POLITICAL PALAVER

NZ Truth, Issue 570, 20 May 1916, Page 7

POLITICAL PALAVER

- - :- ...... ,- ■„ .-■ Paragraphs Pertaining to Parliamentarians

(By "X.M.P.")

"X.M P." has not received entree into tne Parliamentary pen-pushers' Holy of Holies— the^press gallery. This necessitates his finding a seat m the public gallery among: persons, if less polished, more '.^principled" than prevaricating pressmen, who while declaring . that they are not actuated by "any adverse feelirife- to 'Truth' or its representative," persist m cajoling the Speaker to aid md abet them m denyiiig the ♦press privileg!e?pf| the House to one of their own class, a fully qualified and full financial member of their own local organisation. 'But .''X.M.P." has been up against and has overcome much more difficult hurdles than ■ the Fecksnlfflan prejudice of parochial partisans and pretentious piffling paragraphists, and the end is not yet. , -■• -rib-; ;.,.-|| .#..•, '■-♦:,■,;..:-, The member for Hutt has allowed his antipathy to the hon.- member for Bruce to become an obsession, and his barbed belting and brutal belaboring of that . Minister m season and out of season, defeats Us own, ends and engenders sympathy where* He seeks to destroy* The- weak point about Wilford's onslaught was that he allowed his attack, whJcrt-ppdfred with a fine rattle of . musketry, to degenerate into rear--guard sniping. He cornered the tiger m a trap and then called upon all present to watch him pinj&i its tail! He said he didn't want, to: drive Mr. Allen out 0t the Cabinet." ! His purpose was to compel him to relinQuish the Defence, portfolio m favor of anotaer, presumablyany other, member of the, Cabinet, Jamsie to take his successor's old shoes In' exchange. This denouement reduced Tom'a eloquent effort; to a level with that operation' known as shearing ewlne, which yield eth ever more scream than wool. Is the member for the Hutt m earnest wheri^ by implication, he asserts such a superficial shuffle will solve the: difficulty], and remove' cause of complaint m thajj; particular; ' department? If so, then his is anything but a heroic solution, and "X.M.P." has his •Moots" as to Its efficiency. Or ia.it merely a euphemistic way of seeking to keep Reform members and their' supporters bufside, from saying that Tom wants the job for| himself? Why, that Is precisely what ithey do say,, and will continue to say, let the honorable member comport himself how .he will^and Tom knows it ;|ls Witford wavering after wandering fires? In other words, has he ibßt faith m himself ? ' ■ . ' ■',"'',; .* : . '^ ''!;■• ' :■'- '.*.' - ; .. ; '-v '■}.: '. . But there was la, little oasis m the dreary desert of denunciatory declamation. This was w-hen Mr. Wilford, for all too short a time, turned aside from shying all sorts of rhetorical refuse at the head of the Defence king pea, to scarify the .financial sharks and shirkers; who, while exploiting the people by excessive Increases ; m the prices of commodities, button up their pockets ' against patriotic funds of all kinds. He referred pointedly jto two rich Waira'pa men cf military age. wnp not only refused to subscribe to holp the wounded soldier who had risked his life'defending thei* property^; but who, also, shirked their military responsibilities. This was the . class of -iftien who "made ' conscription necessary; and he intended to do what he could jto see that they were cent to the firing line. As for theirwealth, 7 well, > he hoped .ways -would , be f oundj pf^mtt^ing the who ; didn't ,wo<;k payVelpScially when' it was' the men who were the money - makers who didn't take that made up the bulk of pur fighting f orceß. In Tom'B/oplnlon the man' who wa^ physically fit and wouldn't fight to defend his wealth and property,' should not be left with either wealth or property to enjoy.- , . Vf ,'v -• ■ ■*'■■ ,■' ■'■ il •''" - ■'■:■'':?}£ ]'■'"■""■ . Continuing his critical commentary *n the callous conduct of the. commercial cormorants, the Hercules';- of - the 1 Hutt declared that^omethlngirnust be done to easerup thjecost of Hyinfj,: He pointed out what had been clone m the way of fixing food prices 'm Australia. He also instanced the action o,f the Itni, porlal Government In taklhfc over the'rnllways. "Couldri't the Government do something equally heroic? What about the coastal, shipping? Freights are a big factor m the Increase of food prices. Too big a. iob?'V queried Tom, repeating an interjection. *'Ii remember reading m the Home papers that, when it was first mooted that the Imperial Government should ■ take over; ' the, : railways, the newspapers, inspired by railway direc- ! tors and other interested t>ersbns, ex*' claimed 'Too blgiL job!' One :mprriing: they awoke arid f^bund that What they hod called 'Too bljfer a Job' hadlhoj' befen too big to be accomplished. The Mm-' possible' had been achieved. Then, k * cried Tom, raising his voice for a dramatic peroration,^ 'then the highly-paid directors and mana , . ." He gotnp further. "Did you say 'Hiley'?" queried the irrepressible Payne. The House burst into a loud guffaw and Tom's Impromptu palpitating period petered out r ' :,. • "''-';'-"-;\* - - '■-■■* \ The member foriHutt was followed by Mh Vigor Brown, <md, he by Veitch, who wain not as vlmf ul as he might hn vo been but who dubbed pur First "War Lord the Wet Blanket lirinister. Then Waitakl Ansl'ey marshalled his Cacts and fj^Urea dpttcef niri^r land aggregation, »hd maladministration of our land laws m a way! that made Ministers sit back ! and wonder what .pad struck theirn. "X.M.P." hopes to deal -with Mr. Anstey's speech At greater length than Is permitted of |n these fragmentary notes. Void of fhetorlcal tricks, innocent of dramatic fffortH, and ft Stranger to rounded periods of finessing phraseology, • the speech of I ', the member of Waltaki wmj, nevertheless.; tho weightfest utterance that has boon made m the glaouso this session, or is likely to bo pade. # :-^V.I!,-\ : ;- _ ;# -- :: ;:.- -; If Anstoy's wosi the wcljrhtlejt. that #f "Captlng" Hint* was the thinnest This gentleman rushed In, In all his var paint, to denounce the railway Workers for "holding a pistol at the

