PARLIAMENTARY "BULLS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12833, 5 April 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

PARLIAMENTARY " BULLS."

SOME REGENT MIXED METAPHORS. A writkb in the Prize Reciter and Speaker quotes some amusing instances of the mixing of metaphors by members of Parliament. Some of these one has heard before, but a large proportion of them are quitenew : — Mr. Balfour, in a recent speech, spoke of " an empty theatre of unsympathetic auditor," Lord C'urzon has remarked that "though no' out of the wood we have a good ship." Sir William. Hart-Dyke has told how Mr. Lowther " had caught a. big fish in his net—and went to the "top of (he tree for it." Mr. Asquith has lately remarked that "redistribution is a therm subject which requires delicate handling," or it will tread on some people's tecs." Mr. Brodrick told the Commons that "among the many jarrinj, notes heard in this House ou military affairs this subject at lc;ist must be regarded sa uu ousts."' But General BuUer evidently thinks there is little to be gained by so-called army reform, for he declares that "the army is honeycombed with cliques, aud ki?.>es go by favour iu this web of axe-grindcre." Befor- Mr. Winston Churchill opposed the present Government he, ax a meeting of the Bow and Bromley Conservative Association, said that Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-man " had sat m lons, on the fence that the iron had entered his soul." It was the late Sir George Campbell who said "the pal© face of the British soldier is tin backbone of the British Empire," and who said certain abuses in India were but "a mere flea-bite in the ocean " as compared with others he could name. It was another friend of India who said, "Paris themeasure and the barren wells will become fertile valleys." It was a loyal member who said : " When 1 go wrong I look round and see our chief leading, and 1 soon get right again." Mr. Field, of Dublin, when discussing a Bill relating to the shipping of cattle across the Irish. Sea, begged the members "not to look at the subject from a live-stock. point of view;" and it was he who said: "The right honourable gentleman shakes his head —and I'm sorry to hear it." He it was. too. who, when the Irish Laud Bill was being pushed through. &aid: "The lime has now come and i& rapidly arising." Another member in a late debate objected to "introducing fresh mattei already decided." It was Mr. Mr-Hugh who declared the Government was " iron-bound with red tape ;"' but it was an opponent of Home Rule who regarded a certain concession as "the first stitch in the dismemberment of the Empire."