POLITICAL NOTES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11637, 15 August 1905, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

DANGEROUS AFFINITIES.

The House has its moods just as any single individual, .writes the Parliamentary correspondent of the Dunedin. Star. After the afternoon's stern and sometimes bitter feeling there was relaxation late /in. the evening, which, being devoted to ans-. wets tx> questions and to private members'" Bills, provided nothing of tremendous importance. When Sir William Steward's Marriage Restrictions , Removal' Bill was considered ~in committee proceedings reached a pitch of general hilarity. Tyeryone knows the antiqu^Hddles founded' on marriages between distant relatives, and the .complexities' of- relationship arising therefrom. It was on this that the fun hinged last night. It" was when Mr Flatman "was endeavouring •to point ■ out a flaw in a certain clause that the climax was reached. He tried an infinite number of times to get to the end of hia supposed case, and fiually did, though his last sentence, being almost .drowned by laughter, was inaudible in the gallery. The following is a sample: — Mr Flatman — A brother and a sister marry their cousins. Mr Wilf ord— That's bigamy 1 (Laughter). Mr Flatman— The wife of one^ > -

A Member— Which one?

Mr Flatman— The wife of one and the husband of another (Renewed laughter, and Mr Flatman beginning again:) A brother and a sister marry their cousins. Mr Taylor— Which cousins? (Laughter). Mr Flatraan — Oh, ' you go to Dunedin, and ask. (Laughter). They are cousins, and can marry under the existing law.. After the second marriage the woman dies. Mr Wilford— l don't wonder. (Prolonged laughter.) ' . N - Mr Flatman. (endeavouring to continue) — The woman dies. %

A Member— Well, she has been dead before. (Laughter). Mr Taylor suggested that as member* had lost the thread 1 Mr Flatman should repeat his statement. He might repeat. it backwards if possible. (Laughter.) Mr Flatman reiterated his supposition, and having got to the point he left off saying: Now there is on© man, in existence still— (laughter)^-and there is^ .» family. - ' Mr Wilf ord— But these two people can t marry again. (Laughter.) ' .■. ■ . Mr Flatman— Perhaps I had better start again. (Laughter.) ' ] ' Mr Taylor rose to a point of order, .which was whether there was not a Standing Order against ' needless repetition dnthe part of a member, andhon. member* fully "understood by this time that a brother and asister married their cousins. (Laughter.) " „,"-.-- .' -Mr Millar, who was in tho chair, said he thought the House" quite understood that. m . ' Mr Flatman. (resuming)— There id one man in existence. Mr Taylor — Then the woman can. hare" him. (Laughter.) - .- - ■ : - Mr Flatman (after -an interval, in wiucn lie propounded more entangling cases) Said that the husband of 'a.- married couple died — (prolonged laughter) — then the nephew. and the aunt were lef t, , and, the aunt, under the proposed law 4 could marry her nephew, who consequently became stepfather to his own cousin. (Laughter.)- ; Mr Tanner entered a plea for.the serious consideration of an important-matter, - and this was . subsequently acted on, but not before the following naive confession. from the member for- Avon: "I am not aware tha€ there are-' any. men in New Zealand who want to marry their aunts. I had two or three, some thirty . years ago. and I did not : want fa marry any of them." (Laughter.) ~ ' . .

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