Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, NOV. 6, 1900. Parliament.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 6 November 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, NOV. 6, 1900. Parliament.

Hansard, of October 15th, has only just come to hand, and that has delayed our reviewing the unseemly altercation between the members for Palmerston and Motueka, and now it is too late. We direct attention to this number of Hansard to endorse an article on the necessity of an uncorrected Hansard in our issue of a week or two ago. The altercation arose on the discussion on the Pub-lic-school Teachers' Sa aries Bill, in Committee, and owing to the Premier not having been aware that his Minister for Education had informed the members for Palmerston and Selwyn tbat a scale of salaries had been prepared, and as Mr Pirani had criticised the soale, the Premier declared that it " bore out the fact that there was hot one department in the Government Buildings that there was not a leakage in, and it was monstrous that they should be told on the floor of the House, in respect to a Cabinet question, that this had been prepared, and that the department had shown incompetence in respect of the draft." The mutual good feeling between the Premier and the member for Palmerston is well known, and they differ as often as they can. Some year or two ago the present member for Motueka resigned by letter to the Speaker his seat in the House, owing to some strong expression of members that his conduct was not in keeping with his position, but though asked by the Premier to withdraw his resignation he refused, and it was commonly reported that the difficulty was got over by the resignation having been handed to his wife. The uproar was caused in this committee by the member for Motueka following the Premier, and deolaring " that members had known for years that the honourable member (Palmerston) had been receiving information with respect to different departments." The debate is worth reading to prove how impossible it is to get members to recollect the exact words used, : and how differently Hansard is made j to read to what it ought to as shown

by the further debate as to the language used. And whilst member after member got up and expressed his opinion that such-and-such was said, no one suggested the simple expedient of settling the matter by calling for the production of tbe short-hand writer's notes, though these same members had passed a Bill authorising the reports of law cases being taken in shorthand. The actual statement that upset, and naturally so, the temper of Mr Pirani was, what the member for Motueka said, as Mr J. Hutcheson, the member for Wellington City wrote it down : — "As the member for Palmerston was creeping out of the back bedroom window this morning his wife should have broken her umbrella over his back as she did in the Square at Palmerston years ago." That language like this must have been used is corroborated by Captain Russell, who said, " Sir, the scene which has taken place this afternoon has been enough to stir the blood of the coldest-blooded man who ever spoke in Parliament. The origin of the dispute was the honourable member for Motueka. In the most offensive words the honourable member spoke of the honourable member for Palmerston as though he was a spy and a mean pettifogger, who had bis ear to the keyhole of every office in the Government Buildings. That tbe honourable member for Palmerston should retaliate may be wrong, but it was only natural. Then, again, the honourable member for Motueka in his turn retaliated in a way that made my very soul quiver, as I heard a man's most sacred relations held up to public obloquy in this House." Mr Ell in speaking said "I do not wonder that the honourable member for Hawke's Bay showed some little agitation iD speaking on the question. Every man's blood mu3t have boiled to hear the remarks that were made about a man's wife." Our readers have the statement as written down by a member, and which was similar to the account published by the Wellington papers the following day, and for the sake of showing the absurdity of Hansard being useful for a reliable report of the proceedings of Parliament we take an extract from Hansard of the portion of the member for Motueka's speech relating to this incident : " However, the honourable member for Palmerston had brought in the name of his (Mr McKenzie's) wife, which he did not think was at all required, and he wanted now to scuffle out from the back bedroom window. Well, he I might recall to the honourable gentleman the occasion on which his wife broke her umbrella over his head in the Square in Palmerston North " There can be no better instance how absurdly chargos aye toned down when proofs are retouched.