PRESS OPINIONS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 46, 18 November 1907, Page 9

PRESS OPINIONS

THE WANING SEvSSION. This practice of forcing through a multifarious assortment of comparatively superfluous bills right at the end of tho Parliamentary year is rapidly becoming a serious danger to the State. In the first place, our Parliaments are far too fond of dragging up our legislation by the roots' to seo how it is getting on. It is, of courso, necessary to remedy defects that practical oxporionco has revealed in our laws, and to adjust them to the progressive gniwth of our social and industrial system. But. it is a far wiser and safer course to give laws a tolerably lengthy trial than to supplement or modify them by constant amendments. Then thero is danger in the mere multiplicity of legislative enactments; and wo believe that an impartial scrutiny of the Order Paper and the Premier' 3 imposing list of bills will discover a large number of proposals that could safely be deferred, even to the inimitably distant epoch of "this day six months." ' There are, we admit, several important bills that Parliament must settle one.way or tho other this session. But to doal adequately, with the four or fivo really serious questions now bofore them, our representatives certainly need all the timo and energy they can spare for the olosing weeks of the session; and there is neither political wisdom nor practical commonsenso in driving measures of this sort through an irritated, disorganised, and exhausted House. For all thoso things tho country must suffer, as it has : often suffered before, through crudo, ill-considered, and needless legislation; and wo appeal to tho Premier to profit by the bitter experience of tho, past;, and to spare us all but the absolutely essenr. tial and necessary items in the huge, list of laws that, he is apparently anxious for Parliament to place on the Statute Book this year.—Auckland "Star." ; .

Wo do not measuro tho value of a volume of Acts by its bulk, but Parliament could cortainly have transacted a good deal more business in the time at its disposal. Members expect to get away from Wellington oarly in November, and, but for factious opposition and shocking waste of time, practically all tho important Bills on the Government programme could' have been dealt with by now. ' As it is, wo find fully half tlio" outlined programme still untouched. Tho moral, of course, is that Parliament should remain in session until its work is completed. , Tho demands of tho Government aro not unreasonable. Measures like tho Arbitration Act Amondniont Bill wore freely discussed during tho recess, and others, lik'o tho Flour Duties Bill and the Gaining Bill,: havo been long promised. We may select tho Divorce ActAmendmont Bill as another measure that is urgently needed; because it is a scandal that tho divorce law should be left in its prosont state. There is scarcely. a Bill in tho Premier's list, inucod, that could be postponed for a year without perpotuating some injustice or highly undesirable condition. Wc aro told that when tho Public Works Estimates aro disposed of mombers will simply decline to remain in Wellington. ' If that is tho case it is a pity that Sir Joseph Ward has promised to bring down tho Statement so soon. Wo aro aware that the payment, of £300 a year does not give, the country the right to monopolise tho whole time of its representatives, but men who seek the honour of election to Parliament undertake to transact tho country's business to the best of their ability, and their own consciences should prevent them from leaving Wellington so long as obvious injusticos aro calling for remedy. The oftrepented threat to keep Parliament in'session until Christmas is never carried out, but the country would applaud tho Government if it declined to take the prorogation beforo Dcceriibor.-' Allowing for the fact that the ■ most contentious measures, have boon dealt with, there is still enough work in sight to-occupy'Parliament-for'fully a month, and at the rato- of progress maintained during tho last four months it would bo difficult to comploto the announced programme of legislation beforothe New Year. —Lyttelton "Times." THE NEED FOR ROADS. Everywhere tho cry is tho same—for roads metalled roads, and bridges, without which every holding is practically isolated from the line except in the 'dry season. The moment the. roads are soaked'and the creeks rise, traffic must perforce cease on un-meta!lcd roads, aiid even passage becomes almost impracticable. Yet wo need to 'have our lands settled under tho modern conditions which - demand the sending away of produce and the bringing in of stores, and to havo them • settled with a, rush, so that what is wilderness to-day is a cleared and smiling farm land in two or three years' time. Nor .would thero lie tho'least difficulty about tho land being cleared, and no doubt whatever about it smiling; were good roads made into every district which has to bo opened up. from tho lino. There is an, insatiable land hunger; our-settlors aro eager .to be' producing and exchanging,: but there is no-'-'satisfaction in wasting half the year in despairing' efforts to overcome'the qnagmires, which can only bo roaded by administrative action. Roads and ■ bridges, that herring-boned tho Main Trunk country, so that everywhere it was mado accessible for wheolcd traffic at all seasons' from the line, would not only be an inestimable boon to our settlers, but would be a most profitable undertaking for the Government. For it would vastly increase the output of produce, swell railway business, increase exports and imports, and strengthen not only the public revenue, but tho volume of internal trade by which tho entire community profits.' What is true of reading along the Alain Trunk lino is equally true of every railway in the i north. This makes reading a great national problem, which is' not adequately mot by allotting half a million to be spread over the entire Dominion, as wc hope the Government' will- be able to see. —New Zealand "Herald." I PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION. From tho fact that tho Primo Minister-has adopted the rates of contribution at present in.operation under tho Teachers' Superannuation Schome, and that Clause 40 provides that "every person who, after the pausing of that Act, becomes a contributor to tho Police Provident Fund or the Government Railways Superannuation Fund shall contribute to such fund at the same rate as that provided for by Section 12 of this Act," it is evident that the Government consider fhoso rates a satisfactory basis upon which - , all public servants should contribute to a common fund. It is also .well known l that, in tho opinion of everyone who .has given this'important .question any serious consideration, thero should bo one, gciu-ral scheme embracing every branch of the Public Service. Why, then, it will bo asked, does the Bill we aro considering specifically exclude " tho Government Railways Department as is included in the Polico Provident Fund. Act, 1890, and so.much of tho Education Depart-! ment as is included in the Teachers' Superannuation Act, 1905?" As to tho Government Railways Department, there is-,cer-tainly good reason why this branch of the Public Service should not come within tho scope of tho Bill. Railway servants contribute to their fund on the basis of 3 per cent: I of their salaries, and though all future entrants to tho Service are to contribute on a 5 per cent, basis, it would bo unfair to compel present contributors to pay at tho higher rate. Tho case of the Police Department is different. Tho contributions paid and tho benefits received under tho Polico Provident Fund differ but slightly from' those proposed in tho Bill now before Parliament. There seems, therefore, no good reason why members of the Police Provident. Fund should not be given the option of coining under the proposed general scheme. Such an arrangement would ho in the best interests of tho Public Service as a whole, and would help to bring about that amalgamated scheme so strongly advocated by all who havo studied the question of superannuation. It is, however, when we come to consider the position of the public school teachers of New Zealand that wc foil to understand why the Education Department should be excluded from Hie scope of the proposed scheme. . . . The Education Service,.though tho most important, is at present the least popular branch of the Public Service, and this invidious distinction and singling out of the teachers for illiberal treatment in the matter of superannuation will certainly not tend to indueo the right kind of men and women to enter and remain in the professign.—Dunodin "Star,"