Untitled

West Coast Times, Issue 308, 18 September 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

The circumstance of the Speaker of the House of Representatives having been summoned, during the session, to appear at the Resident Magistrates Court, Nelson, has given 'use to action being taken on the subject of Parliamentary privilege. The," New Zealand Advertiser" says :—": — " Having searched out precedents on which May says, in his Treatiso on - Parliament, that " meinbei's df Parliament may be coerced by every legal process, oxcept attachment of their bodies, the committee proceeded to review i the system adopted in the United States, and the privileges conferred upon members by the Act of last session, by I which it would appear that members have a privilege of exemption from being inipleaded in the civil jurisdiction of the Resident Magistrate's Court. But being of opinion that the law, as regards privilege, in reference to the process of the Courts in New Zealand, is not altogether -satisfactory, and taking into consideration the scattered population of this colony, and the great distance of the vai'ious Courts from the Seat of Government, which would render personal attendance very inconvenient, and the absence of members detrimental to the public service, they recommend that an Act should be passed declaring the privileges of members of the Assembly, in respect to the process of the Civil Courts, and that the prh ilege should be confined to de-. laving the proceeding of Civil Courts to those cases°in which it i 3 satisfactorily shown that their personal attendance is required for the proper administration of justice, and that the delay should only be authorised to extend to the termination of the session, and for a reasonable time afterwards. Leave has been • granted to bring this Bill in." »

Wo do not know how niauy Tasmanians thcro are on tho West Coaßfc; but to those who are hero, the following anecdote of Mr Charles Meredith, tho Colonial Treasurer — one of the cleverest, and one of tho rn lest men in Van Diemen's Land, ami singular to say, the husband of a lady of wide literary roputation in England, the authoress of " Some of My Bush Friends in Tasmania," and other elegant /xnnpositions, will be thoroughly appreciated. We quote from tho " Launceston Examiner, of tho 22nd irit. : — "There ar° such things as boomerangs in practical Ufa which when cast at others come back and strike tho thrower. Mr Charles Meredith, in his usual coarse and clumsy way, endeavored to fix an epithet upon an opponent^ but so appropriate was the term to tho speaker, .that it returned andTattaohed itself to him. Henceforth the Colonial Treasurer wul be known as the 'impudent baby.' Politically speaking his impudence is unbounded, while Ida knowledge of government, economical science, the incidence of taxation, aud other cognate topics, is tha!; of a mere ' baby.' We quote the report : — ' The Treasurer said when he was a boy lie was always fond of fablos (ho is still subject to the same weakness), and he remembered- one about a fairy who had granted three wishes to a lady who was about to bo brought to bed. The lady prayed that the child should ,be three things. What'i* the first ? said the fairy. Impudence ! replied the lady. And the second? Impudence! And the third ? Still impudence. Now, from childhood he never could learn what became of that impudent baby. Mr Swan. — It became a Treasurer (laughter).' Sheridan, in the Ilouse of Commons, was very much offended by a dunce of a member calling out 'Hear, hear,' after every few sentences the orator uttered, and he was determined to abate tho nuisance. Ho rapidly sketched the character of a placeman, and apparently about the middle of his speech abruptly asked, ' And where shall we find a greater rogue, or a more arrant fool ?' ' Hear, hear,' shouted the claquer. Sheridan slowly turned to the '

honorable member and made him a very low bow, and sat down, amidst an overwhelming burst of laughter. 3NTow, Mr Swan did the thing just as neatlyj and whether he intended it or not, Mr Charles Meredith till the' day of his death will be known as the ' impudent baby.' "

The third of the four " bas-reliefs" cast by Mr C. Summers for the pedestal of the Burke" and Wills statue, at the "junction of Collins and Stephen streets, Melbourne, has been fixed in its panel. The Bubject is the discovery of King amongst the blacks at Cooper's Creek, by the relief party under Mr Howitt.