The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1907. THE PAST SESSION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 53, 26 November 1907, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1907. THE PAST SESSION.

Elsewhere in -this issue we print the conflicting judgments of the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition upon the work of the past session. The Premier is naturally pleased with the magnitude of the legislative harvest, and professes perfect contentment, not only with the Acts which/have been passed,, but with the manner of their passage. Mr. llassey, on the other hand, while admitting that many useful measures have, been passed, is sharply critical of both the legislative methods of the Premier and the general trend of the session's work. To refuse the credit which is due to the Government for some of its legislation is not our purpose: we willingly concede the praise that is due to the general betterment of the tariff, and to the passage of those measures which improve the conditions of the civil servants. Amongst the minor Bills, too, there are many which are useful and necessary. But with respect to some of those' large Bills winch the Government most prides itself upon passing we find ourselves as hopelessly unable as ever to agree with the Premier's confident belief in their beneficence, or even in their permanency. "The question of land tenure," he claims, " has been placed on-a definite basis," and'if, as Ministerial statements made' .'during the session warrant us in doing, we assume that the Premier 1 means that the question of land tenure has been placed on a duraiile and beneficent basis, we take leave'to dissent very emphatically. Nothing is more certain, for instance, than 'that the. Government, will, either next session or at an early date thereafter, modify the impossible conditions hedging round the offer of the freehold to the lease-in-perpetuity tenants. Nor is there any doubt that, when the Socialistic character, of the land legislation presses acutely upon the individual, the law that sound progress depends upon the freedom of the individual will assert itself in a wholesale revision of this and other Socialistic experiments. As Mr. Massey pointed out, the Socialistic element in the House is not large, but it has been given charge of the tiller by the Ministry. That Sir Joseph Ward is personally hostile to the creed of Mr. Laurenson is the belief of everybody who knows him, but he has not that stern fidelity to fundamental principles which alone can save impressionable and softhearted people from the seductive charms of what the late Premier called "humanism." : Sir Joseph Ward, it is certain, woukP'give again and again to any pitiful-pleading mendicant, and would scold himself in private for letting his heart lead astray the wise head that tells him that, careless private charity is wicked. 'So he may one day regret his legislative concessions to the sentimental claims of the Socialistic ideal. When he congratulates himself upon having passed 112 Acts without any undue friction or unnecessarily long sittings, he is forgetful of the ■ fact that a great part of the work was transacted by a House that had become too weary to criticise his proposals. If Mr. Massey and his supporters refrained from heat and obstruction when such measures as the Native Land Act and the Gaming Act were rushed through, it was probably because they recognised that heat and obstruction would avail nothiug against the determination of the Ministerialists to obey every command of their' chief. The " ond-of-the-session rush " was as acutely scandalous as it has ever been, and the only comfort in the sorry business is that the Tariff Bill, a mistake in which would be poignantly unjust and possibly disastrous, was taken early in the session. It is as easy to exhaust the House by a long session in which the daily average of work is not immoderate, excepting towards the end, as by a moderate session full of long sittings. In the one case the House becomes as helpless through stnlcncss as through physical exhaustion in the other. The sharpest criticism of the Government's legislative methods will bo furnished by the Bills which in the next few years will bo introduced to amend the legislation of 1907. Excellent, therefore, as some of the work has undoubtedly been, there is, nevertheless, little cause for rejoicing over the enormous volume of legislation produced, and when the Government comes to judgment at the polls of 190S, it should receive a sharp reproof from'the body of .moderate opinion that .objects to * '" 'W " V -V r

" machine " legislation, and that ol> i jects, also, to the- Socialistic domin- l ance to which, as Mr. Jlassey pointed J out, the Government has subjected it- ( self in a degree unprecedented in the i history of the country. <