THE BLIND LEADERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 142, 17 June 1899, Page 4

THE BLIND LEADERS.

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1899

Yesterday's conference between the Northern members of Parliament and the Chamber of Commerce was singularly unsatisfactory in several important respects. While these annual meetings have always been, intended to strengthen the hands of our representatives in ttheir work in Wellington, and to present them with, a clear reflex of the wishes of the community in regard to matters affecting the welfare of the North, the conference of ye>sterday is rather calculated to weaken and confuse them, if they are inclined to be influenced by the views of the Chamber. From the met that that body includes a number erf out leading commercial men its counsels on occasions like the present have commanded the attention of our members of Parliament, and it is not impossible that had these counsels been uniformly characterised by wis-

dom and common-sense, our representatives might have come to regard the resolutions of the Chamber not merely as suggestions but in the light of a mandamus. But we think that everyone who reads the report of yesterdays proceedings -will agree with us that the Chamber has now forfeited any right to be regarded as a political directorate in this city.

To the matter of railway connection between Auckland and Wellington, chief prominence was given at the meeting. It is a matter that has occupied the attention of the Chamber for a considerable period, and it would be only reasonable to suppose that the body knew its own mind on the subject, and could give reason-- in support of the decision it had arrived at. If there was anything at all clear in the deliberations of yesterday it was the confusion that characterised the discussion of this question—

a confusion for which the Chamber lis entirely to blame. Before summoning the members of Parliament to meet it, the Chamber ought to have made sure it- was in a position to instruct them-and to reasonably discuss any points that might arise. It is well-known that there are two views on this question of railway communication with Wellington, and each in turn has been advocated so strongly that whichever one the Chamber favoured it was bound to give the grounds of its choice. To merely state it had come to a certain decision, give no reasons, and expect that the members of Parliament would blindly acquiesce in its views was a gross insult to these gentlemen. But we are certain that the Chamber did not mean it. The fact which has been painfully plain all along is simply this, that the Chamber has no reasons to advance. It can only assert and be silent. The proceedings yesterday aii'orded the sorriest exhibition of its absolute inability' to state its ease. We believe it is a very bad case, but it must be even worse than we had supposed, or the mental powers of those who are pledged to it much weaker than, for the honour of Auckland, we care to think, if it cannot be worked into some slightly plausible shape. The only thing that bore some outward resemblance to a reason was the statement, frequently reiterated that the cim of all here was to get railway commnni-ct-tion with Wellington. Now, as a fact that is not in the very least the aim of the community as a whole. What we do want- is such railway communication as will bring trade to Auckland, which the Central line can never do; and it has never been pretended it can do it. Infinitely much more important for Auckland than that line would be the line from Helensville northward, to open up the Northern peninsula, or the lino to Gisborne. But the Chamber does not appear to see this, which is the only true presentation of the case, and the result is that the members go down to Parliament wauling any clear, reasoned counsel that mig-ht have stood them in good stead during the session. Where they perhaps looked for light they have" found only hopeless obscurity.

The best advice we can tender to our Northern representatives is to let the proceedings of yesterday weigh as little as possible with them. We regret having to say anything so derogatory to the influence of the Chamber of Commerce, but it would be impossible for any sane member to shape for himself a line of conduct on the heap of amorphous and contradictory suggestions and instructions which were presented yesterday. It' any member were so daring as to attempt to present to Parliament a reflex of the Chamber's mind as disclosed yesterday, he would make himself the L'uphing stock of the House. For the sakt of Auckland we sincerely hope no member will venture on such a task. For instance, how could he by any possible means reconcile the attitude the Chamber now takes up with regard to borrowing with the views it has advocated respecting railway construction generally? The Chamber at one time says it is not tying itself to anything, but, as Mr G. Peaeocke pointed out, the resolution in favour of borrowing for authorised lines virtually meant that, the money was to be spent on the Central line only, and that such important works as the Gisborne railway, for instance, were to be shelved. Not merely that, but it meant, too, that such a line as the Otago Central, for instance, because it was authorised would be supported by Auckland against the Gisborne line. Of course, the Chamber never meant to commit itself in that way, but such is the interpretation anyone who chooses can put on the confused proceedings of yesterday. This of itself is quite sufficient to show us that the Chamber does not actually know its own mind, if we were not already convinced of that fact by the extraordinary way in which it has reversed its views in the short period of twelve months. A bod\r that in the first place hae displayed such vacillation and then such want of power to justify its change of view is not the body to be the mouthpiece of the Auckland public and issue instructions to their representatives; and next year we hope that this important function which the Chamber has failed in will be performed by a meeting more representative of the wishes and wisdom of the community.