PARLIAMENTARY ETIQUETTE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 25 September 1907, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY ETIQUETTE.

THE OPPOSITION TO NEW PLYMOUTH VALIDATION BILL. EXPLANATIONS IN THE COUNCIL. In reading the outward correspondence at Monday night's Borough Council meeting the Town Clerk read out one from the Mayor to the Hon. T. Kelly, M.L.C., in connection with the New Plymouth Loans Validation Bill, as fol-

lows:—"I regret very much having been unable to see you when in New Plymouth the other day. I was very anx'ious to have au opportunity of explaining to you how it was that our Loan Bill had not been placed in your hands to pilot through the Legislative Council. ... I would ask you to believe that neither I nor the members of the Borough Council were in any way responsible for the Bill being placed in the hands of the Hon. Mr Samuel after we had requested you to take charge of it. Before Mr Okcy left here to attend the opening of the session I asked him to take charge of it in the Low->r ffouse and 1 told him distinctly in the presence of the Town Clerk to hand it on to you immediately it had passed its third reading, together with a number of other papers which I gave him explaining the position. You may judge of my astonishment when I saw' by tiie papers that the second reading in Legislative Council had been moved by Mr Samuel. . . I thought that perhaps you had yourself placed the matter in Mr Samuel's hands, and it was only when I received a letter from Mr Okey in answer to my telegram that I learned you had not been consulted. Mr Okey said he did not understand he was to hand the Bill over to you, but I can assure you he had absolutely definite instructions from me to do so. I am naturally extremely indignant with Mr Okcy over the matter, and I shall have something to say to him later on. I feel sure that had the Bill been placed in your hands as intended it would have gone through without opposition, and it is a matter of regret to me that my instructions to Mr Okey were not carried out."

The Mayor said that doubtless all councillors were aware of the great difficulty in getting the Bill : through the Legislative Council. There was, in fact, a majority of only one—a close shave. It had come to his knowledge that the opposition was not directed against the Bill itself, but that there was something else the matter. He had been informed that the Legislative Councillors resented the action of the people of New Plymouth in ignoring the senior member (Hon. Mr Kelly) and placing everything in the hands of the junior member (Hon. Oliver Samuel). When he (the Mayor) had handed the Bill to Mr Okey, he could not have told him to give the papers to Hon. Samuel, for he was not in the colony at the time, and even his address was not known. The matter of etiquette had not entered Ms mind at the time, but had the both gentlemen been here at the time he would assuredly have given preference to the senior. Had Hon. Samuel been senior he would have done the same. A gentleman recently returned from Wellington had assured him (the speaker) that they were "just within an ace" of having the Bill set back for one session. He had written to Hon. Kelly that nothing had been done by the Mayor of the Council that would east any reflection upon him, and he had instructed a similar message to another gentleman connected with Parliament; ami then the opposition was withdrawn and the Bill went through. Mr Dockrill had spoken to Mr Okey on the matter, and he had stated in explanation that he had forgotten all ■about the Mayor's instructions. That being so, he couldn't feel towards Mr Okey as he had when he wrote that letter, for he had taken Mr Okey's action as a reflection upon him in the position of Mayor. Had he requested lion. Mr Kelly to take charge of the measure in the Upper House, and then handed it to Hon. Mr Samuel, without explanation, he would be unfit to occupy his position as Mayor. Fortunately, the Bill had gone through, and he had reason to believe that his letter had borne fruit. He fully accepted Mr Okey's assurance that he had forgotten, > but it was nearly an unfortunate piece of forgctfulness for the borough. Cr. Bellringer asked if the Mayor had meant to infer that the opposition was to Hon. Samuel rather than to the Bill.

His Worship said he had not inferred that. The opposition was really resentment at the supposed action of the people in New Plymouth in slighting Hon. Kelly.

Cr. Bellringer was not quite satisfied. He wanted to know if it were inferred that the "color" of Taranaki's member had militated Against the success of the Bill.

The Mayor repeated his- explanation, and the matter was passed over.