THE SILENT PARLIAMENT

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 7

THE SILENT PARLIAMENT

FIGTiOM. 4

BY ROBERT BARK. /

(Author of ‘•The Mutable Manyefei,) • [ALL 'BIGH^^BESEBVE;i>.3;:: : '- ' chapter" ;xii. :' L "' ■ i The busiest- nian. -in-Englahci for the; next fewda-ys' teas. Richard Stanford; and'' if he intended-- -to, be -in fhture ■as : the! head of a silent Parliament, it mustbe admitted that his followers.- a* very poor 'exanTple.*' :7 He wcfit- .down*' ttr : Mid Loamshire and ‘advertis&dv meetings & in every .part of the constituency - where- 1 there was a- hall large to; hphfKis audience. - Everywhere; he; mety\vith • ■ fa*i rousing reception.- IMid Loamtehire.. wax - at lasr going to have, Avhat it had Tong/ clamoured for, good roads, /added’ 7 * to/ which local trade was brisk and everybody was employed. //A ’//A/ //. Stanford/ in addressing his', meetings, - dwelt on what he hoped to do for Shg--land, without touching ; to any great" ex-; -; tent on his future Land Bill. He had' eeletoted Mid Loamshire and North Scranton, he. said, for his first experiment; .; because, those , two Members, had voted, against his plans. If his Land Act passed" Jie expected to have money enough in the Treasury to keep \tp public work, to'; art indefinite extent. He. hoped to' make England .a country worth livingim Stanford had a plain, direct way .of public speaking that proved immensely popular with his audiences, and besides’ this, he-seemed! to be afraid cf no qUes-' tion that might be asked him. He stood heckling with an' equanimity such as his hearers had never before witnessed. - *"/'//. All at., once came the announcement that Bikchall had. applied for . the Chiltern Hundreds, and the writs , were out for an election in Mid Loamshire. The newspapers all over the country immer diately proclaimed the dishonesty of the Premier’s methods. Here at last was the explanation of the sudden activity on behalf of the unemployed in, the two districts of Mid Loamshire and North Scranton.- North Scran/ton, represented by Ford, was a populous district-, and the work for the unemployed there took the fern of dwellings for the poor, far in advance of anything they had ever hoped for. . Birchal! came out with a letter in which he asserted that Stanford had lied to him and had cheated him. He said that his application for the Chiltern Hundreds had been obtained by false pretencek, and that Stanford himself had said to him it was not to be used. This Stanford as vigorously denied, asserting,

which.was quite true, that he had refused even to advise Birchall as to what course he should take! after the vote. Then Birchall’s own letter, the morning after the vote was taken, stoid again.-1 him, for in that letter he assumed credit for having put his resignation into the ' hands of the Premier. Mid Loamshiie /' was the first by-election since t.he dissolution, and it was felt that ;f Stanford - was defeated there, his chances on again ; meeting Parliament would he block indeed. / The Coalition was in a quandary. They '//did not know whether to put up cue of their own men, either Conservative or Liberal, or whether to adopt Birchall, as their own' henchman. The heads of the parties feared that if they put Birchall forward it would be thought- thatthey had bought and paid for him, which of course they strenuously denied. Abo, it was thought if Birchall had on bought once, he might be purchased the second time, and that if he stood for reelection against a Coalition candidate hd. and Stanford would split ’die Land Crabber’s vote, and, therefore, a Coalition candidate would stand a good chance of. being elected, as there was on/y a majority of one hundred and forty to overcome!. However, they did at last, what was thought at the time, and wlat probably was, the betst thing to do. Birchall was nominated by a small seceding . body of the Land Crabbers, while the Coalition convention nominated on opposition candidate, a. local landowner who was thought to have a good deal of influence, and who certainly had a go oil deal of money to spend on the election. Thus there /was a three-cornered conn st. Stanford spent the most anxious night of his life during the counting of the votes, but the result gave him more courage than anything that had ever happened to him. Alas for the wholesale corruptability of constituencies! Stanford’s man stood at the head of the poll with a majority of nine hundred/ Birchall, at the foot, with scarcely seventy-five votes. Then came the North Scranton election and the Coalition adopted Ford as their candidate, but Ford was a weak man, and Birchall, under the sting of defeat and anger at those who had uesertedl ' him, published an account of the whole disgraceful transaction, naming thei sums which had been paid to both Ford and himself, which statement had undoubtedly the effect of strengthening Stanford’s candidate in North Scranton, with the! unexpected effect, as far as Birchall was concerned, of his own immediate arrest.. Stanford’s majority at North Scranton was increased to something like seven times the amount of the previous figures.