Government's head" and- demanding an inorease of a "bob a day."; Tnere may have been] more foolish speeches delivered m that Assembly, but there certainly neviir'has been > a more ignorant one. His 7 ;; references .to , the greedy Labor men "and Socialists who wish- to take "wot wasn't their'n" was just what one would expect from a man of the "Captirig's* 1 standard >of mentality. ■ •■.':■;'-■ •■'■; '. \;f " : ■ : At question time ,on Tuesday afternoon, the Minister of Education was IT for the day. Member after member told the Minister, m effect, that he, m his jsleep, , could run his Department better than he was doing it awake. Yet if all they said, by way of criticism was true, it would; show that Mr. Hanan was .not' awake. It was amusing to note the Defence Minister's face while the Diytown ¥ep. was getting his gruel, James seemed to enjoy the unwanted experience of being a mere spectator m a Ministerial baiting match. Mr. Hanan, however, gave a .straight 'and. manlyreply to his tormentors. He told them that the educational question was too big a thing to -be made the sport of party or, worse still, of Roads: and Bridges members. Mr. Rhodes, who had been one of the "baiters," took this; remark with special unction to his soul. It seemed to hit him m two placeß at once. "X.M.P." is of opinion that the educational welfare of the Children is. safe in\the hands of the mem-ber-for Inyerfceg^ille; ;» -v^.A* ■■■ - *v- ■ -■• J ' . The~* debate on' the'Address-in-Reply should have been resumed by Mr. McCpmbs, but as Lyttelton's leading light was "put," Mr. Thomson (Wallace) took up .the running; ' Thomson is' not a talkative: member, .and, "Hansard's" Staff »^ver ; has. had to work overtime on his account 1 'But if his speech on Tuesday •afternoon is an average ' 'swatch" off the web of wo r< 3 S j^ 0 -weaves when he" has anything to say, the knowledge an^\ intelligence .of the . Haouse would not; suffer adversely if he made uso more often of his opportunities. His suggestion that the Government ought to have run the c&mp. canteens and sold goods at coat price met with the hearty approval of members all over the Haouse. His charge that the inspection and inquiry jclsdined, to have been mado m Egypt by C6L Rhodes, was a farce, was backed up by his Teading an extract from a, letter, m which the writer said they (the soldiers) were paraded before Colt* Rhodes, who, instead of asking the boys if they had any tomplaint to make, addressed them as follows: -' . ; r see you are all well and I take ■ ; it you have no complaints to make. Hejheld "that' the Colonel's journey to Egypt: at the .expense of the country wad a mere, pleasure..t rip. Ho. pointed out that the mover of the Address -in - Reply had referred, I very properly, io the. unprecedented prosperity of New Zealand. The honorable gentleman had pointed out that, taken per head of the population, the wealth and productive-, ness of the Dominion surpassed any other part of v the Bmplrel He, Mr, Thomson, , would be the last tq .deny that this was so. 