HIGH WORDS IN THE HOUSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 10

HIGH WORDS IN THE HOUSE.

Regrettable though the incident, may have been, it, would not be wise to make too much ..of the "scene" witnessed in the House of .Representatives in the early hours of yesterday morning. The level of decorum which usually marks Parliamentary proceedings in this country is high. For members to throw off restraint is a rarfr occurrence than even in (he greatest of Parliaments at Westminster. On occasion there the Speaker has had to adjourn proceedings because of uproar he could not check. In yesterday s incident, though there was defiance of the Chair, it was at least marked by restraint. For the rest, tempers are always liable to become friableunder the strain of protracted sittings dealing with highly contentious questions. The two Labour members who earned punishment no doubt laboured under a sense of grievance because the closure was applied earlier than they believed it should have been. It is true that on a measure about which opinions differ sharply there should be ample opportunity for discussion ; but can anyone suggest the bill being considered at the time has not been discussed almost to exhaustion—the exhaustion of everyone ? And when they suggest the closure was applied too soon, they need to ask themselves whether they have been the only ones exposed to irritating circumstances, whether their own avowed intention of obstructing progress as far as permitted might not incline the other side to apply the closure more freely than would otherwise be thought necessary. Apart from all this, there is more than a flavour, in at least the closing part of the incident, of deliberate demonstration. Having been restrained from demonstrating by prolonged debate, the two members concerned chose defiance of the Chair as the means of proclaiming their unrelaxed opposition to the bill. All these reasons combine to suggest that the incident should not be magnified beyond its worth.