Notes and Events.
Captain Russell concluded his tribute 1 tor the late. James Edward Fitzgerald as follows :— lt is\ on oocassion9 saph as this that a man may feel she inadequacy of Jtiis own language to do justice to the memory of a'greaCt man." Such, at least, is my own feeling. There are a few lines from the great poet Tennyson which seem to me so apposite that I will quote them. They apply~with force to suoh a man as he in respect for whose memory the House is now about to adjourn — a man In intelleot, with force and still keen To strive, to fashion, to fulfil A life in civic aotion warm ; . A soul on highest mission sent ; A potent voice in Parliament ; A pillar steadfast in the storm.
Mr Flat man, M.H.R., appears to be an amusing " ousb." He commenced his speech in the want-of-confidence debate with a very large number/ of quotations from the Old Testament, which he thought most telling— so they were— but in a different way to what he desired. Here is a sample— " These are the people—- the i Opposition— who wish to muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn ; and we are told that they should not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn." Mr Flatman thus appears to uphold the pernicious doctrine of the Government Party, of tho spoils to the victors. He is so interested in the process that he urges the ox that treadeth out the corn, or the Government that maketh the taxation, should not be muzzled. The joke may come home to him. some day, or perhaps the Minister for Lands will explain it to him.
Members are very fond of rhyme in the House, some of which is good, but the majority bad. Mr Hail- Jones, lucky man, now a Minister of the . Crown, but last session and a previous one, a hostile critic of the Government, came in for some rough handling by Mr Earnshaw, who said he was reminded of what a poet once said of a budding politician !—
The Premier knowi that I'm a tower of strength, My appointment really saved him from defeat. " He made a Statesman's choice " Is the universal voioe Of a Houbs whose equal perhaps we'll never meet. t rise to an ocoassion like a cork.
Last year Mr Hall- Jonefl speaking on the Budget said " But it seems to me we have actually no surplus at all. If we take the actual departmental earnings for the year, and compare them with the actual departmental expenditure, I fail to Bee I that we have a surplus at all. Oc the contrary we find a deficiency of about £230,000. "Again" t also disapprove of what is suggested in the Statement— taking the sinking funds of the loans to local bodies. If this is done, every hundred pounds I we lend to our local bodies will be another hundred pound's added to the colonial debt." All this is very sad to have brought up when appointment to an office necessitates such objections being swallowed, but Mr Earnshaw quoted further front tit riall- Jones' speeoh. " When we had the Budget of last year before us I had to point out on that occassibn that there was very little in that Budget to benefit the work-ing-classes, and I find nothing more for them in this Budget than in the Budget of last year. Has the position of the colony improved since then t The position is now worse, instead of being better Does the Government really know the position t I have sometimes wondered if they do. If they do not, members of the House are to blame for not bringing it home more clearly to them."
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Manawatu Herald, 20 August 1896, Page 3
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627Notes and Events. Manawatu Herald, 20 August 1896, Page 3
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