'jNTow, the Government, and more especially the Prime Minister, had time after time declared that they would not be a party to the parsimonious treatment of our returned soldiers' or : the - dependents of those killed at the front. With this fact of bur greater prosperity, and this boast of our administration before them, how was it that we, have alloWed other less favored parts of the Empire to put-do ub m generosity to our soldier boys? South Africa gave six shillings a week more, ,and Canada gave eleven shillings more {; If .New Zealand is the most prosperous part of the Empire, then it was m a position to make the best provision for its soldiers and their dependents after the war, After referring lofthe penny-wise pound-fool policy of ratTßrfchment on public works, by which the.meri who did the work that beneflt;ejol^tho country were dismissed, while the head office staff was still kept on; of .th<i, lnvidious distinctions made — sixtyfour men dismissed m one district, while the same number of men are kept pni; m the Premier's constituency — he called upon the Government to do something :,that would help the people of New^aland dsa whole, even if, m doing iti it shocked, the old political iconomto^./::,.- v --;; : v-, ;;•■-• '. : ; Mr. Witty Vas ln'fc very serious mood on rising, after Mr." Thomson had concluded. There had been talk ot getting ithrpugh the work VajC Parllampnt Ih a month. , "Why call parliament together at .ttll?" he asked. '"Why have a ParJiament? Why hot let the Twelve Disciples— th6 4 Cabjn^t— carry on the ;<3oycrnment of the country, just as they* Jlkes^, Becoming, facetious! Mr. Witty l)roadly hinted that they did pretty well an they liked as it was! He hoped Parliament wouldn't be over m two months, no, nor three. The private members weren't all merit- salarysnatchers who gave no service m return. Ho intended to do his bit In the government of the country. That was what he had been sentf^o that Haouse to do, -. •', -v. »\ : - '■•<,■:.■-■. . =• The member for Rlccartoii sale! tliere had f been much tall talk Indulged m by Mlniators about fighting to the last man and the last shilling. They were making preparations to rope m the last man. but so far he saw no signs of a Blmultancouß offort to lay hold of the Jast shilling. it was a habit, a, bad habit, he admitted, of the average Dominion politician to speak of Now Zealand as miles ahead of the Old Land In regard to dealing fairly between workers and their employers and the wealthier classes goncraUy. This may bo tru6 m piirt, but it wasn't all the truth. A £, n . J Uus tratlon f pf the manner m; which the Motherland, as compared with New Zealand, was seeing to the eolloeUn* of tho^ last shilling, he put m the following table: INCOME TAX COMPARISONS. Income. Britain. NZ £ A«. '£ «. a. £ - n . <i. , 400 41 A 4 J g 8 fIOO 73 10 0 13 13 4 700 99 18 0 17 15 7 800 112 0 0 25 0 0 900 Ut 0 6 38 5 g 1000 140 0 0 4J IB 2 2000 815 0 0 188 4 5 10,000 2,629 8 4 754 JU These figures spoke for themselves. And Britain was supposed to bo halt] by the throat by vested interests! if that wore so, what price New Zealand? ■-.■■•• • • .i- , Mr. Wllty delivered two or three other ( well charged and .accurately aimed 1 broa<RildCß at the Mlnlstorlal barquo, * ono of ihCHo hitting wUn such M\. \ ing effect as to provoke the Prime Mln- ! UWt to rudely Interject: "I know nil ! üboul that nnd you know npthlnK." j "P'r'tipß," replied the solemn Witty* 1 "but if you do, all I can my l» that j you have put your, superior knowl'idß^ 1 to very little use.* i