Oh, Dignity!

NZ Truth, Issue 1190, 20 September 1928, Page 6

Oh, Dignity!

THE very word "Legislature" constructs a finely-drawn mental picture of acute reasoning and nobility of phrase, but where may the parallel be drawn m relation to that' corporate body which New Zealand describes as its House of Representatives? And of what are they representative?

Some of the epithets emitted from the mouths of our politicians irini to mind the orude ? raucous blarings of th.c London fish markets, where dignity is not— and where coarse colloquialism usurps the crisp, facile sequence of cultured retort.

Has political repartee m the House become so impoverished that by general consent members have commenced to lean their wits upon such rhetorical crutches as "Bosh!" and "Rot!" when some contentious pronouncement has ruffled their feathers?

These two ejaculations were accredited to V. A. Potter, the retiring member for Boskill, and quoted as his somewhat "smart" replies to a statement made by the Leader of the Opposition. It is somewhat disquieting for those who regard politics as having at least a semblance of culture about its processes, to be confronted with two brisk examples of unadulterated Billingsgate. Expressive,. certainly, but scarcely a testimonial to the breadth of a member's vocabulary.

One doesn't suggest that politicians should mouth a succession of pedantic phrases, but at least they might study the more acute, less blatant, figures of speech, remembering that those who model our national affairs are themselves liable to be. quoted as examples of New Zealand statesmanship.

; They are reflections m the national, looking glass and even if the likeness is hot always the most, happy, they should endeavor to make the best of it, instead of the worst. .

The rapier, nbt the bludgeon, is ever the more penetrating.