FROM THE LADIES' GALLERY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 869, 16 July 1910, Page 11

FROM THE LADIES' GALLERY.

-,'■ ''JENNY WREN" IN PARLIAMENT. At last "the country and the House .have had the opportunity given.them of learning who Sir. E. A. Smith is. ■ For months the name, whether it has ... been spoken or -whether it has beep written, has had tho power of creating the greatest interest, as well as stirring up all sorts of inquiries. „Y?ho is Mr. ■Smith, and what' is his connection with the Government? 'wore questions that were disturbing, the minds of all, and hitherto the crumbs of information given by way of answer had been but scantily and grudgingly doled out. On Tuesday .after.'ioc-ii, however, tho his-, tory of his .jqiiiiection with the New . Zealand Govi.rnmont was related to a most attentive audience. -Till tho S.rirpe Minister commenced to read it, members, were in a blissful ' state of igiiqrfahce of the deluge of.cor- .'. respondence*'that was about to " overr whelm them. As the steady stream'went "on and on Che could not help wondering if it would' l not have the effect of', a lullaby in :! that heavy, heated, stifling atmosphere. .It certainly would, not have beeiv,surprising if that had been "the effect",,,instead of stimulating, the facvilties'iPl. members- to grasp tho contradictory,' facts that afterwards , came . .'into, the 'light of day. 'iy Fine Art. •••' iThe reading of. the. correspondence having reached a.conclusion, the Prime ■'Minister,,.spoke at some considerable ' length, ;Upori the matter, not forget-', ■ ting toi utter tho old accusation that ■• all.this'rfuss and; outcry had been raised for party Possibly the one ■true definition, or rather exposition, of the word .inconsistency could only be • supplied by:the New Zealand Government. They have maUo it a fine art, And oa Tuesday tho Prime Minister expotradod' it once more very fully. It was the old, old trouble of keeping knowledge that members were justly, entitled to from' them; hence all this fuss,'and trouble. Mr. Russell, in loud .- '.and'.' emphatic tones, bad a great deal to' say.'about the rectitude of,tho Government, of which he was'a supporter, and'by- doing : so drew Mr. Wright.io. .- ,'his feet,.to remind him of the days ; when-he had held forth vigorously and .constantly on very different linos. These two. meinbors do not .appear,, to have a i, soothing effect upon one another, and . '. invariably, when one rises to-speak the,. , other, challenges his statements, and rashes cheerfully into the fray. ft Chost from Last Session. '.'On .Wednesday evening a celebrated bone of contention belonging to last' session made its appearance, with ft different. This was Mr. Sidey's Bill for the exemption of the Dunedin Corporation from the necessity of investing their sinking funds in Government securities. Three times, amidst the. . ' strongest feeling, this clause of compulsion—that the sinking funds should be invested in Government, securities— had been defeated last year, but finally the Prime Minister forced it through, his flock meekly yielding to pressure. The debate promised to be exceedingly .uninteresting, but later on circumstances, speakers, and facts arose that slightly changed the current 6f the discussion. ' Mr. Luke and Mr. Fisher, ; '.' both members of the Wellington City Council held altogether dissimilar . views upon.\ the' question. Quite a wordy duel took place be- , tween them, Mr. Fisher making out a strong case. Then Mr. Wilford came upon the scene, and to the,great.delight ■ -. and revivifying of Mr. Luke,, presented b different aspect to the facts which Fisher had brought up. . Upon a "division being taken, the second, reading, of tho Bill was lost. . ' , The Bookmaker. . ' ' Mr. Sidey's Bill was not the only one J -that came to an untimely end that evening -at the hands of the Government. Mr. _Newman brought in a Bill for flio . abolition of the bookmaker, and after , three hours had been speut in keenly . debating if a motion for adjournment i was carried, which practically meant i the- deatli blow to Mr. Newman's Bill. ■] • The Premier stated that: he intended < later: on in the session to legislate < separately for both'the bookmaker and J the totalisator. Some people thought 1 ■ ' that the moment afforded by Mr. New- .'-•' man's Bill would have afforded'an excel- j ;'., lent opportunity, particularly when the ', ■ whole country is agitated over themat- j ' ter, but the ways,of Ministerial minds I . are "deep and dark." i The Contrast. . / ( "Peace, perfect peace" might well be ' said of the Legislative Council Cham-' ] ' ber, so calm,; so unhurried, so somno- < lent is the atmosphere of the place. < Compared to the House, it is like tho ( still\ backwater of some turbulent, brawl- s ing river, in which. only echoes and : 1 shadows make themselves heard and i ff 6 was a distinct shock to find i : that they engaged in tho de- ' :bste upon the Address-in-Roply on j Ihursday afternoon, but ty and by ono ' ceased to wonder at the fact. 'F rom I land and land tenure they drifted gentlv ' on te> water power and its possibilities, i and from water-power to the police . .superannuation scheme,, and from that .1 to prison reform. If it had not been 1 ; that., one member had somewhat dis- ■ SJSF* 1 « sW>te3 ' man y otner matters, : ■ whether they wore'.contained in the j Speecli from the Throne or not, would - 1 JWbably have been brought into' daylight., it is all very unlike the House. Tha Knyvett case. Anything but a restful atmosphew afternoon, apd evening, whore the case' of Captain Knyvett 'was the subject commanding all attention. The Auckland members, of course, with Mr Massey as central raUied t th cause with hardly an exception, but other members as well took their share - in the discussion, either for or against. A mass of correspondence, memoranda, official documents,, and statements o ' ITk,^ 8 L elatl - Dg t0 tho cse, were • read by the Premier tea long-suffer-ing House, that resigned, itself to the necessary evil with the best grace it corJd muster, and when that was done with, he went on to givo further in- . formation in regard to the trial. Mr • Massey, who has been throwing liimeelf into the maJter with all the energTand vehemence tliat he possesses, was somewhat nonplussed by the fact that there • .was so little time left for making n j s statement of the case, but on the' assurance of the Premier that . another day would bo set aside for private members' Bills, and that ho could therefore speak at length, ho stated facts as lie knew them, utterly denving that Captain Knyvett had had a'fair trial. Mr Massey did not hold him blameless al- : .together, but to punish him as they had'done was like hanging ifman for petty iarceny, in his opinion. As matters now stand, a clause ha-a been inserted in a Bill whici, if passed, will enable the Knyvett case to bo heard by a Court, consisting' of a Supreme ■ Court Judge and two officers of not ' lower rank that a 'coloiisl. Another Troubla. This has.'Been a week in which seveiTal matters disturbing tho public mind have been explained. First of all % there was tlie B. A. Smith affair, then the Knyvett case, and on Friday night the report of tho Civil Service Commission on the Valuation and Taxes Dement trouble, occupied the attention of members. After a great dea lhad heon read, explained, and discussed, Mr. Hall, the member for Waipawa, rose and ' »sked, to tho ' astonishment of tho ..House, "What had Mr. Heyes done that

bo had been \ dismissed from the service?" and then proceeded' to hold forth vehemently upon his past services. Mr. Laurenson- also took niuch the same point of view. Mr. Taylor made a very' strong speech regarding the constitutional rights of. tho House in rogard to tho relations <bctween tho Executivo and the House.