Die Hansard

Al ooit gewonder oor die oorsprong en konsep Hansard (woordelikse debatte in parlementte)? Die hele stelsel is in London, Engeland gebore, onder die Westminster stelsel. Suid-Afrika soos ander Britse statebondslande volg hierdie konsepte slaafs na.

Hierdie foto is van een van ‘n stel albums wat aan Eleazar Denning (1828-1904) gegee is.

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Hansard, Thomas Curson (1776–1833). Hansard se pa, Luke, het van Norwich gekom, as drukker in Londen opgerig en vanaf 1774 die Journals of the House of Commons gepubliseer.

Thomas Curson Hansard (1776-1833) was ‘n Engelse drukker en uitgewer wat allerweë as die vader van parlementêre verslaggewing beskou word. Hy is in Londen gebore en het in die vroeë 19de eeu ‘n drukker en uitgewer geword. Hansard het ‘n geleentheid gesien om woordelikse verslae van parlementêre debatte te lewer en het dit in 1812 begin publiseer.

Luke Hansard (Print Shop)2

Luke Hansard het as ‘n samesteller in 1772 vir die Londense drukker Henry Hughes begin werk. Hughes se besigheid is gedruk vir verskeie groot boekhandelaars, sowel as vir die Laerhuis, wat Hansard die perfekte geleentheid bied om sy kennis van beide die industrie en kontemporêre sake te bevorder. In 1794 het Hughes en Hansard ‘n vennootskap aangegaan, en in 1799 het Hansard die besigheid oorgeneem.

As drukker vir die Gemeenshuis verantwoordelik vir die publikasie van die joernale, waaraan hy nou saam met die speaker van die Huis gewerk het. Joernale word sedert die sestiende eeu vir beide Huise van die Parlement gehou, en is in wese die formele, gekorrigeerde besigheidsnotules van die vordering van wetgewing deur die Huise. Deur sy spoed en noukeurigheid in drukwerk het Hansard werk van ander staatsdepartemente verkry, en saam met sy seun Luke Graves het hy ‘n volledige reeks sessievraestelle georganiseer en geïndekseer (hierdie indeks is uiteindelik gepubliseer as ‘Katalogus van die Parlementêre dokumente, 1696– 1834, en is steeds in gebruik). Dit kom ook voor dat nie almal ten gunste was van die notulering van vergaderings in woord-tot-woord vorm nie.

Die verhaal volg ‘n komplekse en kronkelende reeks gebeure van ‘n finansiële, politieke en selfs kriminele aard.

Luke Hansard was die Britse regering se drukker in die 18de en 19de eeue. Hy het drie seuns gehad, van wie een Thomas Curson Hansard, bekend as TC, was wat die familiedrukkery in 1803 verlaat het om op sy eie rekening in Peterborough Court van Fleetstraat af te stig.

Terselfdertyd het William Cobbett begin met die vervaardiging van Cobbett se Parlementêre Debatte, die eerste gestruktureerde poging om die verrigtinge van die Britse Parlement op te teken. In 1809 het Cobbett aan Thomas Hansard die kontrak gegee om die debatte te druk. Dit was aan Hansard dat Cobbett hom ook in daardie jaar gewend het om ‘n pamflet te vervaardig waarin hy ‘n voorval veroordeel waarin Britse soldate weens muitery gegesel is, nadat hulle deur Duitse huursoldate bymekaargemaak en bewaak is. Die weermag was woedend, en die regering het genoeg gehad van Cobbett en die opruiende moeilikheid wat sy kenmerk was. Hy het baie moeite gedoen om ‘n doring in die oog van die stelsel te wees. Gevolglik is hy, Hansard en twee ander van opruiende laster aangekla en in 1810 in Westminster Hall tereggestel.

Soos baie voor hulle wat in daardie historiese omgewing verhoor is, insluitend William Wallace, Guy Fawkes en Charles I, is al drie skuldig bevind. Cobbett is twee jaar in die berugte Newgate-gevangenis gegee, en Thomas Curson Hansard is vir drie maande na die King’s Bench-gevangenis gestuur. In sy outobiografie het Luke gepraat van die ‘hartverskeurende skande’ van sy seun se gevangenisskap.

