A CASE OF JAM.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4185, 19 August 1874, Page 3

A CASE OF JAM.

TO THE EUITOE. . Sir, —Will you allow me, through the medium of your paper, to suggest to the Hon. the Speaker, or the House Committee, or to whoever the proper authority may be, ia this case made and provided, that to open the doors leading to the strangers' gallery of the House of Representatives, say, half-an-hour before the meeting of the House would be greatly conducive to the comfort and convenience of a portion of the British public, and ditto in some measure of the members of the House. Last evening from fifty to a hundred persons were crowded round the outer door of the said gallery, wedged together like cattle in Smithfield, or rather more so—say, like sardines in a tin—for something like half-an-hour, exposed, moreover, to some not very geniaS showers which descended in no gentle manner on their heads, and when the door was at last opened, the furious rush and scramble took place which might be expected, with'a running and jumping among the seats of the gallery, the clatter of which deprived the House of several sentences of the speech of the hoa. member for Clutha. Now, if any person of sound mind and responsible for his actions can furnish any good and valid reason why the " strangers'," as they came, could not be allowed to walk up to the gallery and take their seats quietly until tie proceedings commenced, as is the case in the House, of Commons, he should be well rewarded for-the acuteness of his intellect. It cannot be urged against this course, that it would throw additional labor upon the doorkeepers ; for one of those officials stood behind the door the whole time, and expressed his resentment whenever any of the impatient, or rather wonderfully patient, crowd ventured a modest tap at.the door with knuckle or boot Probably, like many old established grievances, it is only necessary to call attention to it to have it at once removed, and people will wonder afterwards that it could ever have existed.—Yours, &c, Young Man from the Couktrx. August 18. ■ [Our correspondent's complaint is a very just one, and is only one out of a number that might be made as to the regulations of the House—regulations without parallel in connection with any popular assembly.]