LEGISLATION OF THE YEAR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 81, 30 December 1907, Page 9

LEGISLATION OF THE YEAR.

IiVmtESTiNG " POLITICAL DEVELOP- _ MENTS. .Politically, 1907 has not been a very exciting year for New Zealand. At its opening,' tho, feeling , of' uncertainty consequent on. the death of tho late Premier was still widely , felt, the Land Bill agitation was at its height; and the session was looked forr ward to as one of thoso interesting periods whon nothing ,i 3 more likely than the unexpected. 'Just before Parliament met, tho illness of tho Hon. W. Hall-Jone3 and - the announcement-that ho would be obliged to take a holiday overseas increased tho genoralv sense of tho instability of the political situation. But after all, the third session of'the sixteenth Parliament of Now Zealand provod a remarkably quiet 0110. Some ohroniolors clcsoribed it as tho dullest on record. - " Sconos " wore rare. There was no coalition, and no secession. Tho domin-ant-party loyally accepted the now leadership, and though the Opposition was united and vigilant,' Sir Joseph Ward was able to uso this largo majority quito as effectively as the powerful leader from whom ho had inherited it. But if tho popular Chamber became dull in IDU7, the Cpper House grew moro interesting. • When the names of ' fourteen new Councillors'were announced, in January last; it was immediately rccognised that tho Government did not seek the extinction of tho Counoil, or its transformation into an elebfcive body. No statement of tho Council's hourß of sitting during ( last session,' as compared with the records'of preceding sessions, has bepn published, but wero such a .statement available, it would undoubtedly affprd evidences .that, the Council has taken itself moro seriously, has been taken more seriously by tho; Government, and has' put m'oro energy' into tho -work of legislation than has been tho caso'for some years.. Yet, when, the colony had become a Dominion, andM.H.R.'s had' mado themselves M.P.'s, tho members (if the Upper House preforreel to keep their old titles instead of adopting tho namo of Sonators. . Among tho 114 Acts passed (a record number., for, ono session), on tho ninety-two sitting, days of tho House' (also a record number); thero wero several of first class importance; The' Government's land policy, considerably altered in deferonco to tho criticism it had evoked, and. expressed in thrco Bills, instead of' one, obtainod the practically unanimous support of tho members' of the dominant party, as a comproniiso bctweon their own widely divergent, views. Its adoption as .law, though with considerable further amendments, was thus practically r assured. The Land Laws Amendment Bill profoundly alters tho conditions on which Crown lands are opened to tho settlor. It abolished tho loase-in-perpetuity (putting tho renewable lcaso in ■ its placo), modified tho ballot system, gave to the Crown tenants a limited representation on tho Land Boards, granted to thoso holding on certain forms of lease tho right to purchase tho freehold at tho "present" valuo, extended the principle _ of "tenant right," made .valuation for taxing tho basis of tho prico to be paid on compulsory resumption ofi estates, imposed a limitation of area in tho caso of all land hcroaftor alienated from the . Crown, and effected several changes of loss importance. Tho Land and Incomo Assessment Bill mado largo increases in the graduated land tax with the object of causing great holdings to he subdivided* Tim National Endowment Bill reserved an uncertain area, likely to amount- to about one half of the remaining Crown land from sale for all, time, allocating tho rentals for tho purposes of education and old age pensions, 'J'heso three Acts, designed as a comprohensivo attempt to deal with the niucli-dobutod land question, mil, if thoy continue long in force without material amondment, bo reckoned as potent factors in tho country's

history. 'Scarcely less important' is the Native Land Scttlomont Act, which providos for European settlement on the surplus lands of the Maoris, as defined by a Royal Commission. .- - " The year 1907 has also given us a new tariff. Its de-dared purposes wero to foster local industries-by protection, and to cheapen tho nccessarios of life by lightening tho burdon of import duties. It is claimed that tho first of these- objects lifts been already to some extent- attained. The purpose of tho i'lour and Other Products Monopoly Prevention Act is explained by its t-itlo. Its method—suspension of Customs duties 011 tho recommendation of tho Arbitration Court—is a new departure, for which success and failure are prophesied with equal confidence by opposing schools of thought. •The Gaming and Lotteries Act, passod at tho end of tho session, is still so prominent a subject of discussion that there can bo 110 need to mako further referonco to it liore. Tho year is not without , its tale of labour legislation. The position of sevor.al classes of employees will be affected by tho Shops and Offices Amendment Act anil the Factories. Amendment Act. These two statutes, taken togother, provido moans for securing. greater uniformity in regard to weekly half-holidays. For this purpose the principle of a district referendum of electors is. introduced. Parliament also passed tho Agricultural Labourers' Accommodation Act. A Coal Mines Amendment Act, which overruled an Arbitration Court award in regard' to tho principle of " bank-to-bank " working hours, - has already occasioned a serious labour dispute: Public health, in a.rather wido acceptation of the torm, received attention in the Infant Life Protection Act, tho Salo of Food and Drugs Act, and the Tohunga Suppression Act.- The mombors of the Civil Service havo publicly expressed their gratitude for the Acts which gave them classification and a superannuation scheme. ■ ' Legislation to further restrict tho immigration of Chinese and an Act to abolish a certain form of "divorco by arrangement" wore reserved for the assont'of His Majesty. Tho session derives an additional claini to remembrance from the fact that it was the last to be hold in tho old Parliamentary Buildings, which, a fortnight after its close, were almost totally destroyed by • a mysterious outbreak of firo.