FULL SPEED AHEAD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 276, 14 August 1908, Page 11

FULL SPEED AHEAD.

LORD ROSEBERY'S "HERESY;" EXCESSIVE LAWS AND STATE DE- ; VELOPMENT. -' . Lord Rosebery presided at a meeting ,of the Society of Comparative Legislation 1 in tlio Royal .-Society's Hall, on Juno 30. Ho said that tho - work of tho society seemed to bo so necessary in those days of superabundant legislation that it was marvellous' that it should bo left to a private society to do what it did. Tho first work of the society was to givo. a full and accurate summary of each year's legislation in tho British Empire, the United States, and foreign countries.

Lot them consider what work that was. Thore were 60 Legislatures within tho British Empire itself; thero were some 50 Legislatures ill thb United States, and besides that thero wero tho various . Legislatures .of Europe: All.these Legislatures working— more especially our own—full speed ahead, produced the greatest possible number of Acts of Parliament in.the year. In 1906; for example, thero were no fewer than 2000 laws or ordinances passed within tho British Empire, of which, probably, 99.ppr" cent.'wero curtailments or infringements of tho liberty of the subject. That was stupendous, and it preached, as from a text, the necessity of the'.society.

An Era of Construction, In former days such a society was not so much required as now. Then we wero living m what ho might'call the" era of emancipation. We wero freeing tho Jews, freeing tho Roman Catholics, freeing the municipalities, freeing tho universities. Everywhere ouitask was one of enlarging tho boundaries of freedom. But that task, in tho main, had been accomplished, and we lmd passed into an era much p;oro difficult, much more full of stumbling-blocks—the era of construction. Tho moro important portion of the laws passed now wero laws of construction, laws aimed at moulding human society in a particular and beneficent direction, and, if ono school had its way, they would aim still more at constructing a new society on tho ruins of the old. At any rate, whether they wen,t so far ns that or not, they could not shut out from themselves tho prospect that increasingly the Legislature would endeavour to raise and fortify a new structure of society, somewhat empiric- ■ ally, by means of legislation. Ho watched that with some anxiety. because he belonged to that small school—perhaps ho ought not co mention it in the Law Society's' Hall—which did not believe that laws in the long run could greatly ameliorate humanity. . Ho was not sure that he did not incline to that small heresy—if it were a heresy—which believed that that State was most fortunate which achieved its. own development by_ tho character and efforts of its citizens as littlo as possible supported and guided by legislation. At any rate, ho was certain that the progress of that State which was 1 enabled so to develop, itself would be more surd and m6re abundant than that of tho State which rested on legislative ■ measures for tho achievement of its destinies. (Cheers.) , If they wore to construct and constantly to construct, surely it was of tho utmost importance to them to know what other nations were doing, how far they had succeeded, and how far they had failed.

A Burnins Question. Ho would-take one example—a burning question at this moment—tho question' of old ago pensions. It was of vast importance to all'who had that subject at heart to know what had been done in Now Zealand, what had boen done in Australia, and what'had been done in Germany. He was extremely • sceptical whether many of thoso who endeavoured to legislate on that subject were' f ullyj.Mnyqf-Bgntj, varied systems, and""hp,e p, kndty l Ji6iv 'rliey l could bo eonvej-saßUwithiithrimiifwntesalrtbfiy' read tho volumes of the Society of Comparative Legislation.- To take another case, they might observe that .certain tendencies in legislation wero'charasteristic of particular periods: that there Were certain sub-jects.-on which both our • own Empire and other nations seemed'to be concentrating their attention. For example, during the last two years there had been passed 35 Acts and ordinances dealing with children, and 127 Acts and ordinances dealing with crime in all its aspects, and exhibiting clearly the tendency' to discriminate between the liabitiial. or professional, and tho occasional criminal. 1 It was as if thero were a wave of feeling passing over tho world on particular subjects which swept Legislatures with it. Moreover, they had to tako account of subjects which were not imminent to them at tho present time. They had tho young Legislatures of tho West and South, in America, Australia-, and Neiv Zealand, proceeding to deal with new topics which Eomo day Britain might also havo to deal with; and it was of the greatest value to know what those countries wore doing, what they wero aiming at, and what success they wero achieving in those strange experiments.