MR. KAVANAGH'S FIRST SPEECH IN THE HOUSE.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 542, 8 July 1869, Page 4

MR. KAVANAGH'S FIRST SPEECH IN THE HOUSE.

In the debate upon Mr M'Mahon's bill, which proposes to apply the principle of union chargeability with respect to the poor-rate to Ireland, the heaviness with which the discussion hung upon the House was relieved by the peculiar and painful interest which the maiden speech of Mr Arthur M'Murrough Kavanagh — one of the members for Carlow county — excited. Seldom has the leader of the Government or the Opposition been listened to with such breathless attention, or had riveled upon him so intently the eyes of all his hearers, as was the case on Wednesday with Mr Kavanagh. As is well known — it having beeu noticed in almost every newspaper in the country in 1866, when Mr Kavanagh first entered Parliament as member for the County of Wexford — that gentleman has not been blessed by nature with the possession of either arms or le.^s. His accession to the House of Commons naturally gave rise to much speculation and gossip at the time, and honorable members looked forward to the occasion on which he should address the House with an interest which it would be affectation to say any ordinary mortal would not feel under the circumstances. But, although the honorable member for Wexford county had on a few occasions placed notices on the paper, and duly put his questions to Ministers, he did not up to the close of the 1868 session address the House, nor had he done so in the new Parliament as member for Carlow county until Wednesday. But Mr Kavanagh sat upon" Committees upstairs, and brought his sagacity and clearheadedness to bear beneficially upon their deliberations ; and lie voted in divisions. noS by going into the lobby of the "ayes" or the "noes," but by signifying from his seat to the clerk at the table whether his sympathies went to the right or to the left as — cessante ratione cessat lex. On Wednesday, when the House had been for some two hours listening rather lazily to the familiar and combative utterances of some three or four representatives from Ireland, one of the latter sat down after delivering himself upon union chargeability, and hali"-a-do/en other Irish members' started to their legs, straining their necks to catch the eye of Mr Speaker. But the right' honorable gentleman in the chair, quietly nodding towards the Opposition benches, said — " Mr Kavanagh." The effect of the words was electrical, and in an instant every eye in the House was turned to the back seat, almost under the gallery, where the hon. member for Carlow sat, cool and collected, his papers arranged before him on his hat, and his face turned towards the chair. Opening his views in clear, well-chosen laaguase, the hon. gentleman dived into his subject, and in the course of a speech of some twelve minutes' duration exhibited an intimate knowledge of the question under discussion — which, as an extensive Irish landowner, he would, of course, naturally possess — placing before the House his own experiences of the working of the Poorlaw electoral rating system, and taking this comprehensive view of the bill before the House that it was only a fractional part of that larger and more important .question which the Government should deal with, viz. — national taxation. To his remarks the Speaker and. the Premier, especially the latter, paid great attention, and as the hon. member took off ; the upper sheet of his notes of reference from his hat, and applied himself to the uext slip, encouraging cheers came from every part of the House. At the conclusion of his speech, Mr Kavanagh was loudly cheered. Judging by the matter of his first address, and the .manner in which it was received, it may be reasonably predicted that Mr Kavanagh, who belongs constitutionally to that type of men which wins in public life, the men with large heads, deep chests, and faces full of force, will be often heard, and with advantage, :' 1 the House- of Commons. — London Star,