The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1804.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1039, 22 June 1894, Page 4

The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1804.

Parliament was opened yesterday. It usually happens that immediately previous to a meeting of Parliament there is a certain amount of political excitement, but there has been little or nothing of the kind this year. For one thing we have not had the usual pre-sessional addresses of members, which is owing to the general election having taken place so recently, and for another thing people may not be able to see what the Parliament can do to improve the present state of the country. They cannot raise the price of grain one farthing, and it is the low price o£ grain and o£ our other staple products that is tho chief factor in the present depressed state of the country. — What is the Parliament to do this session % No doubt we shall have further legislation regarding the sale of alcoholic liquors. As the Act of last session gives to licensees certain privileges for three years from thri time of its passing we do not see much occasion for fresh legislation on this subject this session. Next session would ha time enough. But it is not likely that Hie members who were, returned in the. temperance interest would be satisfied with this ; and possibly the country " would not be satisfied with it either, for the public mind was greatly exercised over the liquor question, last general election. Indeed, it is not too much to say that this question was much more in evidence than the question of whether candidates ,, would support or oppose the Ministry. Party politics held quite a secondary, position. As to the changes that are certain to be made' in 't^e,;Hquor Jaws ,there ,can

be no doubt that these changes will be in the direction of restricting still further the powers of the publican?. We notice that Mr Ward in his recent speech at Oarnaru does not refer to the liquor question at nil. — Then there are the labour bills. Mr Ward does not so much as mention these bills, but his colleague, the Minister of Labour, has taken care to assure the country that all the? labour measures tho Government have introduced but which have not yet passed into law will be hroug.it forward again, and that it is almost certain that these measures will this time be placed on the Statute Book. We g& * the Government credit for the very best intentions in preparing theses measures, and in trying to get them carried, but we confess that we do not see that such measures can do us much, if any good at present. No one would say that the country is suffering from the ill-treatment of workmen by their employers. What we want is employment for people requiring it, and these hills, though passed into law to-morrow, would not give, us this. — There is also the unemployed difficulty. This is sure to come up often. We think that with all the unemployed in the country looking to the Government for work, the position of a Minister of the Crown is at present not an enviable one. But Ministers have themselves to blamo to some extent for the present j huge proportions of the unemployed difficulty. When they entered on office they took up the position that it was the dutj' of the State to find employment for all who could not find it for themselves. This had the effect of inducing large numbers of the unemployed in the adjoining colonies to come to this Colony, in the hope that the State would find them work. — The most important subject is finance. According to Mr Ward the finances are. in an exceedingly satisfactory condition, with the exception apparently of the customs receipts, which do not seem to have been coming in well the last two months. The customs receipts are a very good index of the prosperity of the country, and if they have been falling off it means that the spending power of the people has not been up to its usual standard. Mr Ward does not say one word v/ith respect to borrowing, but it is evident that he has some surprises in store, for the country when he brings down his financial stateir.ent. We have from the speeches of Ministers and members become accustomed to the idea of a j State bank, and also to the idea of lending cheap money to persons that require it. If measures are brought down to give effect to these ideas, we hope they will receive very full consideration at the hands of the Legislature The Government also seem to intend to do something in the way of forcing those Australian banks that have branches in the Colony to use within the Colony itself the moneys deposited in these brunches. It would be interesting to know why the banks do not follow this course without being compelled to do so, and we hope this point will be enquired into. — Another large subject with which the Government are to deal is the taking of land compiilsorily for settlement. Then apparently the Government intend doing something towards retaliating on the other colonies for imposing duties on our grain, the retaliations hinted at being a duty on imported coal and some other things. — Will the session result in solid advantages to the Colony 1 Of this there is considerable doubt. The Parliament will have plenty of work before it, more, in fact, than it can do justice to, and it might

be well that the Government should make a selection of the measures they consider the. most urgent and stick to them. But there is nothing that stands out prominently in their proposed legislation that would be generally admitted as likely to lead to really substantial advantages to the country. We do not say this by way of blame, for we do not see any legislation that would do for the Colony what it really requires. — Will the Government be able to keep in office? We think so. Ministers have a large majority at their back. With common prudence therefore they should have no difficulty in carrying on. There are, however, two lions in the path. The one is the weakness in numbers of the Opposition. It is said that owing to the smallness of their numbers the Opposition do not intend to organise themselves into a party. This means that each member of the Opposition will just do what seems right in" his own eyes. Guerilla warfare, however, is sometimes very effective ; or in other words a disorganised Opposition may do the Government much injury. There is this also that without a good, healthy, organised Opposition there is always a tendency on the part of a Government to go to extremes, which is sure to do them injury in the long run. The other lion in the path is Sir Robert Stout. It is true that he is on the same side of politics as the Ministry. He did not, however, pull very cordially with them last session. Besides, he is too clever a man to content himself with working as a member of the rank-and-file of a party. He must always be taking a leading position, and this must be rather distasteful to a Ministry. We must also recollect that he is likely to go much further in temperance reform than Ministers. This may draw members to him.

Then he is likely to take some action in tiie direction of having an elected Executive, with the view of remedying to some extent the evils of party government. This also may have some effect in drawing members to him. There can be little doubt, we think, that he will be a disturbing element. But should he gather around him a party, and carry any point of importance against tlv Government, we may depend upon it that the Premier will not resign without a struggle. He would leave no stone unturned to get a dissolution. Of this, therefore, wr may almost feel assured, that we shall have Mr Seddon in office till there is a dissolution either by effluxion of time or otherwise.