NATURAL HISTORY FROM HANSARD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 273, 17 November 1877, Page 4

NATURAL HISTORY FROM HANSARD.

[Christchurch PressA] THE MOUSE AND THE ELEPHANT. Br Hodgkiaaon — Iv contrasting the present Premier and the hon. member for Egmontj .who lately filled that office, I have shown that theyare two entirely different men. In. fact, <it ia preposterous to draw such a contrast, for it is like comparing a mouse. to an elephant, or a sparrow to a moa 1 , or any other motastroba comparison* One of these. men, the present Premier, is one of the greatest minds in the colony ; ia fact he ia probably the greatest man on thik side of the -aqhator. . ■WATEEMfiIES AND/WOLyES. •Mr J. E. Brown-—! have no doubt thst the* 'hoc,.; member for -Avon wiil ve^y soon addreas.the House, and assure us, notwithstanding the rumors in the lobbies,- that/ he js not one of those political waterliliaa which float overall parte of the House, and al ways rest in opposition to tbe Government. Men of the party of the hoa. member ! for the Thames are not struggling and fighting for Government office— their one objeot is -not to rush the Government seats, S(? far as; 1 am concerned — and it is pretty generally known that I was one of the members< who declined- to, take offica — I, as, I dare say, did every other gentleman who declined office, said, "Jie^Sir George Grey choose his colleagues as he pleases; do not study Joe.". t We did not rush like a pack of wolves ; after the miserable carcase left by the hoaj member for Egmont. No, sir: if that boh member and his party are held together by the cohesive power of public plunder, we are not; we do not envy them. , THS CAT. •Mr Thomson— • We ail know that cats have a strong sense of locality. They are very unwilling to leave any place in which they have been accustomed to live. For instance, if you piit a cat into a bag, and take her away, say tenmiles over a rough road, and then liberate her, the chances are that nest morning yoa would find pussy on the doorstep, waiting to get in a It appears to me that the hon. member for Egmont and his followers k have an instinctive feeling that they ought tp be on the Government benches. They seem to think it is not in their sphere to walk about in the lobbies, or to sit at the library fire, or to write their letters at the library tables. They seem to imagine that tbeir proper sphere is on the Treasury benches, and in their own anug offices. But sir I hope they will not be allowed to come back to the Government benches. I trust that the good sense of the House will prevent those hon gentlemen from again taking up the ppsitioas which they have lost. I think there are very good reasons why they shoald not be allowed to get back. J >• THE DOG. Dr. Hodgkinson— -Wheu I looked over at the other side of the house some few evenings ago, I was reminded of what is sometimes seen at a village* hotel. There - are a number of dogs lying about the table, and, whilst the table is being spread, and the various joints put upon it, the dogs watch the process with greedy and eager eyes, ready, to seize the first opportunity of making a rush and clearing the table. That was what I was reminded of when I saw the eager and guilty looks of tbe hon. gentlemen opposite. . . . Tj should like to know what claim the ■ hon. member for Egmont has to hold * such a high office* I caunot discover that he has any olaim whatever; and; the House has lately pronounced that ha has no claim. What a ridiculous -and absurd thing it is, what an insufferable piece of presumption that such aj man, at such a time, should presume to \ come, forward and put himself in competition with such a man as the hon. member for the Thames.; But we all know that vanity andi inordinate self-esteem are among the .failings of the late Premier. I speak of\ him of course as a public man. Speaking figuratively, he reminds me of what we sometimes see when passing through the streets of any town or village :-— Whene'er we take our walks abroad, How nuny dogs we see ; Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, And cars of low degree. We sometimes have seen a grandlooking old mastiff in a position of repose looking very sagaciously at what is going on around him, and we have seen some unmistakeable mongrel come

