ABOUT PARLIAMENT

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11482, 2 September 1915, Page 4

ABOUT PARLIAMENT

NOTES FROM THE GALLERY. BITTER. | | (By Telegraph- Special to the " Star.") I ' \vi-;fj.i:\(.;iqx. La.M. _ < The IK par,: ;ent of .Virieuku.v is Making a , ,it can t:i i>- ( v ■ the j high' ivput;n i>.a «,•; New Zealand but- | j tor at trie other o:nl of tin; ivori.l by i jookuig al'u.'i lie (punity o! t?n■ shipi menis at tr.i< cid. i.Juc it would .«oi;/ii. from what v. ;•„> .-.Uilo-i m lb.' Jlou.se by [ several monitors thi.% uli-.-r.nnn. that j one effect oi ;M vigilance ,s to divert a j good deal of inferior butler into the j local market. During the last mouth j or two numbers of boxes, that have failed to gci. past tho ; rubric rr at the ; "hipping poi u, lnu'i; r<uiilli their w.iy j into the. hand's of the reiaJierv and been j sold over the counter at current rates. J Thcro appears to be no means of protecting the consumer from this part-icu- \ hir form of exploitation, but. with ihe J new season's butter in view, the pru- > dent housewife vili devise some means j of protecting j THE PARTY OF ONE, j Mr James M'Combs, the member for Lyttelton, is afflicted with a faculty for fault-finding which must inevitably lead him into the desert of political isolation. He suspects everyone, except, of course, the member for Lyttelton, of conspiring with the enemies of the common weal. Last night he siig- j gestcd, iu many words, that the , Speaker had been guilty of an unex- j ampled impropriety in allowing the , House to adjourn shortly after nine i o'clock without .giving hnn an oppor- j tunity to join in. the debate on the j Financial' Statement. And' ho would) have carried his grievance to a di- i vision had not Mr Lang chivalrously J reminded him that by doing 60 he j would lose his right to speak at all this i afternoon. He "caught the eye'' of the Speaker early, and for his full hour he poured out complaint upon complaint to a sadly, indifferent House. VANITY, ALL IS VANITY. The burden of Mr M'Combs's lamentation was that the National Government, like the Reform Government and the Liberal Government before it, was reserving all its kicks for the poor and all its ha'pence for. the rich. No good thing could come from either of the " amalgamated " parties. They both were simply the tools of the capitalist, the monopolist, and the exploiter, arid the only hope of the country lay in the Labour Party, and so on and so on The late Mr T. E. Taylor could hav* talked like this if he had ben so inclined without wearying .his hearers, because he had a nice sense of humour and of proportion, but the member for Lyttelton failed eveu to hold the Attention of the members of his o>vn party, or to provoke a single protest from the Ministerial benches. The spech missed fire. A CANTERBURY TRIO. The evening sitting was occupied by a Canterbury trio, -who, while frankly critical, were much less censorious than their colleague from Lyttelton. had been. - , _ - , Mr Witty offered a number of sng- I gestions in regard to taxation with ft view to placing the burden emphatically on the right shoulders, and Mr Anstey spoke with his customary good sense on a number of matters specially affecting the interests of the farmers. Dr Thacker took credit for having brought about the reforms at the military camps, and was supported by "Hear, hears" from what used to he the Opposition sidb of the House. There can ba ho doubt that the doctor scored heavily in this matter, but the suspension of party warfare nas deprived him of some, of the kudos he otherwise would have obtained.