DEBATES ON THE AIR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22889, 25 May 1936, Page 10

DEBATES ON THE AIR

READ SPEECHES TASK OF THE WHIPS "STRANGERS" IN THE HOUSE By Bermce E. Siiackleton. ' For I dipt in the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be; Saw the heavens filled with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, drooping clown with costly bales. . . . On this "skyey" note Mr Scmple finished his speech, moved the second reading of the Transport Licensing Amendment Bill, and .unclafiped his hands. But all that went before was neither Mr Semple nor Tennyson, for, as Mr Coates later remarked in committee, " the Minister read his speech, and read it indifferently." This was disappointing for everybody. Rarely has the House been quieter than it was during Mr Semple's first broadcast, yet he himself must have wished for something to break the difficult atmosphere, difficult by virtue of its passivity. It was not an easy transition from primitive transport to " pilots of the purple twilight," and if the Opposition had been mum by design instead of by courtesy, it could hardly have been more deadly.

During the long historical survey one or two members went to sleep, and, waking, found they were still a decade or two ahead of time, and went to sleep again. . " The Minister reveals the type of mind that is emotional," said Mr Polson, when attacking the clause conferring judicial poAv.ers on Mr Semple under the Transport licensing Bill, but that remark was made when the House had reached the freer Friday morning discussions and Mr Semple had really let himself go. A BLANKET ON DEBATES.

It is, indeed, becoming increasingly apparent that the broadcasting blankets debates. It puts a restraint upon them, as though the consciousness of some other entity, not the immediate audience, adds an extra burden to the member's task. Mr Lee, mischief playing in his eyes, expressed the feeling that he ehould say, "Good evening, everybody." All the members are aware of the announcer and the mechanic at their little table in the corner. i

This aerially conveyed audience is, of course, the modern development of the privileges extended to "strangers" in the galleries, but the bringing of the outside world into the House at all is a wide departure from the ancient theoretical practice of the House of Commons. It was originally one of the chief duties of the Sergeant-at-arms to "take into custody such strangers who presume to come into the House of Commons." Visitors were roughly handled, searched, brought to the Bar, sworn to secrecy and compelled to take the Oath of Supremacy before being released. They are now, however, regularly admitted and hospitably received, but the Standing Orders providing for their expulsion may at any time be enforced, as they were on occasions during the war, when the House sat in secret session.

Naturally enough, in our own Parliament, that ring of faces, like pale pink ninepins above the balustrade of the galleries, has always influenced debates, but the extra and immeasurable audience of the radio tends now to the preparation of speeches for more genera] consumption and meticulous delivery from very full notes. Speech reading was the subject of an official ruling on the second night of the broadcast debate.

"A member may not read his speech, but he may refresh his memory by reference to notes," the Speaker said, and he auotcd from the book. AN ENTERTAINER.

These remarks preceded Mr Kyle's broadcast, not that Mr Kyle has a tendency to read , his speeches. His notes are rarely sufficient to keep him on the subject. He is not a builder of logic, nor docs he place his argument carefully stone by stone as Mr Broadfoot does; but like a wayward boy, he goes his own course. He picks up a flat stone and throws it ricochetting across the pool of the House and lifting splashes in its flight. He generally brings a spatter of interjections and has the Speaker fidgeting. " Order! Order! " " Yes, well, I was just going to say, Mr Speaker . . ." -Mr Kyle is aggrieved'. But the Chair is stern, with moderation restraining that sternness. " May I just remind the honourable gentleman

. . ." The voice breaks through rising laughter. Mr Kyle is pained, and the Speaker has risen to his feet ". . .

that he really must keep to the subject under discussion."

Mr Kyle is rarely nonplussed. He is amiable now. "Yes, well, I bow to your ruling, sir, but . . ." And he iifts his head like one of his own colts and is off again. (Mr Kyl<- has perhaps the greatest sh.d of hackney ponies south of the line. The stallion Firefly is his.) But for all his verbal sportiveness he carries heavy responsibilities as the chief Opposition Whip. Disraeli once said that the Whip should have " consummate knowledge of human nature, the most amiable inflexibility and complete selfcontrol." The essentials for this polished picture may be present in both the Government and the Opposition Whips, though they lie beneath a careless exterior, hardly so careless, it is true, in the case of Mr Broadfoot, the assistant Opposition Whip. He has the professional man's nattiness, the lawyer's way of putting his argument in the Tight place with his hands, and an unfaltering delivery. But Mr Kyle is unmindful of appearances. He looks as if he had just run in from a gallop in the frosty evening air to see what the worry -was all about. CHEER LEADERS. Nevertheless, 'he has one of the most difficult tasks in the House. With less than a score of members he has to keep his small team working. They nag the Government —that is the word —to alter a clause here, make a slight amendment there, insert a new provision, perhaps, in a Bill as it goes through. This w the service of the Opposition to f country, to Labour itself, for while 1 ■-• Opposition cannot hope to defeat a Bill, it can point out weaknesses that will make its administration more equitable nnd more acceptable to the people whom it is designed to aid. To this end the Whips must see that the debate is maintained, and when it is inclined to /lag they have often, perforce, to catch the torch in their own busy hands. This is not the custom in the House of Commons. There Whips rarely speak in debate. Their energies are s'pent in marshalling their members or in cheering them on.

And in a sense Mr Kyle is a cheer leader of the Opposition, if one may be permitted to borrow a term from American football practice. Sometimes, indeed, lie is the jeer leader. The Government has its jeer leaders too —seldom, in this case, the Whips—though the Ministers often, and latterly Mr Schramm, leaning his dark head on his hand in the front cross benches, show a lively aptitude in this direction. .

MR JORDAN’S M.P. The story is told that when Mr Jordan, the chief Government Whip, first came into the House, he began his maiden speech: “Mr Speaker, this is not the first time I have had M.P. after my name. I was in the Metropolitan Police.” When he goes to London as High Commissioner he will return to his Cockney home. In his speech one hears the Bow Bells ringing over Cheapside. He has the broad policeman’s face, the firm mouth, a capable bulkiness. Can all that lies between those London days and these latter ones of Lalwur Party leadership, Wesleyan preaching and beekeeping shrink to the feeling of a vowel in another atmosphere? Mr Jordan came to New Zealand in the same year, 1904, as the assistant Government Whip, Mr James O’Brien, came over from Australia. But Mr O’Brien’s has been an even more catholic, all-embracing education —shop assistant, miner, engineer, prospector, coal borer, engine driver and newspaper manager, He helped to establish the Giey River Argus as the pioneer Labour daily. And he looks a mild enough man. So, indeed, one might say, does Mr Savage, whom Mr Broadfoot —a mild-looking man, too —called, with more originality than most, a Tom Thumb tyrant. How hardly may one read men’s soaring thoughts simply by looking at them! But this is the attraction of the galleries —to look down and wonder. Some day we should have television in Parliament.