The Press. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1909. THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13547, 7 October 1909, Page 6

The Press. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1909. THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

Tho session of Parliament which opens in Wellington to-day promises to be of more than usual interest. It is practicailv the first session of a new Parliament—for the formal meeting which took place in June'last and adjourned almost immediately to enable Sir Joseph Ward to visit England, afforded no opportunity for the Government to bring down its policy. Brief as it was, however, it enabled the public to see that there is rather more than the average amount of ability among the hon. members, and we think there is fair ground to hope that they will bring intelligence to bear on the important business to be laid before them, and, declining anything in the shape of dictation from the Government, will deal with matters affecting tho welfare | of tho country in a more or less independent fashion. Sir Joseph Ward will, of course, rermrt in detail the re- ! suits of the Imperial' Defence Conference so far as they affect New Zealand, and we trust that tho great question of Imperial defence will be approached in j a spirit, of lofty patriotism, free from the slightest taint of petty political feeling. "We have already 6tatcd that, in our judgment, the attitude taken up by Sir Joseph Ward was marked by a \ broad Imperial'spjrit, that tho arrangement to which ho agreed, subject to the approval of Parliament, is on tho whole advantageous to New Zealand, as well as conceived on the right lines of Empire defence. Wo trust, therefore, that it will be dealt with in a generous spirit by the Opposition, and be agreed to with practical unanimity by the House. We are not so sure that Ministers realise the importance of an efficient system of national eervice as a corollary to the new scheme of naval defence, and whatever else is done, or left undone, Parliament should certainly dnsist on this vitaJ question being dealt with in a sound' and statesmanlike fashion and without any further delay. It will take some years to render our position secure so far as land defence is concerned, and with the dangers gathering round the Mother Land any further procrastination on our part would be an exhibition of criminal folly. The extraordinary tergiversation of the Government in recard to the land question makes it absolutely necessary that they should bo called upon to define their position, so that Parliament and the public may at least know where they are. At one time it looked as tif New Zealand was to witness the | unique spectacle of a leasehold Government kept in power by the votes- of members who professed to be devoted to the freehold. It now appears as if the Government, which, at one time, talked in pot-valiant fashion of "nail- " ing its colours to the mast" and sinking or swimming with its land policy, had ,at length cynically thrown overboard all pretence of holding any fixed principles at all with regard to this important question. The great point, it would seem, is to keep in office. Any policy will serve so long as it is popular, but the instant public opinion looks at it with an unfavourable eye, then it becomes a mere "fetish," to be got rid of as quickly as possible. This may suit the book of unscrupulous placehunters, but it is an insult to the people of New Zealand to suppose that such conduct will meet with their approval and _ecure their support. The Government, we repeat, should be challenged on their land policy and made to define their position. Finally there is the important ques- | tion' of finance. We cannot avoid an I uneasy feeling that the supposed retrenchment of the Government has | been bungled, if it has not been an abso- | lute farce, and that up to the present little or no • real economy has been effected-—certainly nothing approaching the economy which is called for by the exigencies of the situation". The readjustment of our finances on a sound basis stands forth with the defence question as the most important business of the session. We fear that an increase in taxation is inevitable, but Parliament certainly ought not to sanction r resh burdens- being placed on the shoulders of the people until it is satisfied that every reasonable effort has been made to secure financial equilibrium by economy in the expenditure.