Stanford devoted his remaining time before the opening of Parliament ■ to . finding work for the unemployed to do. Johnston, who had done so well in Mid /Loamshire and North Scranton., was now appointed to the larger -'task or reclaiming The Wash from the sea. Cottages /. were -erected along the coast'for the ~ comfort of the workmen. This great engiheerirfg enterprise, situated as it was J oiiitlre East Coast, midway between the . Aorfch.and south, was intended to give Lwork to the unemployed, front the connt try generally.A Meanwhile, in London, Manchester, t Liverpool J find Birmingham, "Government offices were t opened for: the /'furtherance of. the . rebuilding'. ..of -the • s.ltinia,; r -;and /the. h'ousing;.'b£'. t-fie poors in /jgeherdl;/ Tt itvhk now’ ted -that... .all I: tl%se ppbjiaratioi,k would'lead to- a. scarfcit^ v iri'’the" ihbbVir market", 'but- Stanford 3 announced /that it was bis intention to * provide 'oiily for those who could ** not findtftirjelsewbere, and that any em--7 ploy dr, ■' in England, or Scotland who 3 FfadApnly to seiiS' a .tela- } grant/.tb y one of the Government offices, telling his requirements, and men would :t he sent to him/" Tliere was 'some 'gram > bling by the • labc/ur leaders because- Stan- :> ford refused to .pay wages as 'high, as the j ipCrf cduld get elsewhere if the- times- had t been good. He - pointed out that his object was not; to ■ draw men away from ; legitimate occupations.', which would be ■; tJiatineyitabTe result if lie gave more, : ot- even, as much as a private) employer ’ would give. A/ ' / - When=Rarliament met, after its montn’s % adjournment, the' Premier’s scheme for _5 the unemployed was in too expcfrithenta) } ; a stage for anyone to -say'much for or against it. There was certainly less dis- - content among the working classes/ and ' whether it was through fear of the ,au- . thbrities or not, no more meetings Avere pot. be denied that the'! business" oi©n/ of .*/England,, and all' landowners and "capi- ; talista] had no confidence in what they considered the dangerous, revolutionary, and Utopian plans cf the} Premier/' Ev--1 erydne seemed, convinced that the c’otn- ;, :try was going: to the dogs; aiidAtliere was no- revival of legitimate •business/ In fact; commerce was undoubtedly in a more stagnant state than ever, but when. Stanford met Parliament, both sides of the House had learned something that they did not know when the Commons had adjourned. The Opposition knew that they had to deal with a man v;ho was masterful, who would' stop at nothing, who had just a touch of unscrupulousness in his nature, and wh i carried out his plans quite oblivious to the contempt heaped upon them, while Stanford’s own side learned that ret rib .it ion, swift and inevitable, came upon any traitor in the ranks. Birchall and Ford had 1 disappeared as if swept away by an avalanche. This was the state of things when Stanford rose in the House of Commons to propose his celebrated Land Restoration Act. The wording of the Act was short And to the point. It did away at on 3 stroke with private ownership of land. All lands must pay a certain rent to the central Government. This rent was to be fixed by the Bill for the first year at four times the theui amount- of taxes assessed upon the land. The owner of the land would get the first option of renting it and failing him, the occupier should have the opportunity cf continuing his tenancy with, the Government as Iris landward.

