PIGEONS IN THE HOUSE

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 20, 24 July 1945, Page 6

PIGEONS IN THE HOUSE

There are features of the construction of the exterior of Parliament House which pigeons have found delightful as homes, and as a result there is a fairly considerable flock of Parliamentary pigeons. Not infrequently during the afternoon sittings business is conducted to the accompaniment of cooing pigeons on the ledges outside. INow and again one or two find their (way through an open window into the (chamber itself. This happened yesterday. Possibly under the influence of the springlike touch in the air two pigeons became a little bolder than ; iusual and were found flying about inside the chamber a few minutes (before the House was due to sit. The iefforts of a staff of orderlies to get them outside had no other effect than to make them more confused than ever, and they did several circles of the chamber before finally alighting on a ledge immediately above the Press Gallery. They stayed for rorayers and the preliminaries, and then departed through one of trie -windows which had been opened all around the chamber as a hint to then\ to be off. One member of the Opposition, obviously thinking of roosting chickens, was heard to ask just before Mr Speaker entered, :, whether they had anything to do with the Dunedin SSTorth by-election.