PRESS AND PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 93, 5 September 1912, Page 5

PRESS AND PARLIAMENT.

A COVERT BLOW AT THE SPEAKER. "A BREACH OP PRIVILEGE." By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Received 5, 1.10 a.m. ■Sydney, September 4. The Assembly, on Mr. Arthur's motion, agreed to the reading of the Herald leader, published on Friday, commenting on the expulsion of reporters. Mr. Arthur then moved that the article was a breach of privilege. This was negatived by 72 to 3. The House is now bearing the Gas Company's counsel against the Gas Bill. AN INEFFECTIVE BAN. Received 4, 11.20 p.m. Sydney, September 4. In spite of the exclusion of the Telegraph it daily publishes Parliamentary reports. CLIPPING MR. SPEAKER'S WINGS. Received 4, 10.15 p.m. Sydney, September i. In the Assembly, Mr. Holman gave notice to move to-morrow that the accommodation and rooms used by the Telegraph representatives be made available to them again. He also gave notice of a new standing order practically making it necessary for the House, and not the Speaker, to decide whether reporters shall be denied admnjsion.

WILLIS, THE ARBITER, A PERFECT PANDEMONIUM. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent). Wellington, Last Night. Some interesting remarks on the situation are made by a Sydney pressman in a letter to a journalist friend in Wellington. "I reported," he says, "the kicking out of Cohen with much gusto. It was my first sight of such an occurrence. The House is a perfect and continuous pandemonium . We watch Mr. Willis like a cat watches a mouse. Every hour we get a new ruling on some point or other. I'll give you an idea of the torture to which he is subjected by the Liberals. Two members (names 'omitted) sit close together and- just about five_ feet from Mr. Willis, they make audible and very personal remarks. Again, there was a reference to an infernal machine, and somebody sent Mr. Willis a soda fountain sparklet. The writer goes on to say that on the day Parliament a certain Labor member wanted to introduce his wife to Mr. Willis, so that she could sit in the Speaker's gallery on the floor of the House. Mr. Willis declined to be introduced. The Labor member said: "My wife is a better man than you are any day!" and assaulted him bv'shakintr him bodily. Naturally Mr. Willis was heckled in the House about it, but he took no action. A Laborite can do anything. There used to be a press committee of the gallery, but they have not dared to meet this year. They addressed him a respectful note, which he promptly returned by the scrgeant-at-arms, with the curt intimation that he would have no intercourse with the committee. Mr Willis is sweetly sonorous in his "incisive "the hon. member has offended a third time." His voice has a charm all its own. An offence after the third time means ejection. You remember the excitement of the Hine charges? If you heard al] the allegations acrainst MiGriffiths, Minister for Public Works' you would agree that New Zealand would assuredly be electrified had thev been made against a New Zealand member." The Sydney correspondent of the Post writes: 'Undeterred by the announcement made recently by the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (Mr. Willis), the Sydney Da"i!v telegraph'has kept on freely rxpressin" its editorial mind in relation to the doing, of members of Parliament, and the actions and savings of Mr. Willis. It must be conceded that Mr. Willis has given abundant cause for comment of one kind or another. On Tuesday night, August 2.1, he ordered the removal of a member because that member would not or could not accept the Speaker's decision that he was introducing sectarianism into his speech, and was. therefore, out of order. In a leading article dealing with this last throwing out of a member, the Daily Telegraph stated: "Mr. Willis has made use of his unique position to play so many audacious tricks with the dignity of members that one of these outrages more or less may seem a matter of small consequence. What it comes to is that Mr. Willis now claims to be the arbiter of the subjects that Parliament may deal with. Mr. Cohen questioned his usurpation of that power, and was summarily ejected from the House, while the Government sat looking on, without raising a finger to protect the rights of the people's representative. The Speaker, however, is in the extraordinary position of being able to put the Government out of office as he puts an Opposition member out o' the House, which gives the whole explanation of this ignominious attitude." This was published on the Thursday morning, and shortly before the opening of that Afternoon's sitting of the Assemblv the Daily Telegraph found that Mr. Willis was carrying out his threat, that if a newspaper was considered to have stated false or libellous things about members of Parliament the representatives of that, newspaper might be refused admission to the galleries of Parliament House. No Daily Telegraph man was allowed in. In a memorandum which he handed to the Serjeant-at-Arms the Speaker set out that he hold the writers of the Daily Telegraph to have been "guilty of contempt in wilfully inciting lion, members to interrupt the orderly conduct of the business of (lie House." This reads absurdly like the familiar police court charge of incitement to a drunken man to resist arrest. Mr, Willis also declared the writers to have written things showing disrespect for the Speaker ami to have abused some press privileges by writing what he described as false and misleading thinsrs. When questioned in the House about his action in relation to the Daily Telegraph. Mr. Willis referred members to the Scrgeant-at-Arnis, as someone possessed of a memorandum which explained everything. He had to listen to such observations as "disgraceful." "barbarity" and "petty tyrrany" by members. '