After that it was proposed! to put the land up at auction, and lease it for five years to the highest bidder, the minimum rent being, as was stated in the Bill, four times the then rate of taxation. In the country, however, the tillers of the land had the first option of renting from the Government, -without regard to the ownership of the property. It was not intended to give compensation to ■ the nominal owners of the land thus taken away from them, but where the landlord had erected buildings or had made permanent improvements upon the property, the cost of these buildings or improvements would be refunded to inn. Also, if any landowner should find that he was pauperised by this Bill he was.to receive an allowance for life of six shillings a day. This clause was reice vied by-/ the House with howls of derisioji, but Stanford calmly pointed out- that this provision was lavishly generous when compared with the amount dole 1 to one who had worked his whole life at small wages, and at last, when ne was incapacitated for further labour, was comp died/ to accept outdoor relief, or to unit into : the workhouse. It was also lavish when ! compared with the sum paid to soldiers' who had risked life and limb in thei service of the country, whereas landlords had merely spent their days in collecting tribute from the toilers on their land. A man, continued Stanford, could live luxuriously on six shillings a day. He himself had lived well on much less. “It is rank injustice and robbery,’’ shouted the Right Honourable Mr Bond, furiously. “I do not quite agree with the Right Hon. gentleman,” said Stanford, quietly. “I scarcely think it fail* to call the recipients of the country’s bounty robbers, because the country will give fliens freely what they do not deserve. That it is injustice, I admit, beicause landlords have for centuries been living upon tribute given Iby the workers of this country, so it is injustice to give them, anything at all. Still, the country wishes to deal generously by them.’’ Amidst a scene of wild confusion, the first reading of the Bill took place, and when Stanford’s mechanical majority was announced it was received by groans from

the Opposition benches. When vhc- uproar had somewhat subsided, the Premier rose in his place, and said that the House had been promised a hundred! days for the discussion of this Bill, but since that promise was made many things had happened. A month had been lost through no fault of the Government, therefore seventy days’ talk must new suffice “You carried the adjournment, in spite of our protests,” shouted the Oppos - tion.

“That is quite true, and the reason for the adjournment you. all know. I was called upon to meet tactics, which I shall not characterise further than by saying they were a disgrace to this House. Thirty days, there fere, have been lost, which leaves you seventy days to discuss this Bill. I may add, however, that I reserve to myself the right to terminate this debate at any time. If I meet fair play, all will bd well; if net, there will be trouble. It was my intention to leave this House and devote wh re. energy I have to the relief of the unemployed, while this debate was going forward. I have changed my mind on that also. lam pleased to her able to tell you that the relief for the unemployed is going on exceedingly well, and that we are getting good! value for the mor-cy expended. I shall therefore remain rathe House, and if X can lb© of any assistance in ycur deliberations I will be- here to render that assistance A There was loud! Opposition laughter as the Premier sat down. Then the Right Honourable Mr Bond rose to address the House. - - CHAPTER XIII. Even Stanford was not prepared for the wild storm of oppositions that met his Land Bill throughout the country. A feeling of terror and dismay seemed to have spread abroad. England had successfully weathered so many panics since this land discussion had begun that even Stanford’s most bitter opponents were not prepared for what was to come. The day after the first reading cf the' LandBill, a London Bank, with branches in every part of the United! Kingdom, and supposed to be one of the strongest financial institutions in the city, closed its doors. Next day five other hanks stopped payment, and it was rumoureld that, several more would follow; even the Bank of England was said to be in. a shaky condition. It certainly had not been able to come to the rescue of the) first bank that had failed. Crash after crash followed among the* business houses in London. Money could not be obtained upon any security that was offered. English credit went down with a rush, and so serious was the state of affairs that even France, Germany, and Russia did not exult over the disaster which had overtaken Grdat Britain. Meanwhile, the wildest talk went on in the House of Parliament, and the language of the public press was cf an unbridled nature never before known in England. Stanford himself was appalled by what had happened, as he saw business houses in the City, of centuries’ growth, tumbling to pieces as if they nad beetn built of cards. “Go to the country, go to the country/’ was the! erv of the Opposition, “If the country approves of this spoliation and robbery, then let us know it A said the Right Honourable Mr Bond, but Stanford sat silent- in his place and made no. sign.

