The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1901.

Waikato Argus, Volume XI, Issue 1049, 16 September 1901, Page 2

The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1901.

JThe civilised world mourns to-day the [tragic ond of the life of the elected ahead of a great nation, and this feelling is as acute throughout the British Empire as within the borders of the great Republic which has been deprived of the services of its chief by the hand of an anarchist —prompted to the deed by organised bands of men, instinct with the savage nature of the beast of prey, and possessed of as little power of reasoning. This time their victim is not an hereditary ruler, but one elected by the votes of the people. What more can reasonable men ask than that the man who is to preside over their destinies and those of their nation shall be elected by themselves, and in addition his powers be so restricted by law that he can only act in accordance with the will of the people, as expressed by the members of the two branches of legislature, who are also appointed by the votes of the people. If a man or body of men are suffering from a disease calculated to spread to others there is no hesitation on the part of the authorities of jany country to isolate them till they! either die or are no longer a source of danger to their fellow men. Results! have proved that the genus anarchist! is a source of danger, bis mind is! put of balance, and homicide appears! to it the one cure for real or! imaginary ills inflicted by any! possible form of Government, and! this hallucination by means of his writing and speaking spreads to others. To-day there are organised bodies composed of this stamp of madman in nearly every country, and if the death of President McKinley leads to the suppression of such societies and the rigid imprisonment of their members he will note have died altogether in vain.| In every country a criminal lunatic! is kept in confinement during the pleasure of the ruling power. What is required is to take preventive action and at once put any professing anarchist or member of an anarchist body under restraint. The belief that! the murder of prominent public men! will mend the ills of nations is surely! sufficient evidence of insanity in a| very dangerous form. This is, per-| haps, hardly an opportune time toi remind the American people that ini a greater degree than any other! nation they have knowingly allowed! the use of dynamite, the fire-stick,! aud the pistol to be openly advocated! as a proper means of rectifying the ills of the world, or of any particular portion of it. They have now had a third experience of the danger incidental to such laxity. A third i President has fallen a victim to the pistol of the assassin. They nevertheless have the sympathy of every sane man in the world, and of none in a greater degree than that which is extended to them by the people of New Zealand.

| WHEN the House of Representatives | takes any action to safe-guard its I privileges it invariably suffers in digs nity and causes the whole population s to smile. A Dunedin paper published | the proceedings of a committee, which | is against the rules of Parliament. I The reporter who furnished the news) i to his paper wrote to the Speaker to | the effect that the evidence .was pub-| iflished in the public interests, and not| I with any desire of transgressing the | wishes ot the House. He suggested I that the proceedings of select cornI mittees should be thrown open to the| I Press. Mr Seddon moved that the | House accept the expression of regret | and that the House proceed no fur-j Itherintbe matter. He added that! I members had been in the habitj | of giving reporters information as toj | what went on before committees, and I the case in question was the outcome | of this practice, and he (the Premier) I believed that it was in the interest! | of the public that evidence in these! | dredging cases should have been! | published. The reporter refused toj I give the source of his information. I This was strictly in accordance wilhj Sjourualistic etiquette, and if it were from, respectable journals Ijwould often be unable to procure iinforraation, which, in the interests) I of the country, should be published. | It must be remembered also that the) i offence could not have been com] imittedjhad it not been for the un-| conduct of a member! i|or a breach of faith on the parti |of the clerk of the Committee] ijl’lic case has raised the question as lot iwhether the proceedings of Select® JCommittees should not bo open to yjPress, Any man who gives evidence* such Committee is protected! Hjfrom consequence, provided he tellsl |lhe truth, he therefore can have no| pvalid claim for tho protection whicb| (isecrecy affords. There may, off. icourse. be Committees set up, the| of which it is important,| |?for State reasons, should not bo mado| Ipublic, these could be specially dealt! | with by the House when appointed. | |The worst feature of tho business is| |that at least two working days have! wasted in discussing as to what| _juld be done with the offending! Iroporter. It has at last been decided! |to fine him £ls for refusing to answer | jja question which he could not answer I committing a broach of faith, u Ifhere is a bright side to the business, | |and that is that the order forbidding | Ithe publication of evidence given | ibofore Committees is likely to be f Irescinded. It will be noted that therel fare two more cases of privilege to be| Mealt with, both manifestly raised,! fnot for the defence of the dignity of|

;Parliament, but prompted by thet, "pure cussedness of the movers of the ]