may threaten to mar the clean surface of politics, and heated exchanges of personal recrimination may suggest that political manners are no longer what they used to be; but such episodes have been happily rare in New Zealand politics. Men can fight strenuous battles without condescending to meanness, and Parliament, we may perhaps remind the members, would be a happier place if opponents could remomber always to credit one another with earnestness and sincerity. So long as Liberal and Conservative can meet with mutual liking and respect in the common lobby'there will .be no occasion to talk of the degeneration of Parliament.