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NZ Truth, Issue 534, 11 September 1915, Page 3

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Paragraphs Pertaining to Parliamentarians

(By ."X.Msg#) x

fijb^ debate on the Budget has beJ_^K 3 {Je- the -peg, upon. whiQhmemberi^W we succeeded m hanging BpeealiS on almost every conceivable subject under the?. sun. One day a member mentioned recruiting, and from that on we had one* member after another denouncing "slackers" and "shirkers," while other& quoted from the speeches of the Defence Minister and other military authorities to prove that more men were offering than.pould be absorbed. Or taken : into , training camps right away. "X.M.P." was pleased to hear that New Zealand's boys, were coming forward; so willingly as it showed that, so far as this Dominion is concerned, the "im"-pulsive. force is better than the "com"-pulsive. But is it true? If. it i^ true, why-all this talk, every now and again, about. Blackers and shirkers ? How do honorable members know there are any Blackers or shirkers, if the Defence Department lias "more men than" it can take into cami> arid 1 train right^aWay;? JDoes notrsuch loudtmouttied-braxWg of, bur pugnacious politicians (give ;the . lie to the claim "that more men have come forward than thY cjamp clothier can put Into khaki? But v?h.y_should members of theiHaoiise cackle so about "shirkers"? What price the young men employed as messengers at Parliamentary' Haouse?. What of ' the young penpushers m the press gallery— are there no shirkers among them? . V..V \ If there is brie man who is. an adept at saying things best, left unsaid it is the member from Palmerston North. "Buick's no' bl'ate," whispered ,a. Scot m the gallery; to his neighbor. '"Maybe no'," wag the reply, ."but he's a bauchle." , "X.M.P." riiurmured an in-' 'ward "hear, heir."? For, from the mo- . inent he entered tho Haouse, after having wooed and won,' m spite \ ot Wood, his seat for the Manawatu Cockie Metropolis, he has given rein to his weakness for making silly interjections that more of ten than not bring him the rebuff with a bite: m it. Writer remembers When the, Christchurch qabet, the late Tommy Taylor, teas, ; iriistancirig 1 ' the. case of two men; starting out, 'one asYa. Wharf laborer arid the other on a ;bit o* land: got at a;;,cheap rent a.nd'an eternal lease from the. Government- ;In twerity yearSi aaiiii'tomm.y, the wharfie woulji be where he Y. started; but )the farmer would be independent; "Brains," . bawloft.Buick the .beautfrul, "Brains?" retorted Taylor, "im glad, the hon,..gentlemafr.\merit_ioi__s l^f-ains. There '; are farmers/ rich farmers, some bf;jUiein.;in» this - J3_aousie| ', who '. possess :, so . much brainflYthat' if'they were put • -Into a hazel-nut shall they, would never touch the side; of it if it revolvedfor a thousand yeara!" ' ' » ■ : * . '*.'-,■ A few weeks ago, "XMA?." gave another sample of Buick's blundering. On Thursday of last week (when Messrs. Hindmarsh and Payne said pertinent things to Palmerston's proxy), and again on Friday last Buick's facility for making mal-a^propos- remarks was repeatedly m evidence. On the latter day he was particularly unfortunate. The vimful Veitch was speaking m support of .Jack Payne's Bill for a full Saturday holiday' to all female factoity workers, which had been killed,, practically, by the Labor Bills' Cotamittee. Wanganui's watch-dog was baying his wonder at the action of the committee, when tho irrepressible ill-timed interrupter interjected, "It's hot the; Bill it's the man who brought it down." This was the very admittance .Labor was looking for. Veitcli generally keeps the even tenor of his ways, but Buick's blatant bugling stung him to heated retort that did on© good to see and hear. That was just "it," said Veitch, and if Massoyito members were so barefaced as to admit that their actions m that Haouse were inspired by the principle ' of men, not measures, at a* time when so much cant and casuistry was being cackled from aU corners of a National Ministry, m God's- name what were the low motives at bottom of the "Square Deal" administration when it was. m power with a good working majority behind It? The caustic castigation was well merited, and was felt probably more keenly by the Premier, who was m tho Haouse at the time, than by his dbittt disciple who was the thoughtless tnsptrer of it all. * . * ■ * A titter ran round the public galleries aa Lyttelton's lean-limbed Labor man entered the Haouse t'other afternoon carrying a young library. "That cove's going to make somo speech," remarked an out-o'-a-job who had dropped m casually to try^and pick v up a lesson from our legislators on the easiest way to kill time. There may have been little proflt coming to him for his pains, but ho proved a prophet In himself all tho same. > McCombs did mako i"somo

