DIGNITY OF PARLIAMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12214, 2 August 1910, Page 5

DIGNITY OF PARLIAMENT.

,-■♦../ r-r-r :■ ■ ■■•;-• (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) The good.* old, "fusty, musty." dignity of Parliament se#m&.. to be pn.-thp waijfe nowadays, especially m regard .to the popular Chamber, the House of Repre.sentatives. Probably this is the outcome of the broadening of the franchise, the increasing of the . honorarium, and.. tJje consequent introduction, into; politic^ .ox a different chvss,, of politician. One, feature ,of , , Parliarnentary. etiquette tluty 1 has distinctly diminished is m" the.n.iat>s tcr of courto^yi|ig\to the ','ciiair" that was formerly religiously • observed . Menv, bers on entering.br, leaving, tlje Chamber were wont,. to bo\v ! rqverehtly to thxj Speaker, and. again on crossing the Hooji i of tlie House. Many of tha.iiewor niem ; bers are apparently unaware of this, whilst even the,^iaer . Parliamentarians seem to have .forgotten ,the good ole( custom. Familiarity is also, growing 1 upon the members , of. the House m an; emphatic manner. The- Speaker rebuk^ ed the senior ;'. Government . M'hip . l.ii«l'' week for his noisy interjections, but t ! he House , soon, reverted back again to \\fls old order ,of things. . This was, parti- . ciilarly so on lViday night. Ministers, and. private,, members alike were cormtjari offenders. The leader .fit, the' Oppositipnj for vinstance, interjected whilst the Htin; T. iiacken.£ie -held the floor, "Oh, a^-e yery .njijijappy,.. Tom." Not long afteij the, Minister. ,wa,s equally familiarly addressed by. Mr Davey, who v cabled, . out, "Speak, up, Toro ; . : we .can't hear' • -,yoti! oyer ;. herq.", . The .member for K'gmont, like qfher speakers, was sub- . jected to o, fire of interjections from,, Mi i Hanan. '"Oh^ leave .liim alone, ' Joe," ; cried out Mr • Cnjviri across .sftveral rows of benches. Eamilia'rity, "it i« sit id]' breeds contempt, and one wonders where it is going to stop. "