PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHES. [BY TELEGRAPH, FROM OUR WELLINGTON CORRESPONDENT.]

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1432, 6 September 1881, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHES. [BY TELEGRAPH, FROM OUR WELLINGTON CORRESPONDENT.]

Elemental Strife in Parliament. What bus been aptly dubbed a "motion m.ide without notice " occurred in Parliament at an early hour of Thursday morning. The surrounding circumstances communicntt.d to ur are as follow: — At 2 a.m. the aspect of affairs had become doleful and demoralised in the extreme : A small straggling 1 house, barely sufficient to fulfil the requirements of a Parliamentary quorum, was being held together •with great difficulty. The upper portion of the establishment was limited to a single nondescript, who represented the great unwanhed, and a drowsy -looking newspaper reporter, in the person of your correspondent, keeping nightly vigil in the Press gallery, two-thirds of the "sitting members" lying stretched on the benches fact asleep, and the remainder moping about in silent protest against the abuse of Parliamentary privilege and excessive strain of physical endurance. Even the lights seemed to enter into the spirit of the protest, burning as they did with that yellow glimmer peculiar to foul air and bad ventilation. Reeves, of West Coast notoriety, was holding forth, demolishing one of the many phantoms which usually haunt his heated imagination, when suddenly, and without the slightest warning, the entire building appeared to enter bodily into the spirit of the mischief, and there and then gave a lurch from side to aide, as if convulsed with laughter at the fun carried on within, electric bells and sounding wires tinkled, joists and weathcrboardmgs creaked, and gave forth other symptoms of glee peculiar to the architectual order of things. The effect was magnetic if not magical. Headed by the tall portly form of the speaking member, all the others alive to the occasion made for the door, their retreat being more rapid than regular. There they got muddled up together, and coming to a standstill, looked over their shoulders with scared gaze to contemplate probable consequences. The lantern dome overhead ■was the great point of attraction, the plate glass ivindows of xvhich in byegone day* having earned an evil repute by falling out to the , imminent danger and dismay of such as happened to lie seated below. At a second shock the scared n|s yr\ib ©»c accord robed put-

side, and when next seen they were peering in from behind the half closed door, perfect pictures of consternation. In the meantime it fared even worse with the recumbent forms inaide the chamber. One aristocratic member of southern fame had wrapped himself securely up in a splendid oppossum rug, lined inside with vermillion, and striped outside with the brands of the tiger. Roused by the commotion he tried to kick himself out of his covering, and in doing so succeeded in getting his legs and arms clean through the seams and lining, and thus entangled he rolled over, alighting on the floor beneath an intricate contrivance of benches and forms. 'Jo escape from the labyrinth he had to creep on hands and knees across the floor, and in the effort the rug adjusted itself on his back with the utmost possible precision, the tail flappers and other appendages arranging themselves in most exquisite natural order. Emerging from his crouching position thus disguised, the member* who had not witnessed the original cause of the mishap naturally enough jumped to the conclusion that a fine manly specimen of the Royal Bengal Tiger had got in amongst them, and until the real facts became known the earthquake panic was wholly lost sight of in the fancied calamity consequent upon this fresh alarm. Of course there were other bits of comedy enacted on the occasion — -The member for Cheviot had improvised a nightcap out of his particolored handkerchief, knotted round the corners to suit the ample proportions of his intellectual organ. In his hurry to escape he forgot to dive->t himself of his head Rear, and to the amusement cf euch as had presence of mind left to enjoy the joke, he was Been rushing through the iobbies in search of a safe rotreal, the attitude being that of the circus clown in cap and bellH. Saunders is a man of deep religious convictions, but at present his mind is slightly disturbed, and you have only to ask him " who's your hatter to get him to fLiro up like an unregenerated heathen of the gutter stamp. Grey and Swanson to the Fore. Grey and Swanson had a " round turn" at each other n few nights ago. By way of keeping his Nelson protege* in countenance in their stonewalling operations, Grey started off at the clo?e of the afternoon's sitting with one of his usual stock speeches. The occasion was favorable for a grand gallery oration. The galleries (more especially the one assigned to the general public) were crammed. 'Before proceeding, the Kawau Knight saw his opportunity, and launched out in the old strain of the "horny-handed sons of toil," the great governing families of the Middle Island, and the rapacious doings of the one in swallowing up at a gulp the landed estate of the people, to the prejudice of the latter. He piled the agony yards high, and it is not saying too much to add that the auditory to whom he made his bow listened with gaping mouths and rapt attention. Warming into the subject, he proposed traversing ground beyond what the Chairman ruled to be legitimate to the debate. So enraged was the old gentleman on being called to order that he launched out in bold anathema at the head of the Chairman, denouncing him as a partisan of the Government, and one who exercised gross tyranny, and by way of giving the tirade the effect an abrupt termination not infrequently imparts, he announced his intention of sitting down, as a great moral protest against the Chairman's interference. He did not do so, however, until Swanaon had succeeded in detecting one or two grave breaches in the lion, gentleman's speech. Measured by his usual performances, "Willie," as he is familiarly named waa rather more than equal to the occasion. He showed conclusively that while Grey denounced tho leasehold franchise in unmeasured terms the chairman of the central committee, Cfipt, McKenzie by name, had waited on him (Grey) a short time before he left Auckland, and the latter in the presence and healing of him (Swanson), in reply to Mr McKen/ie'H demands, most distinctly promisied that he would give the leasehold qualification his support. The assertion was so very direct as a challenge, that Grey couJd not help takiug it up, but he did so in such a shifting manner that plainly shewed that in dealing with the subject at all he had reckoned without his host. The wind-up was in deed and truth a miserable denouement to what at one tune promised to be a thrilling effect. Swanson in other respects was very good. Grey had been quoting 1 largely from Carlyle on the moral bounties of honest povery, and at one time became so very pathetic as to threaten to draw tears from the eyes of his listeners. Swnnaon disposed of the honest poverty problem with all its poetical delusions in a breath, •'If the poor man," said he, "would take my advice, he would throw all that trash about ' honest poverty' to the winds and accumulate a bit of money by the shortest means consistent with good Government," then by way of crowning Ins argument, (and in this he was most effective) he told them he had every possible respect both for tho character and writings of Carlyle, and if he read his character and writings aright no man could possibly have had a greater contempt for the clap-trap nonsdiiae uttered by Grey, and the shams sought to be perpetrated by him, than the writer in question. Swanson did his part admirably, and was rewarded with repeated rounds of applause from the floor of the House. More than that, he succeeded in bringing a good big house and keeping it together, which was the more astonishing as members were so much worn out that they had no relish for Grey's remarks, a house having had to be called for him during the delivery of his harangue.