speech," and hisyfaisfs arid figures Yand fiction flagellating, ;phrases had' the effect.'of rendering spine speechless, for the time being , at^least, who ' seemed itching to inflict themselves on a too indulgent audience.,, "What awful rot £■300. a year?' can iffduce litherwi^e sensible .men ;.tpysit;. and listen tdl^.McCombs' effort onftfie occdsipn recferred to was aa an oasis m the defluous desert of dismal debate. "X.M.P." notices that the Christchurch "Sun" objects to' Mc Combs because, forsooth, he persists m J "saying m Parliament what he believes tho^e who elected him would have him say." This may beY a /most serious crime m the eyes of the plute penpushers, but to the proletarian "plugs Upon whose votes the practised political pointer patters himself into Parliament, it 'is the one thing ..wanted. '., If what the member for. Lyttelton says is what "those who, elected him would have him say," you .will not find another constituency so blessed, no, not > m God's Own! •'•■' -•-' :; '' *■■■■>• ■■-•■•• * ■■. •■-■ - -*• •"Your face doesn't pity you," said !!X.M.P.'s" wife one day , when he complained of feeling ill m order to escape' a certain necessary 'job which „'hubbies"/; have got to do who live .outside the scope of the city's V'-ewage system. Well, if there is one member m tlje Haouse of whom it can be. said his face DOES "pity him" it is the Canterbury - "Waterside Workers' representative. Present scribe has known only one other man who persisted m carrying, about with him as sad a face as does McCombs, M.P., and he was a.Cockney comic song writer. You see he put all his humor into his songs. By the same token, "X.M.P." expected when the S. D. Peer rose to take Dart m the Budget debate, that not only would we get a feast of reason arid a flow of soul, but that the merry quip and crank and pun would';raise the rafters with laughter loud and long. We got the reason, a large dose of it, too, •well phrased and ' well placed and backed by just the necessary amount of "bif? ' , to send it home. . But the quip ; and- crank and pun must have went m search' of the wandering "flow of soul." Certainly they weren't tucked away' even m the uttermost recesses of Mr. McC dribs' s otherwise effective and reflective speech: V, But the member for Lyttelton takes himself and his mission . altogether. too seriously: Sobersldedness is all right up to a point, but one can.overdo,tt.Yand, wheijt one\does, well.yhe may- continue to take himself . seriously, ■.but, it is ahundred to. one- chance nobody else will: Let the fate of Auck-' land's Albert Eddardbe a Warning. : A little leaven of levity and a dainty dash of 'devil is all McCombs wants to make his mark as a Parliamentarian.

From some ribald remarks made recently m these notes, some superficial folk, usually not over-burdened with a sense of humor, have concluded that the Tribune of Timaru is somewhat of a soporiferous Scot True, the spporiferous Scot Js not wanting m the Haouse, even one or more on whose behalf the emphasis might be placed upon the "sop," but the cannie'Cragie's "no' sib" to ony o* that ilk. 'Strutb, Cragie is very much alive and, despite the fact that rumor credits him with having very tangible security for almost unlimited credit he, of all those members set down as "advanced" m the old Opposition, comjs nearest, being the most pronounced and out-spoken Radical of them aIL He may be too feeble of phrasing power to essay the finer flights of fancy indulged m by some, and less dexterous m dlaletics than others, but ho gets there just the same, and his every utterance is such that he who runs may read, whereas the speeches of many more pretentious members are so ambiguous and."wropt" m mystifying phrases that he who reads runs.

When Timaru took the cue, he started by saying that he hoped the National Ministry waa the "shadow before" which told of the coming substance m the form of ari' Elective Brtlnistry. He declared that tho debate on the present Budget had been the ablest, the most helpful and the least acrimonious he had listened to during all the years he had sat ln that Chamber. In the past, members on the Government side of the Haouse, as a rule, with one or two notable exceptions, supported the Budget, while the Opposition as surely and just as sincerely or Insincerely opposed. On the present occasion the debate was uncontrolled by partisan considerations, and therefore more honest, earnest and more effective. Ho did not say the best men m the Haouse wero m the Ministry. There were as good if not better men still private members-. Then with pawky self-abnegation ho added, "Among whom I do not include myself." He frankly told the Ministers, however, that when every other, person m the Dominion was being called upon to make sacrifices, he certainly thought lt was not only unpatriotio fojj the Cabinet to think of adding to the already heavy burdens the country had to boar, by, increasing the combined salaries of the Executive. If it was Incumbent that Cabinet had to bo Increased, why not "pool" the old salaries allotted and let each man have his portion. As It was, one or two Ministers had to do all tho sacrificing going. Mr. Hanan, the new Minister* of 'Educatlon, was receiving no salary. All he was getting was the limelight. If other countries got to know that the Dominion's Education Minister got no salary, he was afraid they would conclude that Now Zealand set little store by education, which, as they all knew was tho reverse of tho truth.

Tho good work done by Mr. Cralglo on Tuesday afternoon ln criticising the Bank of New 54ealand, which ho declared, by tho security and stability given to it by tho Government guarantee, robbed tho peopjo of New Zealand of thirty por cent, per annum; was carried to 'a lino conclusion by John Payno ln his speech ln favor of at once taking over tho Bank of New Zealand, or of withdrawing tho notes Issued to all tho banks and starting a Stato Bank. Tho caso for tho Stato Bank never has boon put more ably, moro succinctly or more convincingly. Metaphorically spoaking, tho member for Grey Lynn built-up tho State Bank-to-bo Btonc by stono before the very eyes of the Haouse, till Parliamentarians and public alike, who listened to him. fancied they saw the noblo pile m materialised form. For a full hour Payne held everyone entranced. Tho careless member who usually lilts from seat to seat gossipplng with his fellow members while some one is talking to "Mr. Speaker." remained rlvetted to his seat, while other members who, from their position had their backs to the "star" artist of tho evening, rose and tip-toed to the other sldo and stood on tho floor of tho Haouse among the "plcbs." drinking m with eyes and ears every word that fell from tho lips of the man whom, m tho past, many of them had affected to dlsplse. Ho Wnß certainly dull of understanding who «at through that powerful and convincing utt entice and saw the effect it had on men of nil shades, of politics, yet failed to realise thafJohn Payno's day Is In the future.