One rainy, misty evening in March, Stanford paced up and down his room in Downing Street, when a lady was announced. The Premier refused) himself to most callers, but a letter he! had received the day before from Mrs Greenhow, praying him to withdraw his Bill, led him to suspect it vras the lady herself who had now called, and in this he was not mistaken. Mrs Greenhow came in with a waderproof over her slender form, and as she raised her veil, her face showed pale and tear-stained. She was evidently labouring under strong excitement. '‘Oh,. Mr Stanford,” she said, wringing her hands, “I have come to beg and pray you, on my knees if need be, to withdraw this terrible Bill.”, She made as though she would throw herself at his feet, but he grasped her by the wrists and held her where she stood.

“What you ask is utterly impossible),” he said. “The mistake T mad 1 © was in giving those fools the seventy days in which to discuss the Bill. I should have forced it through the House as I did the Unemployed Bill.- I sele my error now, and I shall end the discussion. You see what harm even a week’s talk has done!”

. “No, no, no,” cried the lady, “it is not the talk that has made the mischief, it is what you have! done. It is as disastrous -as* everyone has predicted. The country will take a century to recover from what has already happened to it, and there is worse to come, worse) to come! I know.it, and you do not. I will tell you that the people of the country are arming, and there will be a revolution that you cannot- withstand.

Every officer in the/ army will resign, his post, and you will find the army useless. I assure you that what I tell you is true. You must, withdraw your Bill to-night, or in another week there will be civii war in England, and I am responsible, oh, I am 'responsibly/’ hvailed the 'unhappy woman.

“No, you are not,” said Stanford firmly, “this was bound to- happen, sooner or later, and if a revolution comes with it, then let it come.”

“Oh, you have ruined the country, you have ruined the country,” reiterated the lady, “and are you not- content unless you . deluge it with blood also?”' “There will be no deluge of blood, Mrs Greenhow, I assure you. You are nervous and unstrung, arid I admit that what has occurred' is enough to destroy ; nerves of steel. It is such a senseless A panic : even the! nationalisation of the ; .\i land, at its worst, could, not cause half ..) the disaster that has already been brought u on by cowardly fear. . - “That may be,” -wept the iady v "but- * the panic is none the less real, and the A ruin is none the less complete. .1 tell. _ you that the country is quietly arming,:--and that the rebels, if you like to call theim so, will be led by experienced officers. You are so absorbed by what you are doing here in London that, you don’t know what is. going on in the rest of the country.” “Excuse me, Mrs Greenhow, but I do known If you had! waited till to-morrow you wculjl have seen announced in the ‘ public press that the officers, if they like 1 to lead the rebels, will have an opportu- ' nit-y of doing so. I have dismissed from the army those officers you call gentlemen. I have promoted to their places men, who have risen from the ranks, and I have placed! soldiers from the ranks in the places of the subordinate officers, c This has been done as quietly as the arm- *■ ing of the country has been done. If a rebellion breaks out I shall be ready for 1 it.- But excuse/ me a- moment, Mrs Greenhow, I am expected at the. House, and I must send a message to them that I will come later on.” Saying this, Stanford entered ah innetr room. He told his secretary to take a cab and let his lieutenants know that he would not be in the House until an hour later. When ha had) done thi© he went back to his room and said curtly to Mrs Greenhow : “Sit down-” . / J He paced up and down the room, for some moments as if in deep thought. “You see,” he said at last, “as I have/ told you before!, this Land Nationalisa- . tion is not going to ruin all land-owners, as you supposed). They, will have but , little more to pay than what is now ex- - pended in taxes. Every man of them will be able te retain much of his pro-.-perty, yelfc the revenue of England will be so tremendous that anything will be.- ; possible. I have made* a mistake in allowing this senseless talk to go on so long in the House of Commons. I shall ' remedy that error to-night.” -

(To bd Continued.)