PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 125, 31 May 1904, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES.

The privileges enjoyed by members of the Mew Zealand Parliament are not a few, but they make a •very poor showing besido the concessions granted to members by some of the State Legislatures of America. Even members of Congress liavo all manner of perquisites. Their railway (ares to and from Washington are paid for them. They caji make use of Government oiiicials and clerks for their personal work, and, by a little manoeuvring, it is said, they can obtain allowances for (lie payment of private secretaries. The bill for lemonade, specially brewed, supplied to perspiring and thirsty legislators lost year amounted to over £3OO, and it is even related that lithia tablets, quinine pills and hair tonic have been supplied to Congressmen by a grateful nation. By the exorcise of some ingenuity, the telegraph system can be used for the transaction of purely private business at the State expense. Then, if a Senator dies in harness the State buries him. New Zealand legislators hate their railway passes, no small concession. In Wellington they are supplied with all the stationery they require, and some of them contrive to be writing from the House of Representatives when Parliament is not sitting, and they muy frank all official papers through the post. The members of the House of Commons are less liberally tieatoo. Tncir perquisites and privileges are strictly limited. They are supplied with stationery to be consumed on the premises, it ia .true, but according to Mr H. W. Lucy, the only other article supplied to them gratuitously is a pinch of snuff. This privilege of Parliament, of the existence of which few outside the precincts of Westminster are aware, dates back to the time of the Georges', when few smoked and nearly everyone took snuff. The luxury is provided for in the Civil Service Estimates, hut does not in these days largely swell them. A pound weight provided at the opening ol the session meets all demands fully. The snull is in charge of the principal doorkeeper, and is contained in a box not dainty in structure, but venerable by age. One of the doorkeeper's most frequent customers was tlie late Lord Ronton. He did not snuff habitually ; but in obedientnot snuff habitually, hut in obedience to habit formed when he was private secretary to Disraeli, us soon U s lie entered the lobby he walked straight up to the doorkeeper, who, making silent response to an unspoken request, held out the snuffbox. Such customs die hard, hut in these days snull is so oni »| favour that tlie Parliamentary snuffbox will Koou be u mere curiosity. O.N THE FOURTH PAGE. Literature. The Death of a City.