The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1904. HANDSOEF!

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLVII, Issue 12272, 5 September 1904, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1904. HANDSOEF!

Alas for the hVgliting influence of politics! How they warp and wither "the judgment of intelligent men, hamper ttho usefulness of public institutions, and turn peaceful harmony into path, etiic and humiliating chaos! So, at least, on© might reason from what sometimes happens at 'the meetings of the iocai Chamber of Commerce. At those meetings, men, some mien, shrink from politics as. from ■» plague.- Occasionally, however, some shameless miscreant, careless of the tender'susceptibilities of hia fellows, wilfully obtrudes the disQQrdant element, whereupon the imme. diateily subsequent proceedings outrival •the proverbial ruction® of the Kilkenny cafe. The latest, incident of this kind occurred "at the annual meeting of the CJhamiber on Friday night Hast. For the best part of two hours the assembled

members .sat together; in peace and con-

cord, transacting business w-lhicli, while perhaps not of vvtail importance, was at least useful and necessary. Peace, perfect peace, pervacled the commercial at. mospliere. Ev«n a knotty point of election, produced by a tie in the ballot for Council members, only served- to emphasise the fraternal harmony of the gathering, and the gentfiemanly condidateis literaTly tumbled over each other in their professed' anxiety to withdraw in each other's favour, the point, event, ual'y bang solved by recourse to a friendiiy hat and the time-honoured custom of drawing lots. Every office carried with 'it a flowery wealth o:f compliments, and every .member who took office blushed as ha listened to the cosmopolitan recital of has virtues a*nd accomplishments. The: Liberals were exceptionally liberal, not to- say profuse, in the distribution of" what in. the vulgar vernacular n S known as "butter," "soft soap," and "back scratching." "indeed, from the time the President took the chair until the last item pa the ordei paper had been disposed of, it might have been a, meetj'ng specially convened for tth'e purpose of enabling the members t<y tell each other what very fine fellows they a?l were. Then, just when these good comrades of commeirce were beginning to look significantly at. their watch, es, Mr. AS an RobiiKson .rase and quietly proposed •"•That this Chamber expresses its sympathy with the movement to enable Crown tenants to acquire the freehold of their sections if so desired, such conceisi/on being conducive to better buiainess security." There was a distinct, ly business ring .about tlha motion, and a complete disclaimer of any political intention in the arguments with which it was (presented. Nevertheless it pro.voted exceeding consternation. In; a moment, in the twinkling' of an eye, and before Mr'. Ro'biaiison had tim'etd:, realise what wa>s.the matter, the even tranquil--ity b'f: thct : proceecl:nge gave: placei to wildly ; turbulent: protestations, ; sinister threats, and gloomy prophecies. The Liberals roos as one man and declared that such a wickedJiy political motion ought, not to be tolerated for a moment. "But it isn't political in thei sense you mean," urged the mover. "If we can. not dfecu'3s important, political! questions," said the President, "we had better shut, up shop." Sttill the. Liberals refused to be pacified. PolitL'cs. they urged, were, forbidden by the rules of the Chamiber, and this wretched motion was nothing more nor Jess than a covert attack on our blessed and beneficent Go. verament. On© good Liberal threatened to resign if ,the motion was. carired, solemnly warned the President that if he aiJ&owed such a motion to be discussed it would wreck the Chamber, and concluded by intimating that, if there wais going to be a discussion lie himself would keep the floor till .midnight. In the ond th© quiet, shrewd, and level, headed country member tactfully con. sen'ted to withdraw the offendl'ng motion •for the time being, and thereby averted what otherwise might, 'have developed into a dreadful calamity. The incident was both lamentable and ridiculous. It was lamentable in that, it revealed the willingness of otherwise estimable public men to prostitute the dignity and independence of citizenship to the fetish of

party politics. It was ridiculous by rsatson of the illogical and inoonsistent at-: titude of the timorously tender politicians v.lio auised the pother. The motion i'tsefJf was unobjectionable. It toucQied" the purely comimercial aspect of a great economical principle, and •came swell wi'bhin the legitimate functions of the Chamber. What was objectionable was the action of the objec. tore in raising the "party" begey in what its, and rightly, a non-partisan orgamfsation. 1%0 fact of the matter is that these gentlemen do not '.seriously object to the discussion of political subjects, -axceipt when such subje-cts appear to carry with tihem the likelihood of avote avers© to the policy or administration of the Ministry to -which they own allegiance. Wihen, as on Friday, night, it is a case of "see what a long ■fcaHJl our cat's got, but for heaven's sake don't tread on it!" Members of tha Chamber -who are politically indspendentj or who ai'e ivilling and abiei to leave tlieia* "party" bias outride, are g-s-tting tired of this sort of thing, and some of these days they will tweak the troublesome -tail and 'hurl the intrusive.' cat off the prenraeis. The Chamber cannot exclude politics, but it can oxeludo the "party" bogey, and the sooner it does go .the :befete-r.