The morning news., 1888-07-19

4
from the reporters gallery. One of their
number, immediately on the appointment
of committee Ito consider the admission
| OF strangers, wrote to its chairman to beg,
at least, their admission to the lobby as
readily rs n the anti-dynamite panic days.
But Lord EbringtOn replied to go into this
question his committee would exceed It's in
structions, which had reference only to
strangers" The speaker had previously
expressed himself unable to comply with a
similar request because of the rules apply
ing to strangers" Thus. the committee re-
fused foreign journalists because they were
not strangers, and the speaker
because they were strangers" " And
now foreign correspondent
the Nj. P.'s, and beg 'orGers," which
II he is lucky enough to get them, will ad-
init him to the strangers gallery. Woe be
TO him, however, if he is detected making
notes by one Of the numerous officials who
lie in wait at all unexpected times and
places.
The joint committee of the two houses
has just decided against an official report of
the proceedings, and has refused to enter
tam the idea of subsidiZing a newspaper for
a report III full 1t recommends cOntinu-
alton of the old arrangement with Hansard,
| which in future shall include the house of
lords, as well as the commons.
FUN IN THE COMMONS.
Speaking of the galleries of the house re-
| minds me of ludiCrouS incident which oc-
| CURED the other evening Ladies were ad-
mitted only toa small gallery tho front of
| which is covered with an ornamental grille,
| or grating, which completely conceals them
| from other parts of the hall; the popular
| supposltlon being that the fair sex are thus
hidden lest their visible presence distract the
attention of the legislators from the strict
performance of their duties. On the even
! ing in question a lady came in with an
order from the sergeant-at-arms, but, being
unfamiliar with the locality a4d the rule
| and having no one with her to give her in
formation as to the place she should go, she
| wandered into the strangers gallery, and
calmly sat down to survey the scene. 1t
was just at the opening of the sitting, and
only few members were in the house but
| during prayers somebody on the floor discov-
cred the unwonted spectacle, the word was
| quickly rassed, and every eye was sfxed upon
| the unconscious intruder. Then one of
the officials discovered her. and there was a
| sudden hurrying to and fro sch as has
rarely been seen in the vicinity The
shocked and horritied doorkeepers rushed to
the strangers gallery in squanrons, and the
! unlucky lady was hustled with all possible
speed to her proper place behind the graf
| ing.
Reference to this unwonted scene in the
! house recalls anOthe" of a different sort,
| which, though not 50 unusual, was at least
as sensational. The time was between
midnight and the first hour of the morning,
when, after division on an amendment to
the local government bill, two young mem
bers entered the house. One was a torv,
the other home ruler; but they were of
| the same mind on one point. Both had
been dining" heavily, ana both wanted to
propose amendments to the wine tax
| Nearly all the papers made only guarded
reference to the incident, but one of the
evening journals, less discreet, reported the
two speeches verbatim in this wise the
house being in committee, with Mr.. Court
ney in the chair)
| First member-Mr. Courtney, sir! I've
| got suggestion t'make. | want know why
not insert "shparkleo into bill. Laughter
Wine does shparke, doesn't it! [Cheers
Mr. Courtney, | want know whats good of
taxing good lovely champagne, and letting
Off nashty cheap champagnes? [Hear.
Simple poison, sir. [Cheersl Sir, 1 must
| press for answer; thish serious mar, Mr..
Courtney, [Cheers and laughter Very
well, shall r'sume seat docs So
Second member-Sir: | think right hon.
gemman ought leave out "shparkling"
| [Cheers.l I've had special opportunities.
| [Laugter in which rest of the sentence
lostl Sir, hon. gemman-does any one
say isn't gemman? [Cheers and cries of or
derl Order yself Mis'r Cour'y, | blieve
! you're Shouts of applause, during which
member sits on his hat and retiresL
PARLIAMENT AND THE PRESS.
| Harking back to parliament and the
newspapers: The Times secured big
"beat" over its morning rivals the other
day by obtaining and publishing the report
| of the royal commission on education. The
commissioners have issued joint protest
against the printed summary, declaring it
! incomplete and incorrect in many imDor-
tant particulars, but it appeared in the com
mons on Thurs lay that the document Sc
cured by the Times was authentic, all the
same; and the commissioners Indignation
was proved to have been aroused bv the
surreptitious manner in which it was OBJ
tanned and the fact that the public was rer-
| mitted to have look at it before it was
presented to the home Office or the queen.
Mr. Mundella asked the home secretary
| during question time" the next day ''if
steps would be taken to avert in the future
such scandalOus proceedings" and Mr.. Tai
bot inquired "whether the government
were prepared to take measures to prevent
or punish such scandalous breaches of pub
lie confdencen whereupon Mr.. Matthews
replied that there was a bill before the
house which might possibly meet such cases,
but if not. he was not aware of any exist
ing machinery by means Of which they
COulQ Dc DuulSlou. % JU9 ItWcS mas UDe
best of it thus far. The ParnelliteS are the
only party i'll parliament whose private
meetings are not Immediately reported in
the papers. The proceedings of conserva-
tive consultation under Lord Salisbury'S
chairman,hip, and of the liberal unionists'
caucus presided over by Lord Harrington
Though both were held with closed doors,
and all the persons present were enjoined to
secrecy, were in type within two hours
after adjournment, and the speeches were
given at as much length as if they had |
been delivered in the house. Several of the |
CON nservatives who attended the first named |
meeting wrote TO the Times protesting
against "the garbled and even imaginary |
character of the report Of their remarks"
furnished in its news columns, whereuDon |
the paper replied cdi;orially that they had |
themselves TO blame for having excluded ,
the reporters And the general opinion is !
that the Times has the best of the contro-
versy. ED. A. PERRY.
nITETING IN PARIS