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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5190, 9 November 1877, Page 2

There is nothing about tho office of Speaker of tho House of Representatives which gives its occupant immunity from comment on his public acts. Sir William FitzixerßEßT has made in many respects an excellent Speaker, and if not equal to a Clifford or a Monro, has at least shone by contrast with others elsewhere. But it is only fair to point out to him that there are occasions on which members and tho outside public do not testify to tho impartiality of his rulings. Not that we are inclined to deny such impartiality, but more than once such has been denied, and that by persons and by members whose expression of opinion it is impossible to disregard. It is assorted, and that pretty freely, that tho Speaker, as a matter of fact (through no intention perhaps) has curbed one side of the House more than tho other. It is notorious that Sir George Grey and his followers have hinted tho basest accusations against the late Ministry without check or hindrance. During tho progress of debate, Mr. Rees

has over and over again hurled interjections and short comments against some speaker opposed to him, and Sir George Grey with other members of the same party have done the same. Mr. Rees, of course, added .the qualificatory and animal laugh which accompanies all his most telling 1 points ; but then everyone does not possess the merits of a Rees under such circumstances. On no occasion has the Speaker been known to address a very severe reprimand to the gentlemen under notice. But yesterday the Speaker took Major Atkinson most severely to task for an act quite mild in comparison with many of those of the gentlemen who are opposed to him. The ex-Premier had said in a species of stage whisper to the present Premier, “ Notice of motion No. 3 will settle that.” Sir George Grey, with the emotion he knows so well how to simulate, at once complained of being insulted, and the Speaker rebuked Major Atkinson in a manner which it would have been well he had formerly more than once adopted towards a Rees, a Stout, a Hodgkinson, or a Hislop. Technically speaking, Major Atkinson was of course in the wrong; on the smallest principle of equity his was no offence in comparison with the acts which Sir George Grey and his followers have frequently indulged in without let or hindrance. Let us be clearly understood. We are not in the least questioning Sir William Fitzherbert’s own. desire to be impartial ; we are merely pointing out to him how it is possible for the most impartial in intent to err in circumstance, and we are only doing that which every public man must expect from fair journalism. It is true that the Speaker yesterday, when hitting the exPremier over the knuckles, as it were, was vehemently applauded by the very noisy mob which he might, with wisdom, have restrained on former occasions. That matter, or the privilege which may be claimed, does not trouble us one jot. We do not, in an abstract sense, defend Major Atkinson’s very harmless remark; we simply point out that if it seemed so very heinous to the Speaker it is a pity that the Speaker has not upon a hundred occasions previously been so anxious to make members speak by the card. If the debates in our New Zealand Parliament have, during the present session and the two preceding it, lost a good deal of the dignity, talent, and tone which distinguished them before, the fault is due to the irruption into the House of a number of persqns who have mistaken coarse abuse, horse laughter, and the well-known weapon of Samson, for the invective, ridicule, and small sword which are most potent in discussion. And in a great degree the fault goes above and beyond those gentlemen and rests upon those who had it in their power to put down vulgar interjections before they became common, to bridle the mouths which should never have been permitted to bray, and to preserve the reputation of the New Zealand Parliament which had been entrusted ,to their keeping. We have no more to say on this matter. The feeling which has found expression inside and outside the House, and which has prompted us to write, has forced itself upon us for a long time, but we have refrained from giving it publicity until we have assured ourselves that to refrain any more would be mischievous. Sir William Fitzhbrbebt is Speaker of the House of Representatives, and is very deservedly perhaps respected for several attributes. We should be sorry to see him lose the general respect which the occupants of his office should obtain, and therefore we draw his attention to matters with which it were well that ho should be acquainted.