POLITICAL NOTES.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12407, 24 November 1908, Page 4

POLITICAL NOTES.

Sir W. J. Steward escaped, bavinj? to submit to a second baJlofc l»y 12 votes. If six of his supporters haU voted for Mr P.- H. Smitb, Sir William" would not hare had. an absolute majority.- --; Barbed rejoinders by Mr Fisher to the 5 salliea of a.:few dist.urber9 of his meeting at the Wellington Skating Rink caused mucti amusement. . ; : ' Mr Fisner had saia tnat: tbe need of ibe present time in Parliament was' not only ?a representative who could, vote, but a representative who could talk, and moreover,, a representative who would talk. ' "Why, a parrot can talk, " cried one interjector. . • 8" Yes, I oaD near one now " was the prompt reply. "You understand the languege pretty well." , ,"Yes, I have heard you before." "I only want to say- "remarked Mr Fisher later on. ,• "Hislop'a i; someone'replied." "The soup," completed Mr Fisher. Labour and the present Government, according to Air A. L. Uerdman, are divorced. He tolrf an audience. tbat "the present administration puts Labour on one side. When Labour comes along the Government shrugs its sboulders; when Labour meets the Government the Government closes its eyes or lifts its chic, and when Labour speaks the Government tieats it with derision. " :* Some good entertainment'was'pro;Vided'at the close of Mr A. E. Atkinson's meeting in Wellington the otbertiight bj tne heckling to which he waa subjected by a few Socialists. "Wbat do you tblnk of Sooiali3m?"was the comprehensive enquiry of one ingenuous cross-examiner. It was well past 10 o'clock, and the candidate's first reply was to ask how long the questioner waa.prepared to wait to listen to' the answer. It wes, be 'said, 'certainly not a. question that could be answered monosyllabically "Yes" or "No." The questioner insisting with some warmth that he was entitled to suoh an answer, the candidate said, "Well,' you ask . me what I think of Socialism, and want me to answer 'Yes' or 'No. ' - You can have which you like and neither will do you much goori. " The interrogator saw that he had been fairly "had, " and joined in the general smile. ' ' Mr Atkinson added that he made neither a bogey nor a fetish of Socialism. Alarge part of our-most valued experiments were undoubtedly Socialistic, but it did not follow that we were to accept at aighfr any particular instahnent cf the Socialistic miUenium that any. visionary proposed. Let eacb forward Btep be measured. calmly on its merit in utter disregard of catcbing words, and a verdict returned accordingly. . . . •■