A SPECIMEN OF THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

Colonist, Volume XXVI, Issue 3700, 3 September 1883, Page 3

A SPECIMEN OF THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

i"i FRANK?Jpiifea " write* ihl 1 Bablie Oplnidzi *: r .J_Mr■ Theophilus Daniel is not a man of 'letters, nor does he .pretend to be acquainted ; "with the abstruse theories .which, are turning, , 7 so'many heads it^ this philosophic age of : ours. Mr Daniel is possessed of a good deal : of that wisdom which is gained by practical experience He spent nearly half a lifetime"ac sea, andbence the great interest which he takes in maritime affairs. But Mr Daniel's wisdom ishy no means confined''to nautical matters. • He has managed to make himself acquainted with the internal working of a , printing office, and having failed;to make, any impresibn onthe obtuse craniurp of tha^ Treasurer by > hattering it 'with ;inlagihary; iinarline spikes and belaying pinsv'-he 'haai. attacked the Colonial Secretary,'with;..^eVi printer's >' sti.ck," Mr Daniel, in expforjlng..,; the" mazes'1 of the rickety old structur^;which" • ■ is iised; as 'the' GoV^rrimerit Printing uOffice, >!' discovered';;.'that ';the building -is unsafe for o* " 'umau-creeturs''|o r work in.*:;He..asserted,.nt thaV so far ashe; wag., concerned he j ".never- .*: knowe'd nqtHin' of fear since 'he* was 'haightj ; Veats^ hdia%Kßn it was knopked hout16£' him " at sea,";. He = also statelii that it* was ? pirinci- ■'!\ pally 911 account,of-;tHe." young ladies"jwho* i!, worked in tlae, ,printing office, that heJmpyed; ;i \ in the matter. The Hon Thomas. Dick, with, ; that'inimitabie smile;df his, which,i^ always * } j "■f?-" '"• So"chiidlike and bland,""';.",'','. l.,'\"L'. yi attempted to take a !<lrise " out of Mr Daniel,'' ; but'the old " salt "was able tb hold his' own. | Mr Daniel, .notwithstanding his solecisms, ia : a useful legislator. We are told that Crom- : well was " inarticulate," Macaulay's asthmatic hero scarcely posse&sed a book,, and Frederick the Great could not spell in any of the three languages which he habitually mispronounced. Then why should our NeTT Zealand statesmen be tied down to the dry lines of orthography, etymology, syntax, and parsody?