AT THE TALK SHOP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2850, 28 October 1908, Page 86

AT THE TALK SHOP.

By Netta.

Who wouM think tbal through ibis little wicket gate off Lam'bton quay all New Zealand is surging by proxy these days? Who wotild think this tiny laurelshaded footpath was the open highway of the law's ma jest}-? But heve it is, furrowed by the hasting foot of gentle and simple, Minister and errand boy, and as we modestly strike tho rear of the pioccssion as it emerges fvom the garden upon the great stone steps of the temporary talk chop, we take strong heart of grace, for are we not at the Temple of Demos, built and maintained by XJb and for Us? Give way, most grave and lofty gentlemen on guard, you in the cocked hats and cad-coloured livery of state! This is Our hall, if j'ou please, and you are but here to carry our bidding to the Terra Incognita beyond, where lurks the^tehy and much-hunted! Legislator Bird. Take our word for it, most dignified sir, we have a lure that will charm him hence, md win for us the Open Sesame to the talk shop. See. it is «T€ii co. for here ho comes, beneficence beaming from his eyes and honey dropping from his tongue. The Open Sesame has been eai»l ; we are moving with the living stream in the lobby, and now eit in the very sanctum sanctorum of the State. And* our first confused impression ia that we are in a largo boudoir which pot turned into a. grammar school. Wo know that certain of our lawmakers have wept* on gazing round the straitened confines, ewc-pt of all the pictures and tokens that told of the baby da3*s of the New Zealand Constitution. We know that certain others, less tender of heart than of cuticle, fchuffling upvn the hard chains of the new regime.

have . wvept for the dream-compelling padded luxuries that perished on the Sardanapalns pyre over*, the way. But sentiment has its price; and there is a pious remnant which even hails that historic conflagration as a mild blessing, sweeping away relics and microbes at once.

For ourselves, we have no quarrel with these pure, pale walls with the ghost of a pearl-grey scroll on them, nor with the rich, dark crimson curtains that make an arras here and there. Not that scenic effect is our first thought : our regards are focus&ed on the oblong arena below us, where sit the 80 cho&en by the country. In point of fact, they are not sitting there in^ any profusion at- this moment, for a cry of "Quorum, quorum !" catches our unaccustomed ear, and somewhere a querulous voice is crying, "Sii», I call your attention to the state of the House !" And then our awe-struck gaae is turned towards the southern wall. That tall crimeon canopied chair, that grey and ghostly form sitting there, its face eeen from here as ashen grey a® the old-world wig around it — this silent memeiato mori, with eyes unlifted and head xmraised, as if in some reverie of the tombs— is that the finaj tribunal of «*is terrestrial, shifting, gladiatorial multitude below? • - ' " Members drop in from jt-he lobby, whether prodded by conscience or the whipa we Ipnow; not. Now we are #aware of a thin plashy- stream df eloquence that has not ceased since we entered. It is tjm: of Cavettshain throwing pale light on the cavernous deeps of Arbitration. After him pricks into .the fray a -livelier cavalier, Lewis-, the debonair jester of the Plains. And he is hot and serious now on the iniquity that keeps the poor employer and the poorer workman apart gazing at each other across the a-byas of the minimum wage. Time is called, and then a Wellington champion, hight Izard, holds the field for a strenuous season turning the course of battle against th^ last two. He unfurls the Libera/pennon and extols the Ministry, the committees' and all who hold by that blessed word' Arbitration! Spare, shaven, aquiline' academic— this young Knight Templar hath a. fire of zeal in his speech; and when the suave Knight Gray, from the lordly towers of Christchurch North throws in a gibe, it is as if ■eagle were heckled by a well-fed, wellpreened bantam cock. ' We are strongly aware of a grammar f !l OLO L when the mandate peals * -,l Miem bers must not talk co loudly " An illusion has hitherto peseessed us that listening W as at 2ea £ t an occasional function of the House; we drop it for ever "Ears have they, but they hear not. 1 ' in that oblong arena, crowded from end to end with email dual tables, each with its complement of chairs, elbow to elbow, each member is a law unto himsalf. Some are reading, some are writing, some are conversing, and all are more or" less rapt jin, fee comings arid goings of a certain fleetfoot Merctrry, bald, liverfed, and plump, whom we call Red-stripe. This Bed-stripo flutters hither and thither with letters, everlasting letters, and fat celestial whispers. Something electric is in. the air of the House, brought in on this soft Shetland burr that wraps a sheaf of hard ringing facts. It is the puissant Lord of Lyttelton, victor in many a heady fight, and he is all for the Radical minimum wage, and for new adjustments of new humanity's ancient burdens. Aftsr him rise many : the kindly franklin of Geraldine, holding his own with bulldog tenacity ; the " very perfect gentle knight," Sir H?rry Ell of that ilk, whose grip of ste&l is sheathed in velvet; the valiant champion of Hawera, who wanders off the Arbitration track to sigh after quinquennial parliaments, and others from the four corners of tho earth. Far off is discerned the doughty leader of the Conservative legion, whose round and rubicund countenance makes sunlight in the cold groves of Opposition. But he joins not battle tonight : he leaves the gapje in the hands of his trusty generals, the comely Lord Herries) of tha dusky north, and the gallant knight of Bruce, who thinks in de. cimals and dreams in cubic root. As our eyes undazzle yet further, we behold far off the majesty of enthroned power grouped round the subtly smiling Sphinx of Awarua, who is dumb to-night, but holds his satellites about him with a bland magnetism that can bide its time. Sheatbed, too, is the broad claymore of the M'Nab ; and the slender rapier of the courtly Hall- Jones. Later, a ringing Doric echo l allies the flagging force of the Cabinet with "a Millar! a Millar!" but neither is lie for the combat a l'outrance to-night. What concatenation of legal periods is being thrown round tLe House, clasped with a buckle of green Celtic fire? The Knight of Dunedin North holds the floor against "all that ever went with evening dress," and^aete sits a-tremble with fear. Ris«s then a stark and scornful Knight Wilfoid, of the Windy Straits, who hurls acedemios at the Houc-e through tight thaven lips ac a man heaves a stono amorij; a pick of quarrelling dogs. C'oviolanus might, Rave looked on plebeian Eon:c with siicli another patrician lift of eyebrow : "Let no dog bark; I am Sir Oracle."

But there are two who sit apart yonder whore fathers met here in korero long ere the white man's foot touched Ao-tea-loa. One i? dark, fierce, and silent. The lightning fipiiit ot unconquered Ngapulu ami of chivalrous Heke «ems to ek-cp in those tawny eyes. But the younger io gently aleit, courteously ready; ho ii&es to a point of order v. it'll a curious deprecating grace that eve± - wins along the line. Tlio boyish daik head, the round olive clieefc, the dtli-cale strong pi'ofile of purest Polyne&iaa, the rich, soft voice, the apt phrase, the winning smile — all these blend in this scion of the Eastern rangatiras, Chief Ngata. Truly, in a scenic sense, the best wine has been kept till now ; and we rise to quit the talk shop, with all its converging humanities, at peace with tbs whole worlcU