Cobbett se geldsake was in ‘n haglike toestand, en om geld in te samel, het hy sy belang in die debatte in 1812 aan Hansard verkoop. Onder Thomas se eienaarskap het die besigheid gefloreer. Die publikasie was aanvanklik gegrond op herdrukke van verslae van toesprake wat uit die pers uitgeroei is, maar met die lid nagegaan. Daarna het dit egter die oorspronklike werk van Hansard se eie verslaggewers geword. Die produk het voortgegaan om respek af te dwing as die mees outentieke en akkurate weergawe van parlementêre verrigtinge.

In 1829 het Thomas Curson Hansard besluit dat die titelblad sy naam moet dra. Dié naam sou een van Brittanje se minder bekende, maar blywende uitvoere word. In Kanada en Australië het Hansard die erkende titel van parlementêre verslae geword, aangesien parlemente in daardie lande die Westminster-model gevolg het en dit by hul eie behoeftes en omstandighede aangepas het.

In 1889 verkoop Hansard se seun, ook Thomas Curson, die outeursreg van die publikasie aan die Hansard Publishing Union, wat onder beheer was van die berugte Horatio Bottomley, een van die 19de eeu se mees bekwame bedrieërs. Die maatskappy het misluk en sake het van kwaad tot erger beweeg toe die Huis ‘n opeenvolging van kontrakteurs aangestel het wat tevergeefs probeer het om ‘n betroubare verslag te lewer. Teen hierdie tyd, soos deur een lid uitgewys is, het die parlemente van Frankryk, Duitsland, die Verenigde State en baie van die kolonies hul eie amptelike verslae van verrigtinge gehad, nadat hulle in sommige gevalle van private kontrakteurs afgesien het.

Een voorbeeld was die parlement van Victoria in Melbourne, Australië. Vanaf die totstandkoming van die Parlement in 1856 tot 1865 het die Melbourne Argus-koerant ‘n rekord van parlementêre debatte verskaf onder die titel Victorian Hansard. In daardie jaar is egter voorgestel dat die Parlement sy eie personeel in diens neem, en die nuwe reëling het vanaf 12 Februarie 1866 onder die flou titel Parlementêre Debatte in werking getree. Ou gewoontes sterf moeilik, en hier was geen uitsondering nie. Die nuutgestigte departement van die Parlement en die publikasie het steeds as Hansard bekend gestaan, wat vandag nog die geval is.

In 1907 het dit gelyk of die geskiedenis homself herhaal. Die Laerhuis in Westminster het ‘n Gekose Komitee tot stand gebring om die reëlings vir die rapportering van sy verrigtinge te ondersoek en aanbevelings te maak. Tydens die afneem van getuienis van ‘n wye verskeidenheid getuies – parlementslede, koerantjoernaliste en drukkers – het die komitee gehoor van ‘n mnr Arthur H. Lee, wat vir Fareham in Hampshire gesit het en wat vir ‘n paar jaar ‘n militêre attaché in Washington en Ottawa.

Die komitee het daarop gewys dat die aanbeveling nooit geïmplementeer is nie, maar dit het verder gesê dat dit nou so moet wees. Die Amptelike Verslag is dus gebore, maar die naam Hansard is laat vaar. In populêre gebruik is die ou naam egter steeds gebruik. Uiteindelik is die naam in 1943 heringestel. Vandag verskyn dit op die voorblad van Westminster se Amptelike Verslag, ‘n herinnering aan die oorsprong van ‘n reeks publikasies rondom die Statebond wie se naam in die weefsel van parlemente verweef geraak het.

Luke

Luke Hansard

Hansard, Thomas Curson (1776–1833). Hansard’s father Luke came from Norwich, set up as a printer in London, and from 1774 onwards published the Journals of the House of Commons.

Thomas Curson Hansard (1776-1833) was an English printer and publisher who is widely regarded as the father of parliamentary reporting. He was born in London and became a printer and publisher in the early 19th century. Hansard saw an opportunity to produce verbatim reports of parliamentary debates and began publishing them in 1812.

