TOWN PUMP POLITICS. M's.H.R. and Their Instructors.

Free Lance, Volume V, Issue 215, 13 August 1904, Page 6

TOWN PUMP POLITICS. M's.H.R. and Their Instructors.

A POLITICIAN has to mind his P's and Qs now-a-days, make no mistake. If he does anything that the Amalgamated Society of Tin-Tack Workers or the Affiliated Unions of Bootlace Operatives object to, he is asked to show cause why he should not be politically condemned, and relegated to the dustbin of departed public men. Mr. Frank Lawry, who apparently holds his seat on the condescension of the Northern Railway League, has been asked to explain why he dared to say anything m favour of a southern railway. *■ * The League's wire makes it problematical if Mr. Lawry will be hanged, drawn, and quartered or merely imprisoned until the said League shall signify its pleasure. Mr. Lawry hasjumped into the breach to assert, asseverate, and declare that he has not advocated the claims of the Soutfr against the North, and we conjure up his look of pitiable fright when he> saw his political chances slipping by the board It is a decided comfort to the country to know that any time the Government goes out and gets lost there are still several hundreds of bodies who are hurt because they don't dominate politics, who could run the business of New Zealand with infinite credit. * » * Until Cook's Strait is filled in, and the North and South Islands are blended into one fair harmonious whole, the presumption that one end of the colony is fattening at the expense of the other will exist. Ib hurts us to have to agree with members of the House of Representatives who aver that they are delegates from various spots, who come to Wellington not to push along the business of the colony, but to trumpet forth the claim of their particular electorate to a bridge or a bonus, a Government grant or a new school. # * * When small bodies — or large one's for that matter — rise in wrath, and demand an explanation from a member of his spoken opinions, it is obvious that we are not represented .by the members of the House, but by anyone who chooses to use the telegraph. We don't know why Mr. Lawry shouldn't advocate the pushing on of the South Trunk, and Mr. Aitken that money should be spent at Onehunga. It probably doesn't alter the decision of the Government. Probably the übiquitous Ministry know the country as well as its representatives, and act accordingly. • » # It is very terrifying for a member to ponder on the insecurity of his seat, when, by a breath, one of the hundreds of advisory bodies of the colony may sweep him off the political earth Assuming that members occupy their seats and draw their salary merely as local agents, why doesn't, the Government "pool" all the cash, and let it go to the different districts by lottery? It would be infinitely interesting to see the members dipping for prizes on the floor of the House. * * * Likewise, it would save a, heap of trouble if the numerous unions, leagues, affiliations, federations, etc., gave their members a list of rules for their guidance during session. Also, the same bodies might specifically set out the style m which the country should be run for the ensuing year, and have it posted up in the House for the guidance of the Government If the Government could be made to see that they don't know the first principles of the art of running a country, and asked the federations, etc., to take the billet for a while, what a very fine country this would be to live outside of.