POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 93, 28 July 1910, Page 8

POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES

• vm ■ THE XR'OXFIDENCK DEBATE. By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent. Wellington, Last Night. The debate having assumed the no- ' ontidence form, takes precedence of ■vervthiiig. The (low of pipers ia topped, tlio answers to questions are mug up in Ihe air like .Munchausen'* rumpet. The Bills, public, private, and dinisterial. are posibound on the ordermpcr. Even the .sacred right of ques■ion is in abeyance. The exception is ;he petition, which persistently makes is way to the- table by wav of com lensation. The atmosphere within the irecincts waxes sulphurous, the battle •ages mid dies, the heath is made desoate by bad land laws, and members *ush through, morasses of figures dark, ivild, complicated, and misunderstood. In the lobbies you see weary men refreshing themselves with fighting their battles over again. THE DEMISE OF THE HON. MR. SCOTLAND. There is one power that takes no heed of Parliament, as the House knew when the death of the Hon. H. Scotland was announced soon after the opening, and •. the House at once showed its respect for the memory of the veteran by offering the tribute of adjournment, after duly passing a resolution of condolence. Mr. H. Scotland was the oldest member of the Council, having attained to his ninetieth year, 'but his was not the longest service. He was appointed in 18(18, five months over forty-two yean ago. Colonel Baillie, who is eighty-four, dates back to Bth March, 1801, so that he has to his credit within eight months of fifty years' service. Sir Henry Miller, who is eighty, comes between the Colonel and the late Mr. Scotland, with fortyfive vears' service, having been appointed on Bth July, 1805. •-"" THE LIFE MEMBERS, M% # Tile numher of life members left is seven. They are: The two above named, the Hon., Sir G. McLean (appointed 1881), tho HoiwE. C. T, Stevens (appointed 188-2), and .the Hons. Sir C. Bowen, C, Johnstone, and J. D. Ormond (all three appointed in 1891). Age is still well represented in the Council, Colonel Baillie being eighty four, Mr. H. Miller and C. Bowen close on eighty, Sir G. McLean, Sir M. O'Rorke, Messrs. Stevens, Balder, Ormond, T. Kelly, Marshall, McCardle, and Thompson being all septuagenarians, most of them on the shady side. Mr. H. Scotland* had a close connection with the Council in all his forty-two years, and at one time was a remarkably public-spirited and wellinformed speaker. Of late years he was a faithful attendant, a fact which showed his public spirit still unimpaired, but the other qualities had vanished. He was always treated with the veneration due to his years, and his passing will oe marked with all the honors.