ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 204, 7 December 1910, Page 3

ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT

DRAMATIC SCENES. (Fro::i our Parliamentary Correspondent) Wellington, Dec-ember 3. Some of the most dramatic scenes of the session came off during the last week. They were caused by the H'me case, of course. On Tuesday the House got the long-desired opportunity to di»?uss the report of the committee. Mr. Massey began the debate at midnight. Curious that the forms of the House did not permit this important debate to begin till midnight. Under any other form of business time would have been especially set apart for the full discussion of a matter of such supreme importance. But under this system a lot of twopenny ha-'penny, tin-pot Bills were allowed to keep the floor and the House was not able to get the important thing until every speaker was too weary for anything but bed. The speakers were thus subjected to a test of endurance of the most stringent. THE KEYNOTE. The keynote was struck in this connection by Mr. Massey himself. He began in a floundering style as of a man rubbing his eye 9 to'get the sleep out of them. He"had been up all the previous night. He had been fighting about things mostly trivial all day. He staggered to his feet when called upon to make the running, and he ran himself down in the first two minutes. It seemed as if human endurance could do no more, but after the first two minutes he pulled himself together. Finding himself unable to frame a sentence he stopped, and suddenly made up his mind for an effort, a supreme effort. Sweeping away the remnants of the refractory sentence with a big wave of his arm, heVied out: "I shall get the hang of this thing presently, but the fact is I have been asleep!" And then it seemed as if the scales fell from his eyes and he "got the hang/' The hang proved to be a suspension of judgment, what little Mr. Massey has, for never has he any sense of proportion; but he was himself again, and he sailed into his subject with his usual vigor.

THE OPPOSITION CONFIDENT. It was at once apparent that he was against the report. He regarde'd all the charges against the Government as proved up to the hilt, and he argued along on that line. Then Mr. Allen, the trusted first lieutenant, got up and moved an amendment to disagree with some of the findings of the committee, and he spoke his indictment of the committee and the Government with much force and fluency w and a lugubrious intonation. It was evident that the Opposition was bent on a trial of strength.

THE VITRIOLIC TAYLOR. Then arose Mr. T. E. Taylor. Mr. Taylor proclaimed liis agreement with the committee. Of course,"there was only one charge that mattered: It was the charge against the Government of corruption. All the rest was leather and prunella. Neither Mr. Hine nor any of his friends cared a rap for the charges against Symes, or Major, or Mac Donald, or Henare Kaihau. He described their flounderinga in their attempts to sustain the main changes. He proclaimed his belief that the main charge had hopelessly broken down. The Government was cbr.Td and the wonder was that the S'-.ii-f ■■'■■'. ;'.i* unanimously say so with evasion-' (v a-\':>'-\t. t.hM.t'ihp fair fame of Par!lfiiv.ci!v. rn-;,!' , ° ; ' ,: '-"'"'s .--' Parliament, rind t;>c .•.•fVicfvs ;' ■:■- A.r.iiinistration who had been found all good men and true, had been made straight. Then he became vitriolic. Speaking with concentrated energy and a furious deliberat fluency, he" discoursed with pointing finger of the new bad style of PARTISAN CRITICISM . that has arisen to the degeneracy of Parliamentarv practice. Out of this he brought the notorious pamphlet and its authors with concentrated essence of vitriol. In the midst of the rapt attention of tie silent House he suddenly made the Opposition responsible for the pamphlet. Of course they had nothing to do with it. Thev had. not worked for it. and verv likely they hated it as much as he did himself But their supporters outside had-given and were giving active chuckling gleeful support to the scurrilous, horrible thing, That thing was the direct consequence of the style of criticism they had long adopted and kept going. It was the style that recognises nothing good of the other side, imputes motives, belittles provocation, at no provocation at all, makes the worst of everything the most innocent, and is liberal of predictions of evil lurking in every proposal from the Government benches. As be went fiercely along he- got the Opposition into a state of white heat, relieved by the hottest interjections. It was as wild a scene as I have ever seen in that House.

ME. SPEAKER. Mr. Speaker had guaged the possibilities of the situation early in the proceedings. He had warned the House tfiat in the interest of the debate there must be no interruptions. When the interruptions came fast and furious he pulled lip the debate, rising to his feet, a sign that everyone else must sit down. In the hush that ensued he reminded the House of his warning, and ho added that there was a power in his hands which he would presently exercise the moment he felt it necessary. There was reality behind him. He could name any member who might be recalcitrant. The naming involved suspension from duty. He would name without hesitation. I HEATED ATMOSPHERE, When he sat down Mr. Taylor resumed, and Mr. Taylor was as vitriolic as ever. 1 The interjections revived, regardless of the Speaker's wen-nine. Proceeding, he declared that the th* first consequence of the style adopted by the Opposition was the rise of newspaper criticism of the most unfair one-sidei; order. There was in this city an example. Heated cries of "Name!" found him not afraid to name. He referred to th> TV-minion newspaper. He described the paper's habits; he declared that the lesitimate consequence was this pamphlet lie had described with such a wealth of denunciation. The cries of protest grew faster and more furious as he proceeded on his deliberate, vitriolic way. Every epithet was hurled at him. One rose'clear in the heated air, "Liar!" At the height of the tumult the Speaker rose once more, and tumult gave way to

