The Austrian Parliament.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8193, 23 April 1898, Page 4

The Austrian Parliament.

Mark Twain has recently contributed to Harper's Magazine a graphic account of the recent disgraceful scene in the Austrian Parliament. He has a good deal to say of Dr Lecher's great speech, on which the fate of the Government hung, and describes it as an almost superhuman effort. Dr Lecher was on his feet for twclvo hours, and during that times his friends fortified him with three glasses of wine, four cups of coffee, and one glass of beer, which, in the opinion of the genial American, constituted "a most stingy reinforcement of his wasting tissues." When he had heen speaking eight hours his pulso was seventy-two; when he had spoken twelve it was one hundred. The eloquent and (lowing peroration closed with the words: "The Germans of Austria will neither surrender nor die." The expressions used in debate were gems of politeness, and some of the moro select ones mny bo printed : — " You cowardly blatherskite, say that again;" " You'vo no business in this House ; you belong to a pin mill ;" " Contemptible cub, we will bounce thee out of this ; " " You are behaving like a street arab ; " " You arc a wholly honourless street brat ;" "I'ire the rapscallion out ; " J ' Political mountebank ;" " Drunken clown ; " " Shut up, infamous louse-brat." The curious thing, as Mark Twain observes, is that nearly all the authors of these expressions are university doctors ! The final scene appears to have aroused the writer's indignation ; " a free Parliament profaned by an invasion of brute force," he calls it. It seems to have been too serious for joke. " Sixty policemen," says Mark solemnly, "ascended the steps of the tribune, laid their hands upon the inviolable persons of the representatives of a nation, and dragged and tugged and hauled them down the steps and out at the door : theu ranged themselves in Btately military array in front of the ministerial estrode, and so stood. It was a tremendous episode. The memory of it will outlast all thrones that exist to-day. In the whole history of freo Parliaments the liko of it had been seen but three times before,"

A new industry is being started in Hastings in the form of a Bacon Curing Company, and a suitable site and premises have been obtained for a factory. Before leaving the colony Mr Bland Holt pencilled the dates for another tour of New Zealand two years houce. Profiting by his successful season in Dunedin during jubileo week, tho far-seeing Bland purposes visiting Christchurch on the occasion of the jubiloe of Canterbury. The Onehunga water supply proposal was carried at a poll of the ratcpapcrs on Wednesday, 500 votes being recorded for and one against. The proposal is to borrow £)2,00D to provide a pumping plant and reservoir at One Treo Hill to supply 1,000,000 gallons of water per day to tho surrounding districts and Auckland. The Oamaru Mail of one day last week says :— The Police Commission- adjourned in a body this morning to the house of a witness who was ill in bed, and who, it was stated, was prepared to give evidence in the charges against Sergeant O'Grady. After a hot climb up hill and down dale, the Commission and accompanying officials arrived iv a limp aiid perspiring condition at the lady's back door, and sheepishly presented themselves for admission, feeling about as comfortable as a glass of whisky in a temperance stomach. The übiquitous Mr Taylor entered the premises, while tho remainder of the Commission tried to look unconscious, and adopted a sudden interest in horticulture and cows and other available accessories. A shrill shriek from the interior horalded a storm of hysteria, and the Commssion, after a moment's startled silence, stood not upon the order of its going, but "got" at once. A rather peculiar incident happened at the sitting of the Police Commission at Timaru last Saturday afternoon. A clergyman had made a statement before the Commission to the effect that a certain hotel in the town had, contrary to the Licensing Act, a second bar opening on to the street. Commissioner Tunbridge despatched a member of the police force to ascertain whether the statement was correct, and upon the officer's return with the answer, the Commissioner aaked the clergyman if he would be surprised to hear that the bar alluded to had been closed for fully twelve months. Tho rev. gentleman replied that he would be very much astonished to hear such a thing, as ho kuew that it waa open at the present lime. Shortly after leaving the witness-box, the minister returned and a&ked to be resworn, as he had further evidence to give, and upon his request being complied with, he announced that he was prepared to produce evidence that tho bar complained of was still open, and he produced a flask of whisky winch he had out a few minutes previously purchased from the attendant at (hat particular bar. This announcement astonished the Commissioner, and other officers were immediately 6ent to report on the matter, the result being that j an information was at once laid against the publican for a breach of tho Licensing Act. The Dunedin Evening Star publishes extracts from a letter received from one of tho lady passengers by the Mataura. She writes that the steamer made the approach to Cape Pillar in the worst possible weathor — such rain as one only sees near the Strait, tremondous seas and high wind ; and, of course, besides all these, the terrible current which has always to be contended with. After the ship struck there was no panic, and the captain's orders were promptly carried out. "Tho stewards were up and down constantly carrying stores, and you would have been astounded," adds the writer, "to have seen the amount of gear that was collected to go in the lifeboats. The passengers' loss was heavy, but it was nothing to that of the officers , who all lost their entire outfit. The captain practically saved nothing but the ship's papers ; he had too much to do. AH his books and other valuables went. To give you an idea of the seas that were breaking over the ship, I may tell you that when a crew went with the captain to the wreck on the morning of the 13th his room on deck had not a vestige left in it. Parts of tho piano were washed up on the beach where wo were camping. When you realise the character of the coast on which we were wrecked, you will be amazed that our lives were saved. We shall never forget the kindness of the captain and how he looked after us, seeing that we got what clothes were possible and doing the best he could in regard to food. Ho is a regular hero in our eyes. Not one captain in a dozen would have displayed the nerve and wonderful pluck and skill that he showed in bringing' us through as he did. We had not our clothes off for five days and nights. For a few hours on the 13th we were in the very jaws of death. It seemed as though tho tremendous waves must engulf our boat."