The Dominion MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1008. THE PAST SESSION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 325, 12 October 1908, Page 6

The Dominion MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1008. THE PAST SESSION.

Although it was not until nearly midnight on Saturday that the body of Parliament rested, its mind had practically Ceased working some days before. If any of our readers chooses to compare port of the proceedings in the House and Council on almost any day of last week with the report of the debates on any day in July, ho will realiso the extont of tho change that took place in tho mothodß of Parliament. If in July there was a good deal of unnecessary talk, there was at any rate ample evidence of the fact that mombers were thinking, and that they knew what they were dealing with, even when they dealt with it badly. Last week, however, the utmost space that we co.uld afford to tho Parliamentary reports allowed room for not a great deal more than "minutes" of the proceedings. The utmost attention that the House and Oouncil could or would give to tho Niagara of legislation that poured through them was hardly sufficient to enable members to know more about tho Bills than their short titles. The end-of-the-session rush, in fact, was more flagrantly reckless than it has been for years. Both Houses, it would appear, had embraced the remarkable doctrine laid down by the Attorney-General on November 20 of last year, when, in reply to complaints about the speed with which important Bills*were being rushed through, ho said that "it was idle for honourable mombers fcti think that thoy could m'astor ovory Bill and tho details of every Bill that passed throughthe Council." "It was not to bo suggested," ho said again, "that overy member of the Council should regard it as his duty to mastor tho principles and details of cver v v Bill—that would be impossible." It is extremely doubtful if more than a dozen membra jjould pass a^.

examination upon tho work of the past few days. During the recess we shall have our Ministerial friends denying that there was any "rushing" at the end of the session, and quoting tho fact that the average daily sitting was only eight hours in length: But the simple fact remains that Parliament has this year broken the record .for haste and recklessness in tho, final week. Although shorter than usual, the session has yiolded a harvest of the average bulk and quality. The most important Act of tho session was fortunately one that Parliament was competent to deal with, and desirous of dealing with fairly. This is, of course, the Arbitration Amendment Act. That this is, upon the whole, tho best and most reasonable measure that has been constructed on the basis of a coercion of industry will nowhere be disputed. It is true that in the' final conferences upon it its reasonableness was seriously vitiated by the introduction of a provision—the "victimisation" clause— which strikes a blow at the very heart of industry, inasmuch as this clause is a first long step towards the complete subjection of society to organised labour. But while giving the Act its full measure of credit, wo feel bound to reaffirm our conviction that it will ultimately be repealed so far as its compulsory provisions ( are concerned. It must not be forgotten that Mil. Millar himself declared just before Parliament met that there was then a strong feeling in favour of repeal. The blot upon the session, hits been the Second Ballot Act. There is no need to discuss here tho part played by the Government in connection with this measure, but it may be as well to remind the public that tho infamous "gag" clause, which has branded for all time the Ward Government and the members who supported its attack upon the people's liberty, was only a supremely vicious part of a noxious whole. An Act making so vital a change in electoral procoduro should never haye been passed without a popular mandate, whether it was good or bad. But it is a bad Act, in that it makes it practically certain that a candidate elected under it will bo elected by a minority of tho votors in tho eloctorate—the very contingency which it aims at preventing. The Acts of first-rate importance number about a dozen altogether, but they call for no special comment here, although it is satisfactory that there are at least two, those relating to teachers' salaries and to the naval subsidy, which can bo praised with little reserve in one case and in the other without rcservo at all.

Not,much of the enormous programmo outlined in the Governor's Speech has passed into law. We are still awaiting the measuro that is to reconstruct the present system of local government. Wo are still without even a hint that there will one day appear the "comprehensive" Native Lands Act which was promised last year by Mr." Carroll, and which was years overdue even then. Characteristically enough, this year's "amendment" to the existing chaos of law on the subject did not roach the Legislative Qouncil until within a few hours of the final adjournment, Since the Public Servico Superannuation Act and the Local Authorities Superannuation Act were two of twenty-five measures put through all their'stages by tho House on one day last week—one-fourth of,the session's logisla-' tion jyas put through the House on that one day—it is subject for thankfulness that the Prime Minister, after circulating the National Provident Fund Bill on Friday, refrained from driving it through Parliament on Saturday. The session, as a whole, has reflected little credit on Parliament. At times the Legislative Council displayed a flash of what appeared to bo tho dawn of independence, but the Secoud Ballot Act has made it clear that the Council is still the slave of the Ministry, and that when the Government is determined to pass an Act against the will of an unconaultod public—when, that is to say, tho occasion arises for the Council to perform its highest function, the preservation of the public's rights—the revising Chamber ceases to revise, .and becomes, through the weight of the Ministerial dummies, tho mere tool of tho Ministry. As for tho House, it was scon at its very worst. The majority of its members, from tho beginning to the end of the session, were governed almost continually by only two motives—a desire to make capital for thp elections and an anxiety to keep high in favour witlji the Ministry. Tho main feature of the ses-, sion was the unmistakable ovidence which it afforded of the completeness of Sir Joseph Ward's acceptance of the legislative and administrative doctrines of the late Mr. Seddon. It can only be with a sense of relief that the public welcomes the dissolution of the Parliament whose life was just such as was to be expected from the "Tammany" cloctions of 1905.