GRAND! SPLENDID! GLORIOUS!

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 73, 19 December 1907, Page 6

GRAND! SPLENDID! GLORIOUS!

In response to the Premier's invitation we decided, after sleeping upon it, to give suck publicity as we can to his suggestion that the public should, by private subscription, defray the cost of building a new Parliament House. Perhaps the public coldness that met his first suggestion of, a colossal scheme of reconstruction convinced him that he had made a mistake. But her,e was a scheme that would not only satisfy the current lust for glory, but also relieve .the Government of the necessity of finding a large sum of money. It was not to be expected that the Premier would miss the opportunity. " What a grand Ihing it would be," he enthusiastically declared, "for the people of the/Dominion to say that they, individually; are going to rebuild the House of Parliament ! What a splendid idea if the people were to subscribe not more than £1 a-piece to that object! What a splendid effect it would have beyond our own shores, and upon our youth, who, 7 in the future, could say tl>at their parents had given directly from their own pockets to restore Parliament Buildings! . ' . \ . What a great and glorious triumph would be possible!" Accordingly, he appealed to the Press of the Dominion to "take the matter up." For our part, we have as good an eye for the majestic as another; but it would be a cruel kindness to the Premier to suppress our fear that the public will not show any enthusiasm in embracing a project so glorious that the very thought of it excites the Premier into unwpnted ecstasies and marks of exclamation.-

The truth is that one splendid thing suggests another; that one glorious idea stimulates the public mind into pursuit of ideas still more glorious. Beforo the public gives its money, therefore, it will begin to think. It will reflect upon the magnificence of Ihe idea that the Government should make such provision for depreciation as would make the replacement of public buildings a mere matter of drawing on the Sinking Fund. What a splendid example it would be to posterity if the Government instituted that change of policy—that "mere matter of book entries," as the Premier calls it—which would supply the fund from which the cost of new buildings would be defrayed! There is not wanting a certain dignity in the abandonment of the present system of erecting buildings with loan money, and borrowing more money to replace them when they burn down or wear out.' Replying to the suggestion that the State should insure its buildings, the Premier pointed out that it was absurd to insure all the buildings in the ordinary way, and that the alternative system, namely, that the Government should run its own special insurance fund, " would not amount to much more than a matter of book entries." It is just that " matter of book entries " that we want. What a glorious thing it would be (the Premier's rheto-

ric is infectious) if the Government substituted sound finance for its present attachment to the doctrine: "Live within your means, even if you borrow to do it! " In that case, posterity would be deprived of the hap-; piness of thinking that the private bounty of its ancestors helped out the incompetence of their Government, but posterity would find consolation in the fact that it owed less to the moneylender than might have been the case. And again, eager as the people of Christclnirch and Auckland woulddoubtless be to subscribe to a building meant to adorn Wellington, would they not, with the rest of the people, think that it would be an equally glorious thing to contribute the funds that the Government fails to devote to the alleviation of the hardships of the "black-blocks" settlers? What a splendid idea it would be to provide posterity with roads! Upon the whole it appears to us that, admirable as may be a general subscription to repair 'the neglect of the past, and to provide posterity with a tradition to cheer its insolvency, there are so many grand and glorious projects of a more substantially inspiriting kind, that the public will keep its money in its pocket. It is possible, too, that the public may fail to appreciate the sentiment that makes a Parliament House built from extra taxation so much nobler than the ordinary sort of Parliament House. Some people might go so far as to say that the Premier's impassioned oratory was simple humbug; we prefer to accept it as evidence that politics do not destroy a politician's striving after ideals. The ideals may become erratic; spurious sentiments may come to appear, genuine; but the politician, nevertheless, yearns upwards. The wonder is,; not that he does not think clearly about what is true sentiment, but that he ever thinks of sentiment at all.