THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2032, 28 August 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1880.

Members of the House of Representatives are becoming dreadfully tired of the present session, and are eager to bo off per Government steamer or otherwise to the bosoms of their families and constituencies. And no wonder that a Parliamentary nausea has seized upon them. The proceedings of late in the House have been anything but satisfactory. After an unlimited amount of debate, in which the talking, if it has not been fort Men, has at least been Men fort, after weeks wasted in useless motions such as that of a want of confidence, the wind up of the proceedings has been hurried by universal consent in a most unseemly manner. Among the Bills it has been a case of " the devil take the hindermost." No time for debate is allowed. If the Bill, however important, is not carried at once, it is thrown into the waste paper basket, or at most a promise is made that it shall appear again at a more convenient season. The House sits in agony far into the mornings. The Chairman of Committee is carried out in an exhausted state on the parliamentary equivalent to a shutter. Deputations of citizens, rendered frantic lay the loss of a pet railway line, interview Ministers. An eminent individual introduces a new feature into parliamentary procedure by the great' invention of "the silent speech." No wonder, we say, that members are becoming sick unto death of the whole affair. But among all the exhausted ones stands out prominently one individual who refuses to succumb to such natural weakness. That gentleman is Mr. Yincent Pyke, member for the Dunstan. The more the session drags, the more come into the foreground, and the more important become his notices of motion. He occupies the floor of the House with unabated ardour. If, as the " New Zealand Herald" remarks, he represents no one but Mr. "Vincent Pyke, what of that ? If, as the same journal suggests, his speeches combine a maximum of flatulency with a minimum of potency, what of that? He is enjoying himself thoroughly, and after all the great desideratum is the greatest good to the greatest number, particularly when that number is number one. Mr. Pyke's silence is golden to all but himself, and there is that originality in his love of perpetual talk which has always singled out the member for Dunstan from his fellows. He has always been to the front under the most adverse circumstances. In the old days, when, with well waxed moustache, he was exploring the interior of Otago, and gaining that insight into the enormous capacities of the province which has made him run so counter to the Railway Commission's report, the perils of exploration never told on him. His reports were as flowery as those of Baron Munchausen, and the moustaches but seldom drooped from want of careful supervision. Later on, while running for the Chairmanship of the Vincent County Council, his inventive faculties never flagged, and he gained his end by a manoeuvre which would have done credit to a Machiavelli. When last year the fate of a Ministry was supposed to hang on his particular vote, ho appeared in more than his native glory, and if, after all, he again sunk into obscurity, he has amply made up for lost time during the latter end of the present session. There have always been such men in the world; men whom no possible combination of circumstances could drive from the even or uneven tenour of their way, and who import a certain effervescence into the ordinary current of every day life. Nero, when Rome was burning, fiddled. He was not to be depressed Vy the trifling circumstance that his capital was blazing. King, Stephen, tradition says, when thrown in ehains into a dungeon, danced a fandango, and not only kept himself warm, but introduced a festive spirit into his incarceration. "Liberty Wilkes" was another man of the same kidney. It is said that if he had been kicked over the parapet of London Bridge he would have turned up in the twinkling of an eye, with a new sword and a cocked hat, as fresh as paint. And numberless other gentlemen might be quoted who were superior to passing events, and, relying on their own native genins, made, as it were, their own atmosphere. Mr. Pyke is merely a modern example of a well-known class, but, we venture to say, a remarkably fine specimen. For let us look at his latest effort. After several motions, big with the fato of New Zoaland, about two days before the House rises, he gives notice that he will move an amendment in supply that the two islands be separated, that a Commission be appointed to consider and report on the allocation of the colonial debt, and that the Upper House be invited to appoint a committee to confer with a committee of the House thereupon. Mr. Pyke exhausted p Nothing of the sort. He is still as fresh as a daisy, eager for work, and panting for more opportunities for flatulent speeches. He has no wish to retire to his constituency. The charms of tho prima donna, with whom he was gallivanting during the recess, have no power to lure him from his duty. J'y sins etfy reste." He loves the floor of the House, and the meretricious allurements of beauty cannot entice him to quit it. If there were no regulations with regard to a quorum, he would remain in the Empire CHy after the departure of the other members, and would address an empty House and empty galleries on the most

momentous questions. A wonderful man! a great statesman! a thousand pities that he is so unappreciated. The reason maybe that the other members are not of the same calibre. The mountain air of the Dunstan has nourished a lusus natures, whose energy is too great'for the starveiling representatives who hail from less bracing climes.

Since the above was in type further news has been received respecting the member for Dunstan. It will be seen by reference to another column that he has signalised himself in the House in a peculiar, not to say disgraceful, manner.