Our Wellington Letter.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2211, 5 September 1910, Page 5

Our Wellington Letter.

(Fjuom Our Own CoBBEsroxDENT.) August 30th, 1910. Ladies first please ; Lady Islington it is that comes lirst. Parliament did not issue forth to meet the gracious lady, did not make a parliamentary function of meeting her on the wharf. But there were enough Parliamentarians of both Mouses there to warrant the statement that Parliament was represented by a strong committee. It was a committee of natural selection and there were no standing orders. But the business of the moment was never for one moment forgotten and there were no interruptions except cheers and those were the most enjoyable part of the proceedings. Of course the Ministry was present in great force with its wives and daughters. They all went up the ships side in the morning sun and they duly disappeared from view. When they had succeeded in that part of the programme they went below and Lady Islington had a good time with them. Presently they reappeared and as they went down the gangway the lady of the day appeared and as she began the decent to the wharf far down below, the passengers and the crew of the liner gave her a great burst of cheering. It was pretty to see her under this stress and pressure of good will. She tried to look her thanks but the sawing gangway claimed her attention. Cheer followed cheer from the people looking down on their fellow passenger who had been so gracious on the voyage. Again and again did the lady look up, and again and again she was forced to look down. But no one who saw her could fail to realise that she was doing her very best to acknowledge those hearty cheers. It was genuine, natural, and most pretty. Presently the lady and her husband got to the appointed place on the wharf and here there were addresses and she had to look pleased while her husband made suitable reply, which he did in his usual good style vigorous, fluent, and of much common sense. The inevitable three cheers for the lady and three more for her daughter and the procession moved off down the wharf. This incident of the cheers was by the way curious. It is not everybody who knows the name of the governor's little daughter. Therefore when Sir Joseph called " And three cheers for Miss Joan," there was a gas]) here and there, and the punctuation of the gas]) was delivered by no means ' sotto voce"—-" and who in the name of everything that's blessed is Miss Jones ?" But the men who knew immediately made an under-chorus of " don't you know that the child's name is Joan ?" The cheers were renewed immediately. After them the procession moved off on foot down the wharf the earrages having been ordered to wait at the wharf foot. The result was that the crowd had a splendid view of the lady who seemed to enjoy the proceedings quite as much as they did. No wonder! For the crowd "closing in on either hand got a good look at the lady and one heard remarks of great approval going round. The general refrain of this chorous was " Is'nt she pretty ?" As the refrain sank into her ears the lady seemed to grow prettier every moment. The carriages duly reached, the party were whirled away, but the predominant feeling felt in the crowd was of appreciation for the thoughtfulncss that produced the walk down the wharf. The story Mas duly told in the lobbies later by the members of the committee of natural selection. They told how pretty and gracious the governor's lady is and how she was dressed all in black. It was a bit of a shock to see her land in funeral garb so greatly in contrast to the gay bunting of the buildings and the demeanour of the welcoming folk. But the lady knew what she was about. She was but following the rule of the Court in this mourning for King Edward, It reminded all and sundry that they must go in sombre black to the Garden party at Parliament House which the Government is giving on Saturday to the Lady. Government House was ready for her, indeed her good man has been staying there some little time back. The surroundings are not exactly what they will be later on but they are very much better than anybody expected them to be by this time. The evening previous, Parliament had been busy. First came the election of the Chairman of Committees and Mr Colvin faced the judge when the race was over. Poor Sir William made an ineffective ineffectual speech at the outset which he would have done better not to have delivered. It certainly did him r.o good. It is true that he had cause to suffer, But men who are men always suffer.in silence. Mr Colvin has been a night or two in the chair since his election and though never asked to sit late he has had at least one wild night, with those points of order which private members raise on the nights given up to their wasteful privilege These points have no practical value whatever and Mr Colvin showed that he realised the fact quite well. It was a good beginning. After the election of the chairman the House went on with the debate on the bill for the extinction of the public debt. The Opposition attacked all along the line. Sir Joseph replied like lightning —his friends said like the brook that tumbles over the waterfall —his enemies declared. The truth of course is that having a good easy case he slated the enemy hip and thigh. The startling fact about this proposal seems to be its utter feasibility and its almost, deplorable ease. This measure at all events is safe for the Statute Book, for the general consensus in its favour was unmistakable. Parliament is full of honest men who like to see a proposal to make (he Lomiuinion pay its debts, The only other thing the House has done during the week has been a wild of debate of the order which proves that the private member ought to be restrained by penal servitude from all attempts to lead legislation. Of course it is useful and well to have the suggestions of private members as to necessary legislation. But that does not justify the practice of permitting them to take charge of legislation. For that they have neither the infor-mationn nor the means of acquiring the same. After a time Government might adopt any suggestion the House approved, provided it had some merit of its own. But to let the private member go on with the pastime of making bills for the House to pass, the sooner, that is stopped the better. Sir Joseph told the House on this particular night that he had never known a measure carried to the statute book by a private member. He forgot I the .Deceased Wife's Sifter carried by

Sir William Steward after many years of uphill struggle. But the exception only serves to prove the rule. Government would had it taken up that measure, got it to the Statute Book years and years sooner than good old Sir William. An Imprest with the usual foam and flurry about nothing in particular and about everything in general that has already been discussed many times ended the week's usefulness. In the oilier place the Crimes Bill occupied most of the attention. The Attorney General wound up the debate on the second reading with a magnificent speech, in which he announced his intention to alter the constitution of the Board of Management according to the criticisms made during the debate. After that who shall say that debate in Parliament is useless? Education is exercising the lieges by reason of the reference in the Budget and of many references by the Minister of Education since in various public places. It is beginning to be apparent that the Government has not by any means made up its mind on the subject of the drastic change so much feared by the advocates of the local Government principle. This change was tried by the late George Fisher when, as Minister of Education he published a paper on the advantage of centralism. It fell tlat and no more was heard of the matter. It conies to this then. There are certain men who are realising this same cry. It is up to them to give reason why a system which has worked well ami to the popular satisfaction for thirty four years should be altered. At present the leadiug fact is that they have not given any such reasons. Among the papers presented two only call for comment. These are the annual sheep returns, aud the new electoral bill. The first is inspiring when Dne looks back at the prophecies of the pessimists who declared that an export of a million carcases would exhaust the flocks very soon. But the flocks show an increase of nearly 400,000 for the year in face of an export of sheep and lambs to the extent of slightly over live million carcases, and this two and twenty years after the pessimistic prophecy. Looking forward the moral is the pressing necesity for finding new markets, say in America. The electoral bill is a measure for taking periodical censuses of the qualified so as to have all on the roll at the proper time. Which is right enough if somewhat paternal. Also there is a return to the automatic purge. No one understands why that was done away with. What ought to have been done was not the abolition of the purge which consisted in striking off all who do not vote, but the audition to the purge of notification to thoso struck off of the fact with opportunity to get back on the roll. This is the effect of the new proposal. Which also is right, but it is not in any sense paternal.