A REMARKABLE NIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. (M. A. P.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 79

A REMARKABLE NIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. (M. A. P.)

—A Trial of Strength.—

I was one of the unfortunates whom a sense of duty dragged to Westminster ■when I would mucb sooner have been elsewhere ; and, familiar as the scene which met my eyes is to me, it did not cease to excite in me that surprise which I always feel when I se© human beings doing- something very senselessly, and which they know themselves also to he quite senseless. Often I think as I ponder on social arrangements and conventions that nothing in this topsy-turvy world is _so strange as the fact that we are ail wearing chains that gall us, and that at the same time are our own creation. This is the thought that is uppermost in my mind when I see the closing hours of a parliamentary session. I wondier now how it was th<H men were able bo stand parliamentary life as it used to be in days when I first entered the House. In those ciiays 3 o'clock in the morning was considered a comparatively dficenb hour for ■ending a sitting, and "men wcud liujrh

aloud if a member, rising at 1 o'clock, were w> speak of that as a late hour. Nowadays, however, membeiis are very much chaiigad, and it is very difficult indeed to get them to consent to a sitting v. hich lasts as Lite as 5 o'clock in the morning. Jsut sometimes, when parly feeling runs high, and when there saem.s a chance ot getting the Government out of office, it is impossible io keep oil" these high flights, which are rather a test of muscle than of bvoin. ICach f-ide is determined to show how resolute it is ; and the only method the House of Commons has yet for giving expression to this feeling is for the two sides to free which can stop out of bed for the longest time. If it were a long-distance walking match for which we were elected to the House of Commons I could quite understand this form of parliamentary tactics, but as it is, it never makes any appeal to' me.

— As Things Are. —

"Nor, indeed, does it t« any sane man, or, I might say, to any man, sane or insane. I have often warned my readers fthout the supposition that an all-night sitting is an exciting business to those who are taking part in it. It may read very exciting in the newspapers the following morning, especially when there are some of those breezy interruptions' that make such good copy. But, as a matter of fact, nearly every man in an all-night sitting is heartily sick of it, and is anxious for the moment when it will come to an end. Sx>eeches are repented in the newspapers which are certainly delivered, but as certainly are not heard. You read some very angry and, piovocative language in the course of one cf those sittings. Beginning with % the profoundly false idea in your mind that throughout such a sitting thiere is an electric atmosphlere of excitement, you actually crane to the conclusion that this language excites outbursts of violent animosity on the other side; as a matter of fact, what happens is that the speech is delivered in a" feeble voice by the orator ; that the men on the benches' Opposite are for the most part stretched in nonchalant and tired attitudes; and that they ao?e far too tired and far too bored to take the 'east, notice of anything the unfortunate orator is saying. If any man does rise to the height of a loud interruption, the House is startled by his energy, and usually bursts into hearty laughter.

— Too Tired to Cheer. —

This is what happened the other night. The Liberals and the Irish member? had determined to make a final effort to defeat the Government. Another defeat would have meant the resignation of Mr Balfour, doubtless to his relief, for I cannot help thinking that he enjoys the present situation just as little as anybody else, and that he sticks to office because he thinks he is bound in duty to do so — indeed, when I look at him during these closing hours of this session and at C.-8. , I often ask myself if there be anything in the world which is such Dead Sea fruit as parliamentary ambition. Both these meai look more tired than anybody else m the House; their complexions are pasty and

white, they walk with languid s-tep, they are evidently thotoughly and completely nut of cond'tion. But they are tied to the stake of their positions, and they can no more escape irom this killing work of long

hours and bad air than can the poor

wretch •who waits in the cell for the arrival of the hangman. Well, the Irish and' the Liberals had made up their miuds to make a final a.ttempt to dismiss Mr Balfour from

his heavy task. They took elaborate precautions, but not elaborate enough to conceal their proceeding's from the enemy. It is one of the mo-st absurd things in the

world to think that j-ou can keep anything secret in the House of Commons for even 24 hours. Still, the Conservative newspapers contained reports of what was coming on Tuesday night in their issues of Tuesday morning, with the result, of course, that there was a huge array of Unionuist nrembeirs, and that they found it easy to defeat the tactics of the. other side. But I was surprised to find that everybody took it goodrfiatuiiedly. Usually, if there has been an elaborate attempt oi this kind to break up a Ministry, and if the attempt fail, there are loud' and insulting sboute of triumph from th© party that has escaped defeat. But there was nothing of the kind on Tuesday night of last week. It is true that there were some loud shouts from the Liberal benches when the Government majority went down to 30, but there were no counter-shouts from the other side, as is usually thte case ; on the contrary, they remained silent and dead. The explanation is simple : they were too tirod to cheer.

— Youthful Exuberance. —

But, as I Lave said, a shout of triumph excites good-humoured laughter in. such a situation, and this is just what occurred. One member, either because he was young, or because he- had been dining, or because he was angry at being kept out of bed, indulged in a loud, shrill cheer. Everybody in the House, including his own friends, burst cut into one of the loudest laughs I have ever heard in the Assembly, snd the member was so abashed at the t,umu!t he had created that he silently hid himself 'behind the backs of some of his friends, and ma« seen and heard no more. But m spite of fatigue, the struggle went on for hours after this firct division. Young members like Mr Winston Churchill and Major Seely got up and mad© strong attacks on the ineptitude ond wickedness of the Government ; but though their language was strong, nobody minded them. Swift M'Neill, who is always ready to overflow with eloquence and exuberance, sounded flat and. tame, although ha was saying strong things, and although, he waved his amis in such, a way as to suggest that be felt deeply. And the House remained silent, stolid, tired, too- weak to cheer, too weak to resent, strong enough only to M-onder what inauspicious stars induced them to enter upon a life so full of anxieties and fatigue as that of the member of Parliament when the dog days have come^and the session is expiring. But that is how we rule tine greatest of Empires. Some day, I suppose, ire shall get sense. — T. P.