When Resignation is a Virtue.

Manawatu Herald, 1 November 1898, Page 3

When Resignation is a Virtue.

The present session of the New Zealand Parliament has been disgraced by a number of cases of violent language, misconduct and abuse of Parliamentary privilege ; but not until this week has' it been found necessary to suspend a member of the House of Representatives for defiance of the chair. In fact the- suspension of the member for Mptueka— surely the culminating incident of a series that can only be recalled with a sense of shame — is the firgt assertion of the Speaker's authority in that form since the rule applying to it was introduced six years ago. The one gratifying feature about the jwplorable incident at Thursday night's sitting was the promptitude shown by $r Roderick McKenzie in tendering bjs resignation to the Speaker. If the i^ember for Motueka adhere to his intention, his fine sense of the fitness flf things will do much to atone for the Contumacious act which has brought the Parliament of the colony into dispredit. Mr McKenzie's offence, gross though it was, was not so disgraceful jis those that have been committed by several other members, who hurled at each other foul language, serious accusations and base innuendoes regarding the private character of each Other and their relations ; and yet the transgressions of these members were held to be atoned for by verbal expressions of regret and •formal withdrawal of the statements. If the men who so misconducted themselves had shown half the shame and sensitiveness to censure displayed by the member for Motueka, they would have resigned positions for which they had proved their unfitness. Mr McKenzie's breach of order is of course indefensible ; but at most it was due to a mistaken exercise of the organ of firmness, and had not behind it any personal venom or real contempt of Parliament. He has not been a particularly useful member, chiefly on account of one failing; and if he should retire on account of the sentence of suspension passed by the Speaker it may well be said of him that nothing in his Parliamentary life became him so well as his manner of leaving it. There are other members, besides he of Motueka, whose absence would add to the dignity and usefulness of the House of Representatives ; but these have more regard for what they can make out of politics than they have for the honour and credit of Parliament. It would in one sense be a pity to saddle the colony with the cost of a by-election for Motueka, when one year more will bring a dissolution and an almost certain change in the representation. The party wire-pullers are already at work seeking to make the incident result in the gain of a seat to the Opposition, and naturally Ministerialists are using every endeavour to get Mr McKenzie to reconsider his resignation. The country at large would, we think, excuse Mr McKenzie if he were to hold obstinately to his resolution. The expense of a by-elec-tion and the loss or gain of a party supporter are matters of no importance when compared with the reputation of Parliament. Mr McKenzie has, by sending in his resignation, set an admirable example, the moral effect of which it would be a mistake to destrov ._N.Z. "Times."