Luke Hansard was the British government’s printer in the 18th and 19th centuries. He had three sons, one of whom was Thomas Curson Hansard, known as TC, who left the family printing business in 1803 to set up on his own account in Peterborough Court off Fleet Street.

At the same time, William Cobbett began producing Cobbett’s Parliamentary Debates, the first structured attempt to record the proceedings of the British Parliament. In 1809, Cobbett gave Thomas Hansard the contract to print the debates. It was to Hansard that Cobbett also turned in that year to produce a pamphlet condemning an incident in which British soldiers had been flogged for mutiny, having been rounded up and guarded by German mercenaries. The army was furious, and the Government had had enough of Cobbett and the inflammatory trouble making that was his hallmark. He had put a great deal of effort into being a thorn in the side of the Establishment. As a result, he, Hansard and two others were charged with seditious libel and put on trial in Westminster Hall in 1810.

Like many before them who had been tried in those historic surroundings, including William Wallace, Guy Fawkes and Charles I , all three were found guilty. Cobbett was given two years in the infamous Newgate prison, and Thomas Curson Hansard was sent to the King’s Bench prison for three months. In his autobiography, Luke spoke of the ‘heart-rending disgrace’ of his son’s imprisonment.

Cobbett’s financial affairs were in an appalling state, and, in order to raise money, he sold his interest in the debates to Hansard in 1812. Under Thomas’s proprietorship, the business flourished. The publication was initially based on reprints of reports of speeches culled from the press, but checked with the member. Subsequently, however, it became the original work of Hansard’s own reporters. The product went on to command respect as the most authentic and accurate account of parliamentary proceedings.

In 1829 Thomas Curson Hansard decided that the title page should bear his name. That name was to become one of Britain’s lesser known, but enduring exports. In Canada and Australia Hansard became the recognised title of parliamentary reports as parliaments in those countries followed the Westminster model, adapting it to their own needs and circumstances.

In 1889, Hansard’s son, also Thomas Curson, sold the copyright of the publication to the Hansard Publishing Union, which was under the control of the infamous Horatio Bottomley, one of the 19th century’s most accomplished con men. The company failed and matters moved from bad to worse as the House appointed a succession of contractors who attempted in vain to produce a reliable report. By now, as was pointed out by one member, the Parliaments of France, Germany, the United States and many of the colonies had their own official reports of proceedings, having dispensed in some cases with private contractors.

One example was the Parliament of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. From the establishment of the Parliament in 1856 until1865, the Melbourne Argus newspaper has provided a record of parliamentary debates under the title Victorian Hansard. In that year, however, it was proposed that the Parliament employ its own staff, and the new arrangement took effect from 12 February 1866 under the bland title Parliamentary Debates. Old habits die hard, and here was no exception. The newly formed department of the Parliament and the publication continued to be known as Hansard, which remains the case today.

In 1907, history seemed to repeat itself. The House of Commons at Westminster established a Select Committee to examine the arrangements for reporting its proceedings and to make recommendations. In the course of taking evidence from a wide range of witnesses – members of Parliament, newspaper journalists and printers – the committee heard from a Mr Arthur H. Lee, who sat for Fareham in Hampshire and who had been for some years a military attaché in Washington and Ottawa.

The committee pointed out that the recommendation was never implemented, but it went on to say that it should now be so. The Official Report was thus born, but the name Hansard was dropped. In popular usage, however, the old name continued to be used. Eventually, the name was reinstated in 1943. Today it appears on the front cover of Westminster’s Official Report, a reminder of the origins of a series of publications around the Commonwealth whose name has become woven into the very fabric of parliaments.

Luke Hansard started working as a compositor for London printer Henry Hughes in 1772. Hughes’s business printed for several major booksellers, as well as for the House of Commons, offering Hansard the perfect opportunity to advance his knowledge of both the industry and contemporary affairs. In 1794, Hughes and Hansard went into partnership, and in 1799, Hansard took over the business.