Page 2 Advertisements Column 3

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 106, 23 August 1876, Page 2

SPEAKING AGAINST TIME. The longest speech on record is believsj (says the Boston Pilot) to have been 4 made by Mr. De Cosmos, in the Legist ture of British Columbia, when a meass was pending whose passage would tab from a great many settlers their lani Da Cosmos was in a hopeless minorib The job had been held back till the ei of the session; unless legislation w taken before noon of a given day, then of confiscation would fail. The df before the expiration of limitation D Cosmos got the floor about ten a.m and began a speech against the K Its friends cared little, for they suppos that by one or two o'clock lie wot) be through, and the bill could be p on its passage. One o'clock came, as De Cosmos was speaking still—liadr mors than entered upon his subject. Tt o'clock—he was saying '' In the sees place." Three o'clock—he produced fearful bundle of evidence, and insisted)* reading it. The majority began to h&i suspicion of the truth—he was going: t speak till next noon and kill the bill, ft awhile they made merry over it, but*'•l it to dusk, they began tp*s They tried interruptions, U soon abandoned them, because eacli ot| afforded him a chance to digress and gaii time. Th?;y tried to sliout him that gave_ him breathing space, ' M finally, _j£»©y settled down to watch ff combatiSteftt-een strength of will and wes! ness of body. They gave him no menj No adjournment for dinner; no cliam to do more than wet his lips with watfl no wandering from his subject; l sitting down. Twilight darkened ; thegf was lit; members slipped out to dinner! relays, and returned to sleep in squads, & "De 'Cosmos went on. The Speaker, 5 whom ; he was addressing himself, *f alternately dozing, snoring, and trying' look wide awake. Day dawned, and $ majority slipped out in squads to Tf*» and "breakfast, and the Speaker still on'. '*' It cannot be said it was a ve? logical, eloquent, or sustained There were digressions in -it, also. But still the speaker kept on, at lajst noon came to a baffled majority rage and impotence, and a sing' l was triumphant, though hi voice had sunk to a liusky whisper, hi eyes were almost shut, and were bleare and- bloodshot, his legs' tottered unde him, and his baked lips were cracked a'j smeared with blood. De Cosmos y| spoken twenty-six hours, and saved W settlers their lands ! • I