Peeps at Parliament.

Free Lance, Volume XIV, Issue 695, 25 October 1913, Page 13

Peeps at Parliament.

A THING to make the stout heart faint, 4 • s The dreariest of human ills, A misery no pen can paint,-— God save us all from Local Bills! .It may not be- quite so bad as this, and 1 admit in honesty that Local Bills are a necessary evilj but if you are a frequenter of Parliament and happen to look in when Local Bills are being discussed, you will soon realise that you have struck a- bad day. This was the sadness that fell -upon us all on Monday night. Everybody was pitiably depressed. Even the lights seemed to be clouded and dim. , i Sir Joseph Ward, who made remarks, , Had lost his.lightsome gift of speech. In vain you sought for gleams or sparks, Amid the words of Mr. Veitch. The little men of little fads Were still. The clock could scarcely : creep. The moths lay on the blotting-pads. ■ Legs in the air, and went to sleep. But members sat like blocks of stone (Here was grim Boredom's direst pang), His platitudinous harangue.. There is gold talk and grey talk. For grey stuff, Mr. Pearce just about reaches the limit; but it would be a mad misuse of .words to call" the limit dizzy. Mr. Pearce is a painstaking speaker; he has an . idea of what he wants to say, but he drags and drags and <irags. v He knows not Pegasus: He cannot be said to trip across the .flowery plairf of 6peech. He founders in gum boots that leak, on and om tErough the deepest swamp of Verbiage. It is something about the Pa tea - Harbour. Board, and it includes the truly surprising statement that the river at. Patea is "like the Clyde where our New Zealand Dreadnought was built." Oh, la, lal . , ■ ' •* '" * ' * » ■ Sir Joseph Ward speaks at some length. But I still don't understand the; Patea Harbour Bill; I only find it very muddy and uninteresting. « * * On Tuesday afternoon things look, if nut exactly gay, at least distinctly gayer. At, the outset (for the fame of Monday's dullness seems to have gone abroad), the attendance of the faithful public is curiously small—one old gentleman, two serious matrons, and a coihely flapper in a large hat. On this assemblage tails the peace of prayers. Mr. Lang reads a prayer as if he were more than a little uncertain of it—timidly, as if the petition might twist v back at any moment and bite him severely in the neck. Orthodox is Mr. Lang, but he lacks the confidence of long use and wont. * *„ * • * ; ''.Mi. Statham presents a petition of ti»mways people who wish to give evidonoe on'the new Tramways Bill," and gives notice of ; motion for the appointment. of such committee. As concerns the, menaoe' of those ■ dangerous footboards, here is probably new setback number one. •»* . # » iMf.' Massey assures Sir Joseph Ward t?iat he knows nothing of the Huntly strike except what he has seen in the papers. Further, that Mf. Massey will make : a statement in regard to tho naval policy as soon as he is able to prepare it. Meantime, he promises to show Sir Joseph the latest cable on the subject from London. All very • friendly, but it does not increase*. public knowledge. People. are very anxious about that naval policy. It looms so vague. • » * ■» Members have formed a habit of telling • Mr. Fisher to speak up. That is merely vexatious, for Mr. Fisher speaks (as a rule) as dearly and audibly as any man in Parliament. Of late there has developed on one side of the House -a tendency to badger Mr. Fisher; which is very wrong. When a-member seems to lose popularity,. he should receive tbe sympathetic support of the House. » * * » As to the report of the committee, on the petition of Johnston," of Waihi. 1 Mr. Payne makes a point not unworthy of notice. The committee reports that it Vnv* no recommendation to make. That report is made," says Mr. Payne, by a majority of four to two, . and he urges that in such cases a minority report should accompany the report of the majority.- It is a fair contention. "When evidence is not published, the view of any minority should be • made . clear ,in the report. Mr. Payne holds that Johnston was wrongfully committed to an asylum,

FROM THE PRESS GALLERY.

[Written for the New Zealand Free Lance by Frank Morton.)

and that is a point as to which public uneasiness should be set at rest. -It is quite true.that if any man can be committed to an asylum on inadequate grounds, the security of *ociety is threatened. With this view, as stated by Mr. Payne, Mr. Robertson concurs. • > * * s * ■» No minority reports being made, mucb tune is wasted in the House, and much expense is incurred in regard to the reporting and; printing of "Hansard." Mr. Payne • having spoken, Mr. Robertson speaks at great length; and I think that Mr. Webb is preparing to speak. Quite possibly an hour or two of . time will be wasted, and the whole ground might have been covered concisely and conveniently in a minority report. Mr. Fisher makes a statement of the case . which should clear away misapprehension. Plainly, if Johnston was wrongfully committed to a mental asylum, he was to a very great extent the author of his own wrongs. Mr. Fisher, in short, makes it abundantly clear that Johnston's mental state was not normal. Mr. Webb surprises us all by making a singularly moderate speech. He.does not rave, he does not howl. He has his grievance and his prejudice; but for once he rides neither to death. After all, nobody need have been afraid of Mr. Webb. In Parliament he roars as gently as any sucking dove. He is sore over Waihi, and he has reason to be; for Mr. Webb and his crowd made a shocking bad mess of that Waihi business. Still, on ' the whole, he is moderate in his speech, and shows a considerable regard for the courtesies of debate. He is not half the fire-eater that Mr. Payne is. .» " • The Tramways Bill come-, on. Nothing very new, since the objvuwons raised by the City Council have beenl published in the newspapers. In the fact that Mr. Herdman' takes these objections with great seriousness, you have proof positive of his idyllic innocence of the .ways and works of Bumble. Obese and sluggish is his mind: His thoughts so creak and rumble . That you're ihalf tempted to be kind Ana patient with poor Bumble. He yells absurdities aloud, While simple folk don't "tumble"— The cheapest fetish of the crowd Is mumping, glumping Bumble. With the arguments of Bumble in this caeo some people may sympathise; but they won't be unprejudiced, modern, real live people. There is only one thing to be considered: lives have been lost because' of these deadly footboards, and other' lives may any day be lost. How long would Parliament tolerate any simple tradesman who daily and flagrantly imperilled the lives of his workers? .Why should Bumble have a sort of: prescriptive right to kill?- It is outrageous:to suggest that, while jnen are being killed, in order that Bumble may not be hurried. If any delay is sanctioned by the Government, the Government will be directly responsible for any lives lost while the delay continues. None of the apologists for. municipal muddling . can get over that fact. ...» •*. * • Mr. Fraser will be glad when this business is over, however it goes. He has all the- manner of an injured or ill-used man. His intentions are unquestionably good, and he sees no reason whatever why he should not be permitted to do .things in his own way. He likes to make progress gradually.

Good point, by Mrl Veitch. If this Wt>re a . Bill to" protect the lives of members of' Parliament,, instead of the lives of poor train-conductors, there would be no talk of. delay; Of course not. The City Council and thfc henchmen of municipal-dom in Parliament are, merely sparring for time. Nothing could be gained bv referring the Bill to a committee^ —noth.ng but delay, and deiay, and yet delay. Which is exactly what the City Council wants. Sir Joseph Ward makes a terse statement, which aptly represents the facts. ' His _ direct resolution, with its demand for immediate remedy, was refused, and now the -Ministry had brought down a Bill which was impract cable. The. evil complained of was in Wellington: the Bill would do serious, injury to other cities where the evil did not exist. ♦ « ♦ * Here is all that Sir Joseph isaid or contended./ He was in his absolutely worst form: repeated his points over and over again, got' into some' marvellous verbal tangles, and left the House largely in the dark as to his real contention. If he had stopped when he had been talking two minutes, he would have said with excellent effect just what he had to say. We all have our bad moments. Mr. Herries rose with the'evident intention of pointing this out, and Mr. Herries promptly got pretty badly bogged himself. The whole thing had been talked out an hour earlier, and this later surplusage was tedious. Mr. Herries misunderstood Sir Joseph Ward, it seems; and the House misunderstood both of them: and so the balance was adjusted. , Mr. Herries •is not an orator at any time. On Tuesday night he was even less of an orator than usual. Curious archaism in. Mr. Herries. He speaks, not of a dark lantern, but of a dark lanthorn. ■ **.# » ■ ■ Mr. Hindmarsh attempted a. sort of defence of the City Council. But he had a lamentably bad case, and he had the grace to know it. .