CURRENT TOPICS.

Northern Advocate, 2 September 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

'•THE LABOURS OF PARLIAMENT.'

Parliamentary debates' are at times fearful and wonderful things, but it is when the House gets into Committee of Supply for the purpose of considering the expenditure ot public money tha% the .beauties or Government by discussion are seen to shine their brightest. On these occasions the interchange of wisdom embraces the whole field of public life. Little things as well as great come forward for review, and so attractive are the minor, tin-pot questions that the more important are as frequently as not ignored. Thus we have such spectacles as are sometimes presented of the House wrangling for hours over five pounds and in the end, exhaustedly voting appropriations for a million in five minutes and without discussion. Last Friday the House had a night on the Estimates, and the detailed report of the proceedings makes gloomy reading. A vote of £9250 for "House of Representatives" was submitted. Then the flood-gates opened. One member solemnly complained about the windows not being kept open long enough. Anotherr pleaded that members should be given a grant to defray the cost to them of telegrams. Indeed the demands for further concessions at the expense of the taxpayers were continuous. Arguments were advanced in favour of the cost of an M.P.'s private telephone being borne by the State, of paying the steamer fares of members and actually of liquidating the expenses of a member who may wish to "move about the countny." Complaints were made about the quality of the whisky at "Bellamy's," the poor wages earned by charwomen, and in respect to the "midnight supper" provided for messengers. This sort of thing will go on for weeks and weeks, and in the end we- will be told that the session has been very arduous and that members must really have eight months' holiday!