THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1856, 4 February 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1880.

Pboceebings in the Victorian Parliament are frequently of a character more than bordering on the scandalous. The debate alluded to in our telegram of yesterday seems to have been so lively that nothing but the use of firearms could have added to the excitement. Our own House of Representatives is not always a model of decorum, but luckily nothing as yet has occurred within its walls to in any way equal the scene that took place on the 22nd ultimo in the Representative House of our neighbors over the water. As usual the real fun commenced after the exclusion of the strangers. The process of ejocting an interloping Press and a too curious public is the ordinary preliminary of a free fight. Members probably feel that as the public do not pay for admission they should sot be allowed to stay for the farce. A Mr. Ferguson, member for South Bourke, has lately taken to dyeing his whiskers and board, but has not, apparently, doctored up the top of his head to match. The evil of half measures is evident from the fiasco that resulted. It was a joint in his harness that the eye of the enemy at once discerned. Mr. Mclntyre, member for Sandhurst, swooped down on his bare or undyed pate. The eagle, we are told in the old story, dropped a stone on the bald head of the philosopher, mistaking it for a turtle, and cracked it. But there was no mistake on the part of Mr. Mclntyre. He was determined to crack the pate of Mr. Ferguson with malice prepense. And to do so more effectually he spoke to him in a manner not usual within the walls of a Parliament House. He addressed him as " old man." " We will give you a wig, old man, to match your whiskers." A double-handed expression, that of "old man." It was either a familiar expression, in which case it was equivalent to one of contempt, or it was an allusion to his bald or silvered head, in which case it was applied to the ago of the adversary which the lattor evidently, by his using the Mexican hair restorer, or whatever the mixture might be, was anxious to hide. But whatever the state of the "old man's" head might be, thero was not the slightest doubt about his activity. Much as Idomeneus, the half-grey man, as Homor styles him, astonished the natives at the athletic sports, so did Mr Ferguson astonish the House by tho sudden manner in which he bounded from his seat and made for the place where the mace should have been. No doubt if the mace had been thoro Mr Mclntyre would have been in a bad way. A Fiji warrior armed with a native club is not a pleasant opponent for an unarmed man. But he would have been as a turtle dove com-

pared to the "old man"- armed with the mace. But unfortunately it would appear that the House was in Committee, and consequently the mace was under the table and not on it. Nothing was on the tablo but the stand, and this Mr. Ferguson, foiled in his design on the mace, endeavored to wrench from its place. Again he was baffled, and much as the Homeric heroes, when in want of a better woapon seized the nearest rock to be found handy, so Mr. Ferguson laid hands on a volume of " Hansard" and aimed a sideways blow at his enemy. But the latter was prepared. Though possibly not calculating on the sudden incursion of the warrior in his war paint of Mexican dye, he was equal to the emergency. Seizing him by the wrists ho prevented the blow from descending, cunningly diverting it on to the head of a Mr. Bent—we trust not the negro delineator —and a deadly struggle ensued on the floor of the House. But the odds against Mr. Ferguson wore too heavy, for other members had now rushed upon him and had pinned him, dyed whiskers and all, so that he could only feebly exclaim, "Let me at him," and so he was kept until failing nature reduced him to a state of collapse. The sequel of the story is thus told in the telegram:—" The Chairman of Committees reported to the Speaker the case as one of gross disorder, and the Speaker intimated that he insisted on exemplary punishment if officially informed of the details of the disturbance. Mr Mclntyre pleaded for the lenient treatment of Mr Ferguson, and the House agreed that the matter should not be reported to the Speaker, whereupon Mr Ferguson apologised." The outrage, it appears, was keenly felt on both Bides of the House, and the lenient treatment received by the irascible Mr Ferguson has been resented by a section of the public. But the ordinary reader will reserve much of his sympathy for that gentleman. To be called " old man" and to be chaffed about one's personal defects is not tha sort of thing to be expected in the first Council of a people. Mr. Ferguson although what we may call his floral ornaments were in a bad way, is in all probability an honest and hardworking legislator, and possibly entered into Parliament and dyed his whiskers without any suspicion that he was laying himself open to gross personalities. The main feeling that must crop uppermost on hearing of the fracas will naturally be one of sorrow that such a scene should be at all possible. The morale of a House must be very low when language of such a tone can be used. Popular indignation may be felt against Mr. Ferguson, but should not some part of it be directed against his opponent ? The American Congress was at one time the arena of similar scenes. That House has put the abomination behind it, and now conducts its business in a more orderly fashion, to the credit of the members and the benefit of the nation at large. Let the Victorian House take a lesson. All members of

the Empire must be grieved at the occurrence alluded to. Much is written and talked about the future of the British colonies in Australia. Victoria claims for itself the lead in matters political and social, but are such scenes the fruits of any such intellectual superiority? Other houses conduct their sittings, comparatively at least, in decorum, but we find the floor of the Victorian House converted into a bear-garden. unQra v mr<* XOQSS auo"r%gshftidn re'the exclusion of strangers bear any practical fruit ? Scandals occur, but they are not thus hid from the public eye. The presence of strangers appears to act as a check on the vivacious spirits of the more rowdy among the members, and it is difficult to see what good is done by removing that check.