NOTES FROM THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1952, 23 July 1891, Page 32

NOTES FROM THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

•"Winter's

By Atjtolyctjs. A. snapper up of unoonaidered trifles. — ' Tale." No. IV.

The innuendoes and recriminations of the Financial debate, now things of the past, are embalmed in Hansard to pass down the dim rista of ages as history of a time when countries were beginning to be ruled more;by numbers than by brains, . The debate as a whole has been a miserably poor one, most of the speakeis showing an incapacity to grasp the larger principles which should have engaged their attention. The dreary flood of talk has, however, been relieved by one or two flashes of eloquence, and by the vagaries of some of the parliamentary jesters. Good bless them, and long may they live — the jesters, I rneaa. They are fish to the net of a snapper-up of nnconsidered trifles, like myself, and dispel that air of somnolence which occasionally settles down upon the House. If there is anything exciting going on the jesters are sure to come to ,the front. The last excitement we had was that little episode concerning the liberty of the press. I happened to stroll into the House on the eventful afternoon when the first act of the Breach of Privilege Comedy was played. There was an unusually large attendance, and Mr Jackson Palmer, the hero, bell-toppered and beautiful with the Bufferings, albeit, beatific, look of a martyr, moved about the chamber conversing with friend and foe, while members (and Government supporters, in particular) endeavoured to work themselves up into a state of righteous indignation at the awful temerity of the leader writer of the Wellington Evening Press. Mr Taranaki Smith was in fine form, and treated the House to one of his Jack-in-the-box speeches. He advocated the establishment of a parlimentary vocabulary so that members would know exactly what words to use. Proceeding with his remarks, he referred to a statement that had been made about certain members of Parliament who, while travelling in a railway train, behaved in so disgraceful a manner before ladies that they thought "Bellamy's" must be on board. The man who made that statement should, he thought,.' be obliged to prove it, or suffer the consequences. So far as he was concerned, he had seen nothing about the 'Ouse but what was of the very best order. At this point Mr Taylor chimed in with a loud " 'Ear, 'Ear ; " but Mr Smith requested him •« not to • 'Ear, 'Bar,' too quick," for there had been one exception, and that was on an occasion when a member had used filthy language in the lobby in his " 'earing." As to Bellamy's, he had been told ifc was something "'orrible," but was agreeably disappointed, and would go back to his constituents and remove that erroneous impression.

Mr Taylor, who since Mr Smith's advent has had to take a back seat and be content with the position of underrjester, must needs also have a •• chip in." Solemnly taking off his white hat, he rises to the occasion, and, beating the air with a pen, he throws out a suggestion. As to the charge itaelf, he remarked, he was not " agoin' to say anything about it." " Mind you," he said, with a knowing wag of his head, •♦ I 'aye often been complimented in the press myself, but it has generally been one of those back-handed kind of compliments." Mr Reeves, as usual, pnt the fat in the fire by one of his hot-headed and injudicious speeches, causing Mr Rolleston, Mr Bryce, and Scobie Mackenzie to come down on him like three thousand of bricks. Then Mr Fisher had an innings. He wanted to know what they would do with this poor unfortunate pressman if they did call him before the bar of the House. He asked, Mr Speaker, in the language of Pinafore, if he " had a dungeon aboard," and then proceeded to give the House his own particular ideas on newspapers. In Wellington, he said, if a candidate had one paper against him, he had no chance of being elected. If he had two against him he had a slight chance, but if he had three against him he was dead sure to come out at the top.

The Speaker followed, and it really appeared as if the unfortunate publisher of the Wellington Press was going to be drawn and quartered. Some of the old stagers, however, knew better, and, while condemning the article which had caused all the row, they laughed at the idea of Parliament being able to punish the offender.

One of those outside incidents which sometimes cause a little diversion occurred during the earlier stages of tbe debate. It was before the new arrangements with regard to the seating of visitors had been carried out, that a modest plebeian strolled into the great wooden building, and, getting somewhat bewildered as to his longitude and latitude, eventually " brought up," as the sailors say, in the gallery, which is specially set apart for the Lords. He had just sat down in a comfortable seat, and was taking a casual look at the Burronndings when one of the attendants tapped him on the shoulder and quickly had him transferred to another place.

This incident was capped by a similar but even more ludicrous one on the following day. The victim on this occasion coolly walked into the ladies' gallery, which was unoccupied at the time. He glanced about him, evidently pleased with the large amount of space so considerately placed at his disposal. As he took a seat there was a titter from down below, and as the intruder unwound his comforter and proceeded leisurely to divest himself of his overcoat the titter increased to a laugh. He became a little nntesy at this, but his doubts were set at rest by a "gentleman in blue "who tapped him on the shoaldar, and forthwith ejected him from tbs