up with his tail oaried tip co tightly as .to lift his hind legs off the ground. No cjoubt if we could understaod what be said we ahould find hjm saying something like this: — "You know nothing of finance. I am the dog thai, must rule ih this part oorf r the, world. Go sway I " Aftet; this has beep endured for some time, the big dog takes him up by the scruff of the neck, throws him over, his -^boulder into the gutter, aud tbe little dog beats aa ignominious retreat. What yre' have seeu in this House taqst have reminded many of us of such a sceue aa that. J Mr. Gibbs — I fail to understand whafi particular principles the hon. member Who has just sat down has sought to J'ußtil into our minde, during: his two tours' speech. Heyhasrgivda. us a short history ofi mesmerism, atid an amusing of the facts > that 3cieac9 Would bring out if thd heads of some hon. mainbersi were, submitted to manipulation by a prof-aaeor of the, art. jThen we have had a lecture upon electro-biology , . - a , sketoh of . - .Ijtomaa history, eskacta from ehe >Old> Testabiepf, a.fevp p^saagea from the" Pilgrim's Pf ogress, at^d P^ B or essays upon natural hiatory, including aa amusing account of how a very big dog treated |»' very little dog- in a way. which I thbugbt; yery unfair ; alt the good qualities were ascribed to the big dog, land the bad ones to the little dog. The last interesting story brought to my reoollection an instance in which the good qualities of a very little dog were brought out. The master of tbis little dogLlivedvinNelaoaahd watfa-ccideotaUy killed ; and if is a : fact that the little dog followed his master to the grave, there hy dowa^aoclr there'^evefifcuaUy died. The qualiti'ea of' 6h4t little dog ware quite as good as those of the. hon, gentleman's big dog. The little dog. I irefer to had a la^ga heart ; and, as 1 ! lunderstood he referred to the Premier ; as the big dog, ahd the leader of the 'Opposition as the little dog, I must 'continue to have faith ia ray little dog, who wasstaunctiaad true wttif.his. large beari, although he may prefer the, big j THB BAT. ■* Mr Fos the hon. member for fcha Thames speaks of the Government . being grasped in one powerful hand, aa I. if he were going in for the unity of the ; colony, and immediately adds, " if there ,isto be only one Gp^ernment." Sir, , all this puts me in miud of theceleJ brated old tom-oat iQ tbe County of MJeatb. That cat h^d killed all the rath and mice ia the county, and had to take to bird-catohing as a means of subsistence. One evening, when he was out oh the prowl, he had tbe misfortune to catch a bat, and he said, * What's this ? neither rat nor mouse, beast nor bird, nor fish nor frog : wbat on earth is it ?" Just then the bat gave a wink with his little biack eye, and fluttered his wing % and the old torn fled the County of Meatb, and never waa seen any more. Well, now I ask what is tbe policy of the present Government? We aak,' "What is it?" but we cannot tell what the polioy di the hon. gentleman is. It is impossible at any rata, for me to make it out. THE SUCKING. CALF. Dr Hodgkinson — Wheu a calf haa been sucking its mother for a long time it ia very reluctant to be weaned. So those honorable gentlemen have been so accustomed to receive Government pay that when they are deprived of it they are determined to get back tc their politioal seats * again,' and to gat the political teats in their mouths. > We know it is a very difficult thing to wean an old calf. We have to put the cow in one paddock and the calf in another and distant paddock. We have the calf od one side of this House and the cow on the other, and it is necessary to erect a strong barrier between thegi. The calf will break through auy reasonable fence; it will try by some means ot other to get back to the cow .fqi another sack. The only thing to do is to administer the stockwhip. I believe tbere are some honorable members wbb have had considerable experience and skill in the use of the whip. Jt think my honorable friend the member foi Auckland City East has some skill, and that he has a whip that will reach to all sides of the House. Keeping up tbe comparison, I would say that it ie very difficult indeed to erect a fence which will be a sufficient barrier tb the honorable gentlemen opposite. There is the fenoe of consistency; that doee not stop them; they disregard that altogether. lam afraid the two-rail fence of honor and political morality ie

also useless; they wotild;break-through , tht&c I oakqnly ad^that I shall. do( wbat I can to prevent their sucking the Government cow. •=-■--„ 1 ( ■ 1 ; i ' i