Review of Reviews, 119106. 



History of the Month. 



217 



A 



Party 

 Vote. 



.1 which provoked contempt. The language used 



b) some of the members savoured more of the 



I piiblic-house than ParHament House. The exhibi- 



l tion was a pitiable one. It was incongruous to 



i' hi-ar a man who was summoned to the Bar for 



using forcible language criticised in terms that could 



lit- described as forcible only because they savoured 



of the worst traditions of Billingsgate. 



It became very soon evident that 

 justice was not to be done. The 

 Premier moved that the reverend 

 gentleman should be censured, and 

 the Opposition and the Third Partv opposed it. 

 The whole community stands solidly with these 

 I wo sections in its endeavours to secure justice in 

 this struggle for free speech. But anyone could 

 prophesy ten minutes after the motion was launched, 

 that if it were carried it would not be by the con- 

 victions of members, but by a party vote. What a 

 travesty of justice, this ! Even Sir Samuel Gillott 

 acted as his own judge in the matter, when ordinary 

 good taste would have suggested leaving it to others. 

 One Government member, convinced of the folly 

 and wrong of the whole proceeding, walked out of 

 the Chamber rather than vote with the Opposition. 

 " What is the right, and where is justice in a (House) 

 like this?" 



The motion was carried. The 

 * **'" Speaker censured the reverend 



Tree Speech, gentleman, and the House ad- 

 joumed, sick aid ashamed of itselt. 

 Tf a general election had taken place during the 

 next we<:-k, the Government would have been 

 sneered out of existence. The censure is nothing 

 in the wav of disgrace. Indeed, it is an honour. 

 Neither the charge of Sir Samuel Gillott's lax ad- 

 ministration nor the past negligence and delay of 

 Parliament in introducing refonn were defended, 

 or proved to be unfounded. Indeed, they were 

 Tather substantiated. It was a sorry spectacle. The 

 State shares in the woeful exhibition. But the 

 right of criticism is established. Never again will 

 the Victorian Parliament make such a blunder, and 

 never will it resort to such questionable forms of 

 speech in condemnation of free speech. 



Whatever nrav lie the intention of 



' Ye'oid It '^^ Government with regard to 



Not." future legislation — and it is too early 



vet to know what its intention really 

 is — it deserves the severest castigation for past in- 

 nctivitv. Last vear there was abundance of time 

 to put through the Lower House the Bill to sup- 

 press gambling which originated in the Upper 

 House : but the Government made no attempt what- 

 ev( r to put it through. Social evils have been the 

 last thing to be thought of. and valuable time has 

 been spent over matters of minor importance, or else 

 •wasted in emptv talk. On the charge of " Inasmuch 



'^"^>)%Si5^S<'- 





The Bulletin.'i 



Tarred and Feathered. 



The Victorian Assembly carried the third reading of the 

 Bill to abolisli ex-Premier Iceberg Irvine'a Separate Repre- 

 sentation of Civil Servants without one dissenting vote. This 

 practically abolishes the last of Irvine's legislation. 



BENT: "In fact, I might say, we are removing our old 

 friend Irvine off the premises for good." 



Both Houses of the Victorian Parliament have passed the 

 Separate Kepresentation Repeal Bill. 



as ye did it not," the Victorian Parliament stands 

 hopelessly condemned, while Sir Samuel Gillott, as 

 the head of the Department concerned with the 

 liquor traffic and gambling evil, the man w'ho should 

 have taken these things in hand, and whose business 

 it is to initiate legislation to proj>erly control public 

 concerns, is the arch political culprit. " The titled 

 bit of administrative incapacity," a term used by the 

 Rev. R. Ditterich at one of the indignation meet- 

 ings, is so peculiarly apt and correct that it deserves 

 to have pennanent record. 



Rarely has any comniLinily been 

 shaken to its foundations as Victoria 

 has been during the last three 

 months. Social reform has become 

 the burning question. Meetings which surpass in 

 numbers those of the celebrated Torrey-Alexander 

 Mission are the order of the day. The whole com- 

 nuniitv has been aroused, and the thrill has been 

 felt even in the remotest and tiniest centres of the 

 State, and, indeed, all over .\ustralasia. There is 

 no doubt that the introduction of the Licensing Bill 

 and the proposed Anti-Gambling Bill are the result 

 of popular clamour. It is just an illustration of the 

 power of King Demos when he takes the trouble to 



An 

 Ethical 

 Revival. 



