The Telephone. WITH WHICH INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 264, 18 October 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. WITH WHICH INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18.

The marked success which attended the opening of the Gisborne Parliamentary Union last night in Macfarlane’s Hall, must indeed be gratifying to Mr. DeLautour and the other gentlemen with him who initiated the movement. From Mr. DeLautour’s thorough knowledge of Parliamentary practice and procedure, it goes without saying that everything so far as in his power lay would be strictly in accordance with May’s Parliamentary practice. Everyone was agreeably surprised at the business being carried out in the correct and formal manner that it was. It is surprising the want of knowledge that exists even among intelligent men, as to how debates should be conducted and motions and amendments made. In Gisborne at times it has been observed that motions and amendments, and amendments upon amendments have been proposed and mixed up to such an extent as not alone to bewilder the chairman, but to confuse the public as well, and to such an extent that they have unintentionally voted against what intended really to support. And for what reason ? Simply the absence of acquaintance as to the mode in which public business should be conducted. The institution now started under the name of the Gisborne Parliamentary Union, gives to those who desire to be better informed upon the public questions of the day, the mode in which the laws of the country are framed, and Parliamentary debates carried on, an opportunity that could not be excelled. The intellectual field opened up affords avenues for mental culture hitherto scarcely accessible to the people of Gisborne. These mimic Parliaments have been recently formed in many parts of the Colony. In England they have been in vogue for some time past. Mr. Gladstone on several occasions has warmly supported them, and advocated their establishment in various centres of population. The argument that might be raised that Gisborne is too small a place for a Parliamentary Union should carry no weight. It is impossible to say what latent talent Gisborne possesses, lying dormant, only waiting for a chance to be developed. To our young men especially we would say that they will be blind to their own interests in after life if they neglect the opportunity afforded by the Parliamentary Union of adding to their store of knowledge. Nothing, we are sure, will be wanting on the part of the promoters to successfully establish this institution, it remains with the people themselves to second their earnest endeavors. We congratulate the promoters upon the result of their first meeting, and trust that from their labors many a similar intellectual treat will yet be derived.