THE SPEAKER OF THE QUEENS LAND HOUSE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1021, 10 December 1883, Page 2

THE SPEAKER OF THE QUEENS LAND HOUSE.

What manner of man the Speaker of the Queensland House of Assembly is may be gathered from the following supplied to the Argus by its Brisbane correspondent :—“ The first act of the new Parliament, the election of a Speaker, caused a shock to the whole colony. Mr W. H. Groom, the member chosen, is the oldest member in the House, and he has sate mtinuously for Toowoomba for over twenty years. Though not an able man, and an exceedingly narrow and unscrupulous politician, he has acquired much influence both in nd out of Parliament. vn the floor of the Assembly bis intimate knowledge of Parliamentary business, glib tongue, and thorough acquaintance with the history of Q icendand roll tics, mike him a formidable opponent. Out of it and in his own district of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs (the oldest and most extensive farming district in the colony), he has bui t up an unshakeable influence, partly by genuine servicer rendered to the selectors in their long struggle for existence against the squatters, and partly by his habit of assisting every supporter and possible supporter who has an axe to grind on the public grindstone. He also owns a widely-circulated county newspaper called the Tooivoomba Chronicle, which is well got up and interesting, but which is probably the most audaciously ‘unreliable’ journal, in regird to political men and affairs, in the Colony. But Mr Groom was a convict, twice, if not three times convicted, and always for offences that were not merely breaches of law, such as poaching, military insubordination, and so forth, but were crimes of dishonesty, and in themselves disgraceful. This fact, though it did not prevent Mr Groom from being constantly elected for Toowoomba, has debarred him from holding any political office, though he has often tried for it. In 1874 xMr Macalister is said to have promised him a seat in the Ministry, and then excused himself on the ground that the Marquis of Normanby had intimated that he would not receive a tainted man in Government House. Mr Groom swallowed his chagrin, but began immediately to undermine the influence of the Macalister Government and the succeeding Ministries formed by that party—the party to which he had always belonged. Towards the end of the time, when the Liberal Ministry was under Mr Douglas, Mr Groom threw off e en the affectation of being a candid friend, and actively assisted the Opposition led by Mr M‘llwraith. In the general election which brought about Mr Douglas’s fall, Mr Groom threw all his influence into the scale in favor of Mr M'llwraith, and with his then friend and ally, Mr P. Perkins, did a great, deal to secure a majority for the late Premier. Par this service Groom expected a seat in the M'llwraith Ministry, and was furious when he saw himself passed over and Mr Perkins chosen in his stead. I need hardly say that from that time Messrs Perkins and Groom have been politically divorced, and ha'e hated each other with the intensity of rival lovers. Mr Mcllwraith offered Groom tho Chairmanship of Committees- a position which he sullenly declined. From that time he became one of the most virulent opponents of the late Ministry, and worked last September with frantic energy to secure Mr Griffith’s triumph. This time it was generally understood that Groom would be offered a seat in the Ministry, and it came with a genuine shock when he was proposed for Speaker. Mr Griffith was trembling in every limb, and his voice distinctly quivered when he made the nomination. The scene that followed was indescribable. Sir Thomas MHlwraith, in opposing the nomination, went straight to the point, and begged the House not to inflict such a disgrace on the country as to place an ex-convict in the Speaker’s chair. The Treasurer (Mr Archer) followed in the same strain, and both reared to a charge of dishonesty preferred against Groom three years ago, and examined by a committee of the House, asserting that if it had been tried by a Court it might have broqght conviction on Gro un’s head. The majority remained forthe most part silent, aod the more respectable portion of them looked thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Mr Garrick made an appeal for mercy, urging that Groom had purged himself of his

crimes, which were committed over twenty-five years ago. Groom sat listening with a fixed smile on bis face all the time. When it came to the vote one member of the majority, the Hon, B. B. Moreton, the younger son of a good English house, walked outside the bar. The sitting closed in a tumult of angry feeling-”