of the principle that measures of that nature could be taken in hand by private members as well as by Ministers.
Mr. Seddon was so incensed at this that he adjourned the House for an afternoon, saying that he would have to consider the Government’s position.
The Bill went to the Legislative Council; but there it met with determined and unveiled hostility. The Council decided that the scheme should be laid aside because no opportunity had been given to consider its scope and operation and its effect on existing benefit societies; its financial proposals were unsatisfactory; it was not based on carefully prepared estimates or actuarial calculations; it was practically a form of conditional relief, open to the risk of great injustice in administration, and should be considered with the whole question of charitable aid. The Bill was therefore dropped for that session.
Parliament, knowing Mr. Seddon’s determination, was not surprised to see the Old Age Pensions Bill on the order-paper in 1898. It was his third and final attempt. There was another stormy passage in committee of the House. The opposition displayed by opponents was dogged and obstinate, but not as dogged and obstinate as Mr. Seddon himself. It was on this occasion that he had the great battle to fight. The House sat uninterruptedly in committee for nearly ninety hours, and more than 1,400 speeches were made.
Mr. Seddon’s strength seemed almost to give way. For a long time, in the small hours of the morning, he would sit in the chair, with his head fallen forward and his arms crossed on his chest, more than half asleep, while the droning of a member’s speech fell on his ears.
After one of those all-night sittings, the House presented a worn-out appearance. When members reassembled after breakfast, the floors were dusty and strewn with papers, as if a paper-chase had taken place around all the desks and had ended at the Premier’s chair, where a snowdrift of paper had piled up. The chamber bore many signs of having been used as a dormitory during the night. Almost every bench had a ministerial grey blanket or an opposition or independent rug huddled into one corner, and cushions were lying about in confusion. Members were still to be seen endeavouring to snatch an hour’s rest.
