A Bird’s-eye view of the House.

Manawatu Herald, 2 August 1904, Page 3

A Bird’s-eye view of the House.

The Parliamentary correspondent o! the Post was evidently much wearied wheft he chronicled the pro- ' ceedings of our legislators for Friday last, but despite the palpable weariness of his tone, his report is interspersed with patches of humour that are quite refreshing after Hansard. We quote as follows: —A dreary ■ waste of Bills appeared on the Legislative Council’s order paper, and with a collective groan members sat down to rehash such stodgy confections as the Counties Act, the Domain Boards Act, and the Fencing Act. Such subjects are not meet objects for the pen of any Casual Chronicler. They are grave- even Sepulchral-topics, and call for grave They were too much for even the Council, ■which plodded heavily through the first of the batch and adjourned looking 5000 years older than usual. Words—words—words continued to flow in the House. They made the atmcsphere thick and muggy, they clogged tbs ventilators, they settled on the furniture, and sent every one to sleep. It was the Financial Debate again, dragging its slow length along like a wounded snake. Mr Reid arose and made an undistinguished speech; Mr Jennings followed and wandered vaguely round the political premises. The 6.30 adjournment mercifully split Mr Hanan’s commonplaces into two equal sections weighing 1000 tons each. In spite of past experience, the general public continues to take an interest in hearing members rambling along, and contradicting each other and alternately proving that black is white and that white is black. The galleries were quite full at 7.80, and the occupants regarded things with the gloomy interest excited by a funeral. After Mr Hanan .had finished, Mr Duthie brightened things up with a dash of raillery that'prefaced a microscopic survey of thh colony’s finances. He took his full hour, and the Colonial Secretary arose with'a very bad cold. He was in fighting.form, however, and made a very good speech—the sort of speech that Be'shazzar might have made (had he been a politician) if hp had happened to read the writing on the wall at Pahiatua. During his speech be consumed several glasses of water, and his voice grew huskier and huskier as he went on. Mr Fraser followed, neatly academic and unperturbed, and the galleries slowly emptied to the accompaniment of Mr Buddo’s remarks. The House rose and midnight and drifted into the night blessing ihe man wbo invented Sunday.