The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, JULY 17, 1922. A FUTILE DEBATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 167, 17 July 1922, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, JULY 17, 1922. A FUTILE DEBATE.

: For th cau?r that laclrs assistance, tor t/ir irnmg Iha I •■ceds resistance, Tor thr fut.irc In the distance, And the good that we can do.

That breezy member of the Labour party, the member for Christcllurcli I South, praises the Governor's Speech "-t j the openina of Parliament for its •■fiuarter-deck" brevity. It might. lc ' -aid, be summed up in the following formula: "lient'.enicn, you have been culled tnuetfTi-r to do <i job. < ; o to it." Vcs. I'tlt how ha- Parliament "'gone to jit"? The Hume met mi June 2S, np.<! I thi.- is .luly 17. yet the Address-in-Ue t >'.y lis still being debated. His Excellency ! raid there were reasons wiry the pnvcMt. . ses.-ion -should not be of more than i average duration, among them hcini: th" ■ de-ire of members tn vi-it their cunot Ij uicncr.'s before tho election." This made jit all the more necessary that Parliaj nient should plunge ils quickly as posI sible into bueincM. but the old habit 01 J spinning out the debate i over weeks is apparently too strong to be abandoned. Tioth sides of Cue ITousa must take blame for this waste of time. •■Ministers have been at least as much: ito blame as their critics." nays Uin i ••Evening Post." which ha- the advantage of vvatchin-; the machine at work hi close quarters. "Had they had their measures ready it is inrjioesible to suppose that they would have allowed the delmtG to sprawl its m*less length over a whole fortnight, and even supplied r-praker- to help in the wasteful procc-s. >fcml>ers have had to talk in order to give Ministers time to get the Hills ready." Why .Ministers cannot have Hills ready is n mystery. There, is no reason tn hope that the course of this session will be any different from that of many another. There will be the usual waste of time in the first half, followed by an unseemly scramble in the .-econd. when the more important sublets will be considered. The debate ha*, on the whole. iK\ v disappointing as well a- wasteful i'riti. cinin of the (Suvernmcnt rr.ight Iw.v: jeeti more pointed, better informed, ami more constructive. <m the Reform siJe, although there has been an encouraging disposition to criticise the Government, the speeches have not been marked cither by particularly able defence ot tho Government'-* policy and aduiin'.'fration, or by breadth of view in considering problems of the day. Tt is surprising how members manage to speak so often without showing an intelligent interest in these problems. The Prime Minister continues to dominate the Hou.sc. but he still lava himself open to criticism n- a financier and a statesman. On the i economy question he does not manage j to convince, and although it is more ] than three months since the last financial year ended, he is not nhle to] suy what Ii ii financial proposals j will lc for the current year. [ Hritain manages tv hnve n ninej thousand-million Hudget prepared a ' I month after (he Wo.-c of tho year, and I I there i- no reason whatever why our; j own Tludget shoiild not be ready for J Parliament when it meets. That Pnrlia-! J ment should c mtimic to permit taxation j J propos-al* and estimates to bo 1-roujihi i I down half-way through tho year U j i a measure of the interest that is j taken in financial mutters. 'Pic d.-hate. however, has oecil nut entirely worthless. For one thing it. has brousrht electoral reform into a prominence that it has not attained before—at least for some years past— ■ and it has compelled Reform to show its I band on this question. Mr. Masscy i« j definitely opposed to proportional representation. He once* believed in it, but. i greater knowledge has brought -1i.:.- ---! illusionmenl. Whether this change would have taken place if the positions .if tho I parties were the reverse of what they ,arc can I* only a speculation, lint tiirr-.' ;it is; there is no hope i>! electoral reform so long as the present Government is in j J power, and those who believe, and their , number is growing, that in represenla- ! tive government the degree of renrasenj tation secured really .does matter, mint I note this and act accordingly. The j debate showed what the Reform line is I going to be at the coming elections. j The Government i- going to rely for sue- ] ces--; on the advantage that the present | I electoral system gives it, and on the dis- j j trust, of tho greater part of the electorlate for the Labour party. Mr. .Muflsey i« I '»ent. .ju-t as Mr. Holland is. on making the Labour parly tiio official Opposition. J a proce-- Hint involves setting-aside the : i UJicrala. It miffht occur to Mr. Mti«,.»y i that what his enemy wants him to do I may not lie the wisest course, but we J fear long views like this do not. appc.il | Ito him. He and his followers may find I some day that thofr have made a grave I blunder. But the iesue lies ultimately j with the elector, who r-honld be able to i-ee now clearly what the strategy is going to be. If he permits Reform to go on indefinitely taking advantage of thn existing electoral system to impose a minority government on the country, and allows the strength of the antitteform forces to be divided hopelessly, he cannot blame anybody but himself for what may result.