BREACH OF PRIVILEGE CASES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4892, 18 September 1901, Page 3

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE CASES.

The "Lytfleton Times" commenting on the Breach of Privilege cases which have exercised the attention of Parliament during the past week, says :—: — Offensive and absurd as was much of the discussion on the Danedia " Star " case, Parliament did not commit itaolf to anything quite so undignified and petty as the motion which Mr Hornsby attempted to move, Mr Pirani might well have treated the attack with indifference, but we hope that bis resurrection of a five-year-old incident will help members to realise the futility and silliness of the childish wranglings. The case of the Dunedin " Star " was important only because ie involved, incidentally, the question of opening all Parliamentary committees to the Press, and that might have been disposed of in a few brief sentences. Two days were wasted in purposeless personal recrimination, and in tbe end tbe House imposed a fine of £15, an absurdly small price to demand of the " Star " and its enterprising reporter for the excellent advertisements they have obtained. The sooner the whole incident is buried and forgotten the better it will be for Parliament and the country; certainly, no member of the House of Representatives has cause to congratulate himself on the part he playod in the farce. We hope that the House will take steps to prevent a repetition of the sorry spectacle by opening the proceedings of all Parliamentary committees, except those whose business is necessarily secret, to the Press as is done, we believe, by the British House of Commons. The committees, of course, would retain the right' to exclude the reporters at any stage of an investigation, so that timid witnesses would be fnlly protected. This, it seems to us, is the only sensible Course to pursue. The public interest would be consulted, and tbe temptation to members to give away the evidence and to Pressmen to receive it would be removed. But this result could have been arrived at without the waste of two days in disoussion that was largely personal and irrelevant. And, apparently, Mr Hornsby and Mr Pirani are determined that tbe country must endure some fresh wranglings over forgotten breaches of privilege, but we trust that the good sense of members will save us from another day of the humiliating spectacle.