The well-known dandy Jackson Palmer, Member of Parliament for Waitemata, plays to the ladies' gallery in 1893. The ladies' gallery was located opposite the Speaker, supposedly not to distract Members of Parliament when speaking.
'Can't understand all this fuss they're making over radiation!' On 4 February 1985 the New Zealand Labour government refused the USS Buchanan entry on grounds that the United States would neither confirm nor deny that the ship had nuclear capability.
For centuries, politics and Parliament have been the subject of public comment, satire and humour. Almost since the beginning, New Zealand's Parliament has been portrayed through the eyes of cartoonists, whose work appeared in newspapers and magazines.
In this Nevile Lodge cartoon, which appeared in the Evening Post in 1973, the new prime minister, Norman Kirk, and his deputy, Hugh Watt, are discussing the problems the new Labour government faces.
'The Summit at Last' An engraving from the New Zealand Graphic, 21 July 1894, depicts a woman holding a flag that reads: 'Perfect Political Equality'. A man is helping her up to what is labelled the 'Parliamentary Heights'.
The parties to the Gleneagles Agreement agreed to discourage and not to support contact or competition with sporting organisations, teams or sportsmen from South Africa or any other country where sports were organised on the basis of race, colour or ethnic origin.
Premier Richard Seddon sleeps at the Table of the House while the Old-age Pensions Bill is in Committee of the Whole House on the night of 23 September 1898.
This Eric Heath cartoon, which appeared in the Dominion in September 1981, illustrated how the nation divided into two distinct camps regarding the tour.
Reform leaders William Massey and James Allen head for Bellamy's to celebrate their victory over the Liberals and their assumption of government in 1912.
For most of
their history, the Olympic Games welcomed only those who competed for pleasure
and spurned all monetary rewards. Until the late 20th century, officials
pursued professionals far more vigorously than drug cheats.
'Better not interfere old boy, he might lose his temper'. President Sukarno of Indonesia threatens a surprised-looking looking President of Malaysia in the background, while, in the foreground, Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia, is advising New Zealand Prime Minister, Keith Holyoake, that any interference could cause trouble.
In 1977 National Business Review cartoonist Bob Brockie captured the public disquiet over the constitutional propriety of Prime Minister Muldoon appointing a serving minister (Sir Keith Holyoake) Governor-General.
No satirist could resist the temptation to draw the obvious conclusions from Members of Parliament talking a lot of hot air in the stuffy and poorly ventilated Parliament Buildings during the 1930s.
There was a sharp edge to the cartoons that touched on public attitudes towards politics and politicians, especially as cartoonists themselves sought to offer a social commentary in their work.
Astute observers of Parliament were found inside the House as well as outside. In the 1850s and 1860s, Member of Parliament Alfred Domett captured the foibles and habits of his fellow parliamentarians, preserving them in a small sketchbook.
Anything new in the House came in for comment in the newspapers. In 1933 when Elizabeth McCombs took her seat as the first woman in Parliament, there was much fussing about what she would wear.
The cartoonist for the New Zealand Herald recognised the irony of a new Speaker's chair being presented to Parliament in 1951 at a time when the buildings themselves were in disrepair.
Like salaries and 'perks', the behaviour of Members of Parliament in the chamber of the House has featured prominently in cartoons. The 19th-century politician Robert Stout had a reputation for being a windbag and talking endlessly in convoluted and erudite speeches that drove his colleagues to distraction.
Cartoonists and illustrators have a field day with distinctive physical characteristics of politicians. Weight, nose, hairstyle, beards or any particular style of dress are played up.
Parliamentarians' favourite subjects appeared in cartoons. T.K. Sidey campaigned long and hard for the introduction of daylight saving in the early 1900s, and his New Zealand Local Time Bill became a hardy annual in the House.
Parliamentarians' so-called perks were fair game. Salaries, travel allowances, meals at Bellamy's and many other things became the butt of humour and a form of criticism when people thought that Members of Parliament had too much of a good thing.
