The Press. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1870.

Press, Volume XVII, Issue 2317, 27 September 1870, Page 2

The Press. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1870.

The last number of Hansard contains the usual schedule of business transacted by the House of Eepresentatives during the session. The session just concluded was one day shorter than that of 1869 (though considerably longer if reckoned by the hours of sitting) but enjoys the dubious advantage of having been much more prolific. The number of Bills introduced, besides three private Bills, was 130; against 115 last year. Of these 130 Bills, 100 originated in the Lower House and 29 came down from the Upper. Of the former, 74 received the Royal assent; one, the Reciprocity Act, was reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure; and 25 were dropped or otherwise disposed of. Of the latter, 24 received the Royal assent, and five were dropped. Altogether the statute-book of New Zealand received an addition of 99 Acts ; 25 more than were passed in the previous year, but less than those passed during the sessions of 1866 and 1867, which numbered respectively 111 and 124. The days of meetings were 57 ; the hours of sitting, 482h. 40m. ; the hours of sitting after midnight, 29h. 50m. ; the daily average, Sh. 28m. Last year the House sat on 58 days, but the average length of sitting was only 7h. 17m. There were 100 divisions, 41 in the whole House and 59 in Committee. The total number of entries in the journals of the various items of business transacted was 1303, showing a daily average of 23, the average ofthe last session being 20. Twentythree Select Committees wereappointed during the session, and the total number of reports presented to the House by Select and Standing Committees, including the Committee on Public Petitions, was 178. The nnmber of petitions received was 105.

It is evident that the members do not spare themselves, and in point of quantity the work they get through leaves nothing to be desired. But if we look to quality, the result is less satisfactory. How indeed can we expect otherwise ? When in the course of a session which comprises 57 sitting days, 133 Bills are brought in, and 102 actually passed, it ia plain that many of them must

receive very little attention. The three separate readings and the consideration in Committee must often be pretty much a matter of form. They manage things differently in the Imperial Parliament. The present Ministry, supported as it is by an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons, will take credit to itself and the House for a considerable legislative feat if it carries both the Irish Land Bill and the Education Bill in the same session. But our Colonitl Parliament, not satisfied with having to discuss measures of such immense extent and importance as those relating to immigration and public works (which alone one would have thought almost enough to furnish material for a session) voluntarily proceeds to encumber itself with a hundred others. Of course what is done in such large quantity and with such rapidity cannot be done well. To tell the truth it is often done very badly. Each year's legislation generally produces a plentiful crop of Amendment Acts in the next. But the recent session has been remarkable beyond all its predecessors for a series of downright blunders, arising out of sheer negligence, discreditable alike to the Government and Legislature. Such oversights as occurred in the Land Transfer Bill and the Representation Bill could never have happened at all if the smallest attention had been given to the matter in hand. "We believe the fact to be that members are overworked. Most of them can remain but a limited time in "Wellington ; they try to cram into the three months more business than they can possibly attend to ; and the consequence is that, during the last two or three weeks especially, the work has to be scrambled through anyhow. But that is not the way in which Parliament ought to perform its functions. The blunders of this last session will not have been without their use if they induce hon. members in future either to take more time over their work, or to moderate their legislative ardour. It would be a change much for the better if the Assembly would pass half as many Acts as it does, and consider them twice as carefully.