OCCASIONAL NOTES.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 35, Issue 9388, 9 October 1903, Page 3

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

[By..l ; dLkr] Ever since Mt Ida man electorate; it has had men to represent it in Parliament whose mental calibre made them men ot influence in the House The names of Mr CAdeLatour, Mr Scobie Mackenzie, and Sir Jno M'Kenzie stand out very prominently from anion;; their contemporaries It now seen-s that Mr A L Herdman is making a determined effort to fit on to his own shoulders the mantle-that has fallen in turn from theirs: Although he is not possessed of that silvertongued oratory, with its strong leaven of sarcasm, that marked the redoubtable Scobie, yet that pugnacious disposition, which was'a prominentcharacterise tic of his during hi 9 sojourn here, both as a pleader at the bar and in our little local politics, bids f-ii'r to <-arr.v him well to. the front in.'the House Already he has several times baited the Premier in a manner which has aroused that gentleman's ire The latest occasion was during the discussion of the Defence Estimates when there was a good deal of reference to General Babington's statements regardin"- political influence in the defence report Sit Joseph Ward challenged members,Jo give an instance Of political influence, and by way of reply Mr Herdman referred tn the appointment of Mr Seddon's son ih the Defence Department Mr Seddon deprecated what he termed • these personal insults being launched at him If these things were said outside the House he would take such steps as would prevent their recurrence Mr Herdman asked if he were to understand that as' a personal threat; if so. he was quite willing to accommodate.the: right hon gentleman Did the Premier mean that if he (Mr Herdman) made these charges outside.the HouseJthe Premier would thrash him* A point of order having beeii raised as to whether such a statement could l>p used in Parliament bv the Premier, Mr Millnr, who was in the chair, said he did not think the _hu.o .member was addressing any fiulhi'lnal; he was o>:ly making a general statement Mr Seddon repeated that he would do what he had said He thought any.gentleman holding the position the member fi»r Mount Ida did should realise that nothing was to lie gained by these personal remarks He thought the hon gentleman had exceeded reasonable bounds ■,. Mr Herdman said the Premier deliher ately and wilfully, time after, tune, had accused him of making personal remarks to liini of an insulting nature There was, hov ever, absolutely no fuundation for that statement Hen .iieinbefit would :b.?ar? him out in that—f?Hear, hear") • What* he:' ■"(Mr Herdman) had done time after time in that House when he thought there was anything wrong in the administration of a department'was to criticise He had never hesitated from his place in the House to condemn such a thing in vigorous terms and in plain language—l" Hear, hear.") He was doing tliat. tonight— condemning an appointment, when it was construed.into a personal insult' It was coming to this: that they were hot tttbe. allowed to criticise a department or an appointment, and if they attempted to do so they wereto be. bullied The Premier : " Sir, I rise to a point of order " I move that those word.- lie taken down" The Chairman asked Mr Henln.an to withdraw the word -'bullied" as being unparliamentary Mr Herdman agreed to„<lo so -.Mr Ma-isev : " Do I understand the word ' bullied ' to be declared' unparliamentary?" Mr/Millar'was understood to reply in the affirmative An Hon Member : "It has been used hundreds of times in the House before With'this remark the incident closed, and a scene ■wan narrowly averted . .-,. . The leader of the Opposition intends to move that the ruling of the chairman that the' word "bullied " is unparliamentary be disagreed with

The Right Hon It J S evidently thinks he is as good a man as He was in the days when he sported the mpl s and kept his muscles hard and the rotundv of the alKJoniinal region within a reasonable circumference by. hard graft with the pick and shovel He apparently does not realise that passing years, innun'iberable ha .quets, and freedom from active mu-cular exertion have told their tale Mr Herdman,' however, evidently imagines that he is "fit to take him on for a rouni or two " Perhaps he is ;at anyrate he has shown that he is " came," but would "it not have been more to his credit as a representative of the people, and added to the dignity of the House, to have declined the honor of a "knock out" with the Premier

But there can-be ho reasonable shadow of doubt, that Mr Herdman was quite within reasonal.le bounds in his first remark The Estimates were there for discussion, and Sir Joseph Ward invited an instance of political influence One would imagine that Mr Herdman's shot had lound a weak pi.int in the Premier's armour . . I notice by the Minc3 Record that Mr Murrav has reported to to the Government re the request that huts should be placed on" the Government race for the convenience of the men who clean it out, " that no difficulty has been hitherto experienced, a* the men employed provided their own tents " Probably Mr Murray has not experienced any difficulty, as he has not had the pleasure of pitching 'hi« tent" in some of the shady gullies or sideling* along the race just after winter, and unrolling his blankets on the cold frostv, or wet, ground, with perhaps only a little damp straw for a mattress ; neither has he experienced the joys of lying in a saturated tent with no fireplace during one of the blizzards that rage occasionally over t *e region along the heid of the race during the early spring Oh, -no 1 .'-'M ■ Murray'has experienced no '.difficulty ; Lne men uuvehad all the difficulty Perhaps if he had even to " bump " his swag over the ranges along the race Ire would see the difficulty of carrying extra weight in the shapeof a tent Mr Murray' has plainly reported with a view of saving expense," and entirely ignored the. question from the men's side As far hack as I can remember, I have heard complaints about the inoonvenience the men bad to work under w*heu cleaning out the race None of them »ill tackle the job if they can get anything else to do Mr Murray also states as an additional reason that the huts would.be destroyed .during the time they are uninhabited, but suVely that is a difficulty, which could easily be overcome