FROM THE LADIES' GALLERY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 876, 23 July 1910, Page 11

FROM THE LADIES' GALLERY.

"JENNY WREN" IN PARLIAMENT. On Tuesday evening the Financial Statement was read to the House by the Prime Minister. It is not every day that Budgets are to be heard, arid to mark'.their appreciation of such a deep and thrilling occasion a large and interested audience (at least as large' a one as circumstances would permit), had gathered in ' the galleries and prepared theinselves to listen: with breathless attention to the weighty utterances that fell .from'the Prime. Minislips. Standing room, even in the iadies' gallery was evidently something to . be thankful for—at first—arid even the , gallery formerly .adorned by tho "Hansard" staff, but now- reserved "for the wives or relatives of Ministers, and usually so empty, held on this occasion an unusual, nuinber of interested -■ onlookers.. . .... . . . ■ . They are.not exhilarating things, Budgets, and allow no scope for oratory or pretty phrases, although the Prime Minister .did.try, to infuse.a. leavening, of cheerfulness at the end of the reading by exhorting, all, as public.men, to have trust in tho' future ; of New Zealand, and to keep "hope aud courage" before them as their watchwords. A Mark-time Budge;. .. . ■ > ; Compared to the Budget of last year, and .the propoEals.it contained, this one of 1910 is as water is to, wine. Perhaps just as wellinsome respects, as many sessions like the last one, when members had' to consider such farreaching proposals as compulsory military training, land proposals that nearly ended in bringing about civil war in the House, how to pay for oiir ' Dreadnought, and other difficult conundrums, might seriously impair the lives or min,ds of our representatives. Ari interesting feature of this Budget was the proposal to create a sinking fund for tho extinction of our national debt, but it gives plenty of exercise to one's imagination aud one's faith. It would be a most strange, a most unbelievable Budget, if it did not have a large loan proposal. Cautious people may shake'their heads and talk about the lightening speed with which wo'arc gaily piling up the national debt. "Away your starvelings, you stock fish, your tailors' yards! Oh, for breath toutter what is like you!" is probably what Sir Joseph would lovo to say to these offenders against his great financial operations, but instead, with great self-control, he puts it in somewhat different guise.. After the reading was at an end a discussion arose as to when the debate upon it should commence, tho Prime Minister, in his great anxiety to "get busy," proposing to begin on Friday.. In the end it was decided that Tuesday, should' see the commencement of it, but without the details of revenue and expenditure (which goes under the heading of Bl), and the Railways Statement, that Mr. Massey asked for.' The House then adjourned—possibly. to .have nightmare dreams of Budgets. . ! There are many, many, things that members wish to know, and Ministers must sometimes have a difficult task in answering tho numorous and persistent inquiries that assail them in such shoals, and on ' every possible subject. On Wednesday afternoon answers to questions were distributed, but judging from the number that followed one another in quick succession, tho answers were riot entirely to their satisfaction, and they still thirsted for further information. Diplomacy is most valuable, but sometimes it leads into slippery places or quagmires—with some people. "The Lords." It must have been.rather interesting, for those members of the Legislative Council who happened to be in the House when tho Legislature Amendment Bill was introduced by Mr. Russell, the member for Avon, on Wednesday evening. No doubt the fact that tho.House of Lords at Home has been and still is fighting .with its back to tho wall for its political existence, its powers, its privileges, and its personality subjected to a merciless and frequently prejudiced criticism, has had tho effect of drawing attention to the position in New Zealand. Mr. Russell's Bill provided that members of the Upper House should be elected by the people on the same franchise as membors of tho Lower House, instead of being nominated by the Executive as nt present, and tho number be half that of the House. It could hardly havo been a gratifying thing to be told that "it would be a wild stretch of imagination to suppose that the country at large would elect the present mombers of the Upper House." It was unkind of Mr. Anderson, the member for Mataura. .Tho Primo Minister's attitude was apparently one of negation. He did not wish it to.be thought that ho was against practicable reform, ''<; tliil not, favour tho principlo of tho Bill, but ho would not oppose the second reading of it. Surely, Sir Joseph would havo mado an ideal Grand Vizier to an Eastern potentate, for the Illustrious Highness would never havo known what he meant; so usoful a covering are words, at times. War to tho Knife. The one burning question of late has been the necessity for the reform of gambling legislation, aud uothing has been spared in the way of protests and appeals. Whilo tho totalisator. has come in for its share of public odium, by far tho greater part of it nil has been, directed against the- bookmaker, and ho has been banned with "bell, book, and caudle" with but few voices raised on hi« behalf, On Thursday

afternoon, when the gaming resolutions brought down by the Government came up for consideration, members discussed them fully and freely, while crowded galleries followed the proceedings with the closest attention. Outside tho gallery doors crowds of disappointed men, for whom there was .not a spare inch of standing room inside, waited disconsolately about in tho hope that some of tho more fortunate individuals inside might by some lucky chance bo called away. If duty did call them it called deaf cars that afternoon and evening, however. "Distinctly Educative." Tho greatest diversity in the way of views, and reasons for holding those views, was expressed and, as one member remarked, tho debate was distinctly educative. It was! Any casual listener in the House that afternoon and ovening could not have failed to have come away with a store of knowledge considerably added to; also, if they ever held a contrary opinion that men were even more illogical than women when arguing upon matters in which they are deeply interested. Even Mr. Hardy, the member for Selwyn, who does not often raise his voice in a speech, but who for all that works very, hard, could not resist the call of battle, and, rising to his feet, vigorously denounced the bookmaker and' his ways. Mr. Hardy can Bo very warlike upon occasion, and his sides to the House when it interrupted him once or twice were very straight, and thoroughly enjoyed. Mr. Stallwortliy, the member for Kaipara, created quite a sensation. in tho House. It was as though a nice gentle inoffensive tortoise had suddenly run amok upon Lanibton Quay, and charged all the policemen that ornamented its footpaths, so startling were his fury and, denunciation. Heatedly he defended his action in voting for the Bill containing the bookmaker clause in 1907, as a matter of expediency, and drew a dreadful picture of how, up till then, he had seen the streets of Auckland lined with "bookies" and'their pencils. That was removed now. It was an unsympathetic House that he spoko to, and sceptical, too. "Let those who havo ears to hear, hear!" he exclaimed dramatically to Mr. Buchanan's ironical cry of "Can't hear." . On Friday night, when discussing'the Imprest Supply Bill, Mr. Laurenson, in defending his cherished Government and all its works from whatever attacks had boon made upon it, wandered very far afield—indeed, it might , bo said that ho ran amok, abusing the Public Service Board and' everything else that the Opposition party upheld. Mr. Fisher, who rose to reply to him, did not treat him at all tenderly in reminding him of all his former aspirations and pro-' fessions, and succeeded in making Mr. Laurenson very angry indeed.