WIGS IN PARLIAMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22099, 1 November 1933, Page 10

WIGS IN PARLIAMENT

NEW SPEAKER'S DECISIONHONOURING TRADITION. ( When Mr Blackburn, the newly-elected Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, decided to wear a wig, he tell in,to line with tradition which has never been broken in the Parliament of his State. '■ The tradition has not been preserved in the Commonwealth. Parliament. Mr C. M'Donald, the first Labour Speaker, abolished both the : wig and the mace. The mace, the symbol of authority, was restored by Mr M'Donald’s successor, Sir Elliot Johnston, and it has remained;.but the wig disappeared for a period again when Mr Maain became Speaker. Even . the President of the Senate,' Mr Givens, sat for a time without a wig. but when his allegiance to Labour faltered he adopted the wig. One or two wigmakers in Melbourne were considerably annoyed some years ago (says the Argus) by a statement that all wigs used in Australia were imported from abroad. One of them had particular reason ,for his anger, because just, as the statement was made he had completed a wig for a newly-appointed judge of the High Court", ' ■ The maker said recently that Ravenscroft, of London, had the same ■standing _ as a ivigmaker ag Worth of. Paris had as a dressmaker. Many people who desired the best wig sent to London for a 1 first-grade Ravenscfoft, but they paid for the privilege. Even an Australian-made full-bottomed wig costs £25. The barrister’s wig costs about £l2. Mr Blackburn would, for more, reasons than one, hesitate to send abroad for a wig. Not only, as a Labour man, is he a protectionist, but in these -unsettled political times it would be unwise to ,risk the delay Which importation wou d necessitate. ' '• 1 ‘-■ Various statements about the hair employed in the manufacture of wigs are made, but the manufacturer quoted said that fine horsehair was all that ;was needed. The , story of yak hair was a - mere tradition without any foundation, i For years there has been an elaborate full-bottomed wig and a gown in the room of the Victorian Attorney-general. The oldest officer of the State dogs not know who owned it originally. It has remained unworn for half. a century., The present Speaker of, the New Zealand House of Representatives wears a vig vhib io tb« «hai%