THE SCENES IN THE NEW SOUTH WALES ASSEMBLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7694, 20 July 1886, Page 7

THE SCENES IN THE NEW SOUTH WALES ASSEMBLY.

The Sydney newspapers raceived yesterday contain full particulars of the disgraceful scenes enacted in the Assembly, to which repeated reference has been made in our cable messages. The upioar appears to have begun on the question as to whether it was not the duty of the Speaker at half-past four, in accordance with the standing orders, to take the chair and commence a fresh day's sitting. Mr. Trickett, however, continued at his post, and Mr. Wisdom moved that the chairman leave the chair, and obtain the ruling of the Speaker as to the legality of the proceedings. Sir Henry Parkes supported Mr. Wisdom's contention on the point, and quoted a decieion of the late Mr. Speaker Arnold, which he argued corroborated his view of the matter. Hβ concluded his speech by saying that the chairman was irregularly in the chair, and that they were constituted not a Parliament but a rabble. A scene of disorder utterly unprecedented ensued, and it is stated that on several occasions personal encounters were prevented only by the exertions of members who had not allowed party feeling to destroy their sense of propriety. The leader of the Opposition and the Premier appeared to be carried away by tho prevailing excitement. Cries of " There is no House," "No Speaker," "No House," and " We are a rabble," were heard amid the din, and it was some time before something like order was restored, though shouts of '' Order' , and " Chair" indicated that very little encouragement was required to cause a fresh outbreak. This continued until tho evening refreshment hour, when the Chairman vacated the chair. Tho disorderly state of affairs exhibited in the House during the afternoon, and which had been gradually increasing in intensity as time went on, reached a climax after dinner. The Opposition having already refused to recognise the legality of the sitting, and therefore the authority of the Chair, persistently appealed to the Chairman of Committee to refer to the Speaker the question of whether a breach of the standing orders had been committed or not. Recriminations were freely indulged in, and at last the disorder was so great that the Speaker entered the chamber and said that he would remain until order was restored. His presence had a salutary effect, but no sooner had he retired than an outbreak again occurred, and the Speaker entered the enamber a second time, and Mr. Wisdom having defied his authority was suspended from the service of the House for the remainder of the sitting. A few minutes latar Mr. Slattery took the chair in order to relieve Mr. Trickett, and Mr. Shepherd having deoliued to recognise his authority, also was named and suspended for the rest of the sitting. The reporters had been excluded from their gallery from three in the morning until the House adjourned for tea at half-past six in the evening. On the House reassembling, shortly before eight o'clock, several of the reporters entered the gallery and took their accustomed seats, they navmg received no intimation that they were still excluded. Their presence was at once noticed, and hon. members for a moment stared aghast at what they no doubt regarded aa their audacity in ignoring the forms of the House, and at their forgetfulnesi of the paias and penalties which might follow such a contempt for the forms anil proceedings of Parliament. The members of the Opposition, however, immediately saw the advantage of the position, rose en masse, and loudly cheered the reporters. Mr. Neild waved his handkerchief, and cried "hooray," and this cry was taken up throughout the ranks, and oue shout arose of " Stay there. It is no Parliament. No Parliament." One of the messengers advanced to the front of the table, and excitedly motioned to the reporters to withdraw. The Opposition, however, still cheared, shouting " Don't go ; we will protect yon." A messenger was immediately despatched to the gallery, followed by the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the offending members of the Press were compelled to retire. This they did; the action of the officials being vehemently groaned at by the Opposition members. At a later stage the leader of the Opposition moved the adjournment of the debate until Tuesday, and there immediately arose cheers and excited cries of "No, no," "Fight to the bitter end ;" " Whose fault is it now ?" "Never give in ;" and " What about brutal conduct?" and so on. Amid the din Mr. Melville was heard to ejaculate, "full of champagne." Mr. Abigail immediately called attention to the remark as a reflection upon hon. members on his aide of the House. To make matters worse Mr. Melville admitted the charge and said, "I am prepared inside the House and outside, to name four hon. members who in the opinion of hon. members on this side were full of champagne last night," an assertion which was cheered by some members. Hβ wan promptly called to order by the chairman ; but, instead of apologising, the hon. uwmber for Northumberland, who was evidently much excited, exclaimed, "I ask if the conduct of Sir Henry Parkes last night was not the conduct of a drunken man ?" and he reiterated the question with reference to the hon. members ior Paddington (Mr. Neild) and Morpeth (Mr. Wisdom); cries of " Chair, chair '' and "Make him apologise" were immediately raised. Mr. Melville waa at firet inclined to be defiant, and made matters worse by tendering a qualified apology, which neither the chairman nor the House would entertain. The hon. member, in fact, wished to insiat upon a mental reservation. Sir Henry Parkes, in referring to the matter, said that neither the hon. member's opinion nor hia apology were of any consequence to him. Two or three minutes before midnight Sir Henry Parkep, amid considerable excitement, approached the table, and attempted to read the following document:—" We, the undersigned members of the Legislative Aesembly, who are conscientiously opposed to the Customs dutiee Bill, and who maintain that the Constitution has been violated by the unreasoning and violent course pursued by the Government to force this Bill through, including the continuous sitting of the House on Sunday, July 11th, desire to place on record our protest against this desecration of the Sabbath Day, which has not even the ground of necessity ; and we consider ourselves by virtue of this protest compelled to retire from the House at midnight on .Saturday, the 10th, leaving all the responsibility and odium to the authors of the Bill and their supporters.— The leader of the Opposition had, however, only got through the first four or rive lines when Mr. O'Sullivan insisted upon continuing some remarks which he had been making in favour of fighting the matter to the bitter and, and amid a babel of voices Mr. Shepherd entered the Chamber, and for the second time disobeyed the chair. Mr. Slattery at once ordered him to withdraw unless he undertook to comport himself in future with due deference to the chair ; but as the hon. member declined to be bound over to good behaviour, be was gently but firmly removed by the Sergeant-at-Arms, and did not again attempt to assert his rights as a representative of the people. Almost at tho same time —in fact a little before—Sir Henry Parkes advanced to the table and threw upon it the document which he bad attempted to read, and then, followed by all the members of the Opposition, he left the Chamber amid some groaning and the enthusiastic cheers of Opposition members themselves. The bill was then proceeded with. The carrying of the adjournment was made the occasion for cheering from all sides of the House. Simultaneously with this demonstration, the Speaker left the chair, and hon. members rose from their seats and prepared to retire. The cheering had hardly ceased before a counter demonstration of a most extraordinary character was commenced by the occupants of the upper strangers' gallery, which was crowded. Hisses, groans, boohooing, and other manifestations of disapproval, including menacing gesticula. tione were exhibited towards the Government and their supporters, the noise being ao loud and so general as to cause several members to remain in the House and gaze with astonishment at tbe soene which was being enacted. Lusty cheers were given in honour of Sir Henry Parkes, for the Opposition, for Mr. Burns, for " Shepherd, the silenced member," and, gesticulating at members of the Government and their supporters, the occupants of the gallery yelled out "Traitors," "Chinaman Dibbs," and other uncomplimentary expressions. Meanwhile the members who had remained in the Assembly became infected with excitement, and gave evidences of a desire to chastise some of the gallery spectators. About 100 of those who had occupied the galleries subsequently collected in front of the entrance, aud engaged in eager discussion of the scene they had just witnessed, evincing a strong feeling against the action of the

Government, and giving expression to their eentimepte by groaning or cheering the various members who left the House during the ehort period the crowd wae assembled.