TASMANIAN LEGISLATORS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 46, 7 October 1863, Page 6

TASMANIAN LEGISLATORS.

From the Melbourne Age.

Scene.— The House of Assembly, Tasmania, in session ; the Speaker in the chair, and about two-thirds of the members present.

The Col. Treasurer: Sir, I have a letter from Mr. Hardinge, the Secretary to the Post Office, in which he gives an explanation of some evidence he had given, and which was referred to last night in discussing the report on the Post Office Savings Banks. I will read it to the House. Proceeds to read, bat is interrupted by Mr. Home: I object to the letter being read, as it remarks on a late debate of this House.

The CoL Treasurer: Oh! very well; if the House does not desire the information, I have no wish to press it upon them. (Places the letter on the clerk's table.) Mr. Sherwin: I move that the letter be read. (Cries of" Order, order," great confusion, several members speaking together. Mr, Home as is his wont, gets hold of the letter and reads it himself. Eventually the Speaker secures the document, and rends it, the universal hubbub going on the while.) The Speaker: Order. (Comparative silence.) I have read the letter, and decide that it is irregular, and may not be r*»ad. (Renewed talking all over the House, and unrestrained hubbub.) Mr. Douglas (speaking as is characteristic of the hon. member, from any part of the House except his own place): I move that the letter be raad. Mr. Gregson ; I rise to order. (Uproar.) The hon. member is out of order in making 6uch a motion. (Cries of " No, no ;" " Yes, yes." Great and unrestrained hubbub.) Mr. Gregson (addressing, not the Spoaker, but Mr. Douglas): I contend that you are out of order. You are indirectly impugning the Speaker's ruling. (Cries of " No, no;" " Yes, yes.") If you mean to do so, move to that effect, and not by a side wind try to set it asifle. Mr. • ouglas : I rise to order. I insist that the letter should be read Mr. Gregson: I rise to order. (To Mr. Douglas): You called me to order ; state your point, and sit down. Mr. Douglas: Sit down yourself, (Cries of •• Orc'er," and confusion.) If the hon. member for KioLmond thinks to put me down with his bluster, ho will fiau hs has got the wrong man to desl %ith. I will u>t way to bluster. Mr. Ortg*ju; I rise to crder——

Mr. Douglas (still standing): Sit down, Sir. Mr. Gregson: Sit down yourself. (Great uproar.) Mr. Douglas : Lie down. (Increased uproar. Mr. Gregson: You lie down. (Vociferous cries of "order," in obedience to which Mr. Gregson slowly subsides to his seat.) Mr. Douglas (still standing, and away from his place, of which no notice is taken): I will make you lie down. (Mr. Gregson springs to his feet and and advances to the side of Mr. Douglas, who somew hat advances to meet him. During the following dialogue the two hon. members stand, shoulder to shoulder, noses nearly touching, arms stiffened, fists doubled, &c, in the most approved pugilistic style.) Mr. Gregson: You'll make me lie down. Mr. Douglas : Yes. I'll make you lie down. Mr Gregson: You will ? Mr Douglas: Yes I will. Mr Gregson: Do you know anything about a bull's head.

. (Mr Douglas, pallid with rage, appears to be about to knock the hon. member for Richmond down, but restrains: himself, making, however, sone remark, which is untranslatable from the incoherency of his manner. furious uproar; half the members on their legs; Speaker violently gesticulating, but not ordering Dr Douglas to bis place, nor calling upon the sergeant-at-arms to stand between the threatening belligerents. Eventually Mr Gregson. again subsides into his cushioned seat at the corner of the bench nearest to the Speaker's left hand. Mr Douglas (having passed round Mr Gregson, says sotto voce, as he is passing): I will get you to repeat that to me out of doors. Mr Gregson : I will. Mr Douglas walks out the House. Gregson takes off his spectacles*, folds them, places them in their case, puts them in his pockets, bundles up his papers, and proceeds to walk leisurely towards the door, amid breathless attention and great silence; he has got half way to the door, when

Mr Maxwell Miller rises and says: Sir, I move that you direct the sergeant-at-arms to request the two hon. members to appear in their places, and promise that this shall go no further.

Mr Gregson: That is a most cowardly proceeding. (The sergeant-at-arms advances, confronts Mr Gregson, points him into his place, into which Mr Gregson backs, and once more subsides.) I Mr Gregson: What! will you defend a low ' pettifogging lawyer? (During the foregoing the door had been opened by Mr Douglas, and, as the sergeant-at-arms is advancing to request his attendance, he brushes past him and some four or five hon. members, advonces full in front of Mr Gregson, and with his dexter fist plants a tolerably tidy one on the sinister of Gregson's head, lo prevent the appearance even of partiality, he visits the right side of the old member's caput with his left, the two blows being precisely equal in j weight, producing a like sound, and each causing j precisely similar electrifying effects on thereI cipinnt, who sits and takes them. Confusion 'worse confounded, every remaining vtstige of : order vanished, all on their legs, and gallery in an uproar. At length,)— The Speaker: Ttke him into custody. (The sergeant-at-arms claps his hand on the shoulder of the hon. member, who fights ala Cribb, and leads out to the coal-hole.) Mr Gregson: Oh! don't do that. Provoked by what I said to him, the hon. member, in a moment of excitement, forgot himself, and will, to-morrow, deeply regret what he has done. Mr Sherwin : I move that the House adjourn till seven, as it is clear that, in the present state of excitement, hon. members cannot deliberate. (Various suggestions from several members—l: I move," "I move," resounding from all sides.) The Attorney-General; I move that the House adjourn, as it is evident that all present are unfit to discharge their duties. A scene has been enacted by both hon. members of so gross a character that it has never been equalled in any colonial Parliament. (Sensation.) Mr Davies (Looking at the gallery): I call your attention, sir, to the fact that there is a stranger in the House. The Speaker: Sergeant-at-arms, clear the gallery. {Exeunt the public.) The Colonial Treasurer (looking at the reporters) : I must also take notice, sir, that there is still a stranger in the House. (Exeunt the reporters.)