The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1903. RECRIMINATIONS AMONG SEDDONIAN LEGISLATORS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 1278, 27 November 1903, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1903. RECRIMINATIONS AMONG SEDDONIAN LEGISLATORS.

The Premier has managed to pack the Legislative Council with his own pets, but they do not seem to be the happiest people to live amongst or to have to do with. Indeed, they are very liable to fall out among themselves, and when they do «o their speech tends more to heart-burning than to edification. When the Industrial Conciliation Bill was byfore the Council' in the early part of this mont'i several of the Councillor-} whose presence in the gilded Chamber is supposed, to be due to the influence of Labour, fell foul of each other, and thq instructive speeches they-.,were at pains to deliver on the occasion were duly recorded in the., pages, of "Hansard,"' and are now before us. In discussing the measure, the Honourable Twomey, of Temuka, and Trask, of Nelson, ventured to express the opinion that labour legislation had gone far enough for the present. This mittled anai'ier lonourabo gentleman-,., Mr Rigg—who apparently aspires to a seat in the other Chamber at the next general election, by virtue of his command "of "U'e-M-aboav'vote-When his opportunity came, at the end of the dabate, he assailed his abovenamed colleagues in i!\ following ftioii-ion-^"The Hon. Mr Trask thinks that labour-legislation has gone far enough, and ought to stop now —that there is quite enough of it to la it us -lor the nex twenty years. . . . The Hon. Mr I'wOmey went further, for he not only opposes legislation oi this kind, but says that the aspirations of labour should be checked. , . . it does not seem to

occur to the honourable gentleman that the Labour parity might find it necessary to check his aspirations. The most powerful political force in the colony is that of the workers, and if the honourable gentleman declares himself the enemy of their aspirations—he has only about one more year of his term in office in this Council—doep it not occur to him tihat it is most indiscreet that he should declare that their aspiration^ should be checked?'

This brought, the Speaker to his feet, who told Mr Rigg that* he should not

.cIJ out anything like a throat to another honourable gentleman. Mr Rigg declared that he had no intention of holding out a threat, but it seemed to him:that indiscreet remarks such as Mr Twomey had made might hare the effect of causing the Labour party of the colony to check his aspirations.

Sir A. J. Cadman, erstlwhile Minister of Railways in the Seddon Government, here interposed, and asked: "How will they do it?" *

To which Mr Rigg, in the course of his reply, observed that the Labour party was a power tlhat could remove i anyone from Parliament. Having said this much, Mr Rigg went on to vent his carefully-prepared splenatic remarks upon the two legislators whom he had specially signalled out for attack. Among other things, he said: "I have found, in my weary pilgrimage through life, that the greater the eiutmy of the working man, the closer has been the association of such a person with the kerbstone and the gutter. . .. . The motives of Nature are inscrutable, and therefore we are left to wonder why such people are produced on earth ; but, as we are accustomed to believe that all that Nature does is for the best, we have to class them along- with the stoats and weasels and the poiotvts and oiitor pests of that kind. It may be that intends such persons as an example of all that decent people should avoid, and^, if so; then there is some reason dor their existence."

MrTwonuiy rose to his f..<i.t the nnment Mr Rigg sat down, and claimed to be, and to have been, as much a friend of labour js ever the latter was. What he had said was that it was desirable to moderate our legishtion with regard to labour lest we kill the goose that laid the golden «(gg. And be flung back

upon Mr Rigg the latter's remark in the Council in a former session, that "the business of the worker was to do as little work as he could and *jetv as much wages as he could."

In no wise ashamed of his utterance, Mr Rigg ejaculated "Hear, hear."

Mr Twomey followed on—"I am reminded of a stanza 'of poetry which fits the position. It is as foHows : —

Were I to live for a thousand ages And dress my name in a suit of rhyme, I ne'er would strike for a rise of wages, But cheat my master half the time.

The morality of the honourable gentleman is worse than this. He would cheat his master and at the same time strike for a rise of wages; so his morals are woi"e than the morals laid down in this funny doggerel." Further on in his speech Mr Twomey made the following direct charge against Mr Rigg—"l am possessed of knowledge which makes the threat that my aspirations would be checked at the end of next session, when my term will expire* more real than perhaps honourable gentlemen are aware. 1 know a" geution*.-. who was once a member of this Council, but on the expiration of hfs term he was overlooked. Now, tthat gentleman says that the man who caused him to be left out was Mr Rigg; that Mr Rigg went to Mr Seddon and threatened Mr Seddon with the opposition of J!eL<i'bbur par.y of he reappointed him. It is the same threat that he has held out.to me today—that he will go to Mr Seddon and threaten Mr Seddon with the Labour party if he reappoirits me."

At the close of Mr Twomey's speech Mr Rigg said there was not one atom of truth in the statement that he approached the Premier .in... regard either to any man who was to be appointed to the Council or to any man who had been appointed.

We pass over Mr Trask's speech, which was indignant but feeble, and give an extract* from that of Mr Cameron, Avho said —"I had no particular share in this episode; but still lam not prepared to, let it pass without having a word or two to say., A more ill-advised or more un-called-for attack than that made by the Hon. Mr Rigg on the Hon. Mr Twomey and the Hon. Mr Trask I-have never heard. I. think the honourable gentleman's speech '.was a speech that did no credit to this Council. It was a distinct threat held over the heads of the honourable gentlemen in question. But- it does not end there. That threat, I hold, applies to every gentleman in the Council. For Aye are told plainly that if a man dares on the floor of this Council to express his true and honest opinions ; concerning the Labour party 'he will be called to account for it; and probably will noti be reappointed. ■. That is the.'dictum laid.' befojre us to-daj,rand I, for one, cannot sit still and allow the honourable member, no matter how friendly I may be towards him, to hold throats of that kind over me. The Hon. Mr Twomey said that certain aspirations should be checked. Why, the Premier, the leader of iJie Labour party, has said a great deal more than that from his place in the; other Chamber. He has told the labour .people that- they were riding their legislation to death. What comes from him, of course, may nok be criticised, but because a gentleman in this Council expressed merely the opinion that their aspirations' should be checked, he is to be attacked, and absolutely threatened that in all probability he will not receive reappointment when ins term of office expires. The honourable gentkonan cannot confine his threats to one or tavo individuals—they apply to the whole of us, and the Council as a whole has a. right to resent them."

The Attorney-General (the Hon. Mr Pitt) at tne close of the debate endeavoured to soothe the angry feelings of the Labour members of thei Council, by telling them that Ife was quite sure that the Governmen had no wish to lay it down as a principle that any honourable gentdeman who might have been called by it to the Council should be expected "to register his vote in accordance with the wishes or opinions of the! Ministry.

This was very nice of Mr Pitt, and we have no doubt that he honestly meant what he said. But the question the short-term Legislative Councillors have to face is not what-Mr Pitt says or what the Ministry expects—but what Mr Sed-

don claims