SUPPRESSED EXCITEMENT. Mir. Speaker referred again to his warnin", and ordered withdrawals right and left. All terrified bv the threat of naming, withdrew, including Mr. Taylor, who withdrew ingeniously, substituting one form of vitriol for another. He had to withdraw them all. Tie palled attention to the shout of •liar.'' indicating the member who had shouted. Mr. Speaker had not heard., but if the honorable member had really used the expression lie must withdraw it and express regret. The honorable member did both without hesitation, after whi'h the debate proceeded in quieter fashion; but the Opposition was fearfully and desperately restless till the end of the vitriolic speech. Then

MR. }IASSEY ROSTS. with right to speak to the amendment, and he spoke largely to Mr. Taylor, furiously denouncing that honorable member, and ending with tlie curious ad- ' mission that he attributed the failure of the Opposition at the polls to the dis- j gust inspired in the public mind by its toleration of Mr. Taylor among its ranks. I Mr. Russell, rising on ibis turn, carried : J fee ww;. ,

INTO THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY, dragging in the celebrated episode of 1$!)3, when a member of that party was found guilty of havhig, with the connivance of the Atkinson Cnvemment of a year or two previous, broken the law in the matter of certain land scrip, but the facts failed to move the Opposition, so absorbing and so horrifying had the Taylor epithet proved, with the insinuations about the pamphlet. At four in the mornins flesh and blood could do no more, and the House adjourned. Next day, at the afternoon sitting, the Prime Minister saw that THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT had arrived, the moment long desired for getting his side of the question of his business life to the front. He embraced the chance with tremendous force. Never has he been so eloquent; never has he put his side with so much power: never has ho touched the hearts of his hearers as he did then. He carried all before him with his eonvineing facts, his figures on order, his touching references to the persecutions to wluch he had been subjected. He went back to his start in life, a friendless boy at ten shillings a week. When he finished his party cheered him to the echo, as no one has been cheered since Mr. Seddon got the applause of the House with Ids contingent resolutions, and one noticed tears in the eyes of many. After that

THE STUFFING WENT OUT OF THE DEBATE, and presently the House crushed the Opposition with overwhelming division, 1 throwing out the amendment. There followed condemnation of the pamphlet all round in terms of scathing fury, and the House accepted the verdict of the committee. THE KAIHAU CHARGE. There remained only the dealing with Mr. Kaihau, convicted of taking pay from his constituents for work which he ought to have done in the ordinary course of his duties. The character speech of this episode was the defence made by Mr. Kaihau. The big Maori proved himself a master of oratory, varied histrionic swayed by all the moods proper to the occasion, demanding to know in what way his case differed from that of the Leader of the Opposition who was recently presented by his constituents with £IOOO for his services. In what way had he not offended if Kaihau had been guilty of malpractice? The .frantic action with which he dwelt on the point is indescribable. Another Maori member took up the parable for his friend, stating, among other things, that the only inference in the Maori mind was that the Leader of the Opposition got money from his party to bolster up conservatism and land monopoly. Then Mr. Kaihau, getting a chance to speak again, wound up strongly with the intimation that if he were made to appeal to his constituents his accuser ought to be put under the same obligation, adding that he felt sure he would come back, but that he doubted the prospects of his accuser. The house laughed, realising that the Maori appreciated the. situation remarkably well. Everybody was re* lieved when the Prime Minister moved that Mr. Kaihau be reprimanded and informed of the .error of his wiays. The big man, returning under charge of the Ser-geant-at-Arms, thanked the House with great dignity and retired in high glee. DEFAMATORY LIBELLERS..

Another psychological moment was seized later on when the Libel Bill was' before the Council. Dr. Findlay proposed the addition of a clause providing for the summary treatment of all defamatory libellers. Three months or £IOO on conviction, the truth to be defence, and proof to be required for publication, being for the public benefit. It is a clause framed so that no honest man can possibly receive injustice, but no scoundrel can possibly get off. The House, which had unanimously declared that any punishment was too good for the pamphleteer who had been before so many hot hours, cheerfully voted him the chance of "three months' hard," and so ended the "slialoo." As -things have turned out it has been an enormous victory for the Government. Of what use to detail the rest of the work? Everything wient through to the last, and "finis" came at ten o'clock on Saturday morning of the longest session in our records.