NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1270, 27 October 1911, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

c In the House of Representatives 1 early yesterday morning there were '" several divisions, and it was discovcre ed during the clay that on one divi--0 sion Sir Joseph Waud had voted on e both sides. What made the incident the more strange was the fact that s the Peime Mlvisteh, as he admitted, was asleep at the time. The contra- • dictory voting was due to a misunderstanding, of course; but the mis--0 understanding arose out'of the en--9 tirely undesirable way in which the 0 House transacts business, especially '' in the last days of the session. The B public will be able to form a very B good idea from this incident how the t business of Parliament is being conducted. Here is a member fast asleep and yet his vote is recorded on an important question before the House. This is a frequent occurrence during • the late sittings that the Piume Min- ; istek is forcing on the House. If r the rules were strictly observed, we ' believe, no member would be permit- \ ted to sleep while a division was bej ing taken; but the Speaker and ) Chairman of Committees, infected by > the Leader of the House's disrespect ; for Parliamentary order, have come to permit members to behave almost ■ as thev please. The member for » Mataura put in a strong plea for a i more strict and orderly method of > taking divisions, and everything he said is quite true. But the real lesson of the incident—and it will not • be lost upon the public—is the imi propriety of the ''exhaustion'" tactics ■ adopted'by the Government. When the Prime Minister is found asleep on his couch during a division, it is impossible to protend that the House carries on business in any proper wav. One can sympathise with Sir Joseph Ward's weariness, but he has only himself to blame. For it is he who arranges the Order Paper and who gives the Government Whip the orders as to verbosity or silence that the rank and file of the party are to obey. When he deliberately withholds his proposals in the earlier part of the session, keeps the House virtually idle, and arranges for his followers to waste weeks in foolish talk, he must be held responsible for the disgraceful conditions at the cud of the session, and for his own somnolence during divisions. Tlw incident is one of the strongