SCENE IN COMMONS

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1921, Page 7

SCENE IN COMMONS

■ TURBULENT MEMBERS. EXCHANGE OF BLOWS. London, Nov. 20. 'A wild and turbulent scene, in which Mr. J. Devlin took the chief part, and which led to the suspension of the sitting, occurred in the House of Commons at the conclusion of Sir Hamar Greenwood’s dramatic recital of the terrible murder of British officers in the Irish capital on Sunday. As soon as Sir Hamar had finished Mr. Devlin rose to put a supplementary question. His rising was the sign for an immediate tumult of shouting. Angry cries of “Sit down” echoed through the House, and eventually the member for Falls resumed his seat. The Speaker at once called on Sir W. Davison, who asked for fresh legislation to provide that any one found in any disturbed area in the possession of arms without a permit should be shot. When the Premier had answered, Mr Devlin rose again, to be received once more with still angrier cries of “Sit down.” Some of the more sanguinary spirits shouted, “Kill him.” Mr Devlin remained standing and in a momentary lull declared his intention of continuing to do so. He wanted to ask the Prime Minister why nothing had been said about military interference with a football match in Dublin. “SEEING RED.”

Major Melson, the Coalition Unionist, who sits for Gainsborough, is a mild and inoffensive member as a rule, but, as he explained, the recital ofJSinn Fein atrocities caused him to “see red.” Suddenly rising from his seat below where Mr Devlin stood, he grasped the latter round the neck, and in a moment they were inextricably locked in a combat. Whether the major was making for Mr. Devlin’s head with his fist, or whether he merely intended to haul him■ to his seat, cannot be said precisely, but the fact remains that he had his arm round Mr. Devlin, and was speedily pulling him down, when friends and foes intervened. But not before Mr. Devlin had struck home. He aimed a blow at Major Molson’s head, and landed his fist in the face of Mr. Higham. In a moment a miniature Donnybrook was let loose among twenty odd mem-, bers seated near “the ring.” Mr. T. P. O’Connor, active despite his 70 odd years, seized his young lieutenant by the coat and sought to free him from Major Molson’s grip. Colonel C. Lowther and Mr. Hogge hurried round from their respective seats on the front benches with the object of separating the combatants, hut they had been forestalled by Sir H. Brittain, who was sitting below Mr. Devlin,' and who used his best endeavours not only to pacify the combatants, but to calm his friend, Mr. J. Jones, who had hurried out from the darkness underneath the gallery with the intimation that if anybody wanted a fight he was there to oblige. “KILL HIM.”

“Kill him' Kill him!” came from other members, whose participation in the disgraceful scene took the form of “shouts outside.” From the surging little mob below the gangway the dishevelled head of Mr. Devlin gradually emerged. He had never once lost his balance, and’he stood upon his feet again, his coat and waistcoat torn open in the fray, slipping down over his left shoulder and offering a good display of shirt.

He struck me in the face,” he shouted, as soon as lie had regained his breath. / “Is this your English courage and your English chivalry, to attack one man in six hundred?” The melee subsided, and the House, realising the gravity of the situation, grew suddenly tense and calm, and the Speaker announced “The sitting is suspended.” The sitting was resumed in a quarter of an hour. Major Molson rose, and in a fejv simple and obviously sincere words offered an apology to Mr. Devlin and to the House. Mr. Devlin rose and accepted the apology, and having done so, went on to appeal to the Speaker, as the custodian of the rights of the minorities, to see that these were safeguarded. It is generally admitted that things might have been worse had it not been for the restraining influence of a few members, among them Sir H. Brittain, Sir W. Joynson-Hicks, and Sir J. Remnant. These managed to induce some of the Labor members, who were eager to intervene on behalf of Mr. Devlin, to keep on their own side of the gangway. Had they not been successful, it is probable that the “free fight” of 1893 would have been eclipsed. Opinion seems pretty general that Mr. Devlin was very provocative, perhaps intentionally so. His question was strictly in order, but his manner—especially his reference to the murder of the officers as “these things”—was most offensive. The short disturbance was not without its humorous side. When Major Molson had his arms round Mr. Devlin, the Irishman hit out, but his blow fell on the jaw of Mr. Higham, who was taking no part in it; whereupon, another Irishman, looking on from the other side of the House, observed to a neighbour: “There’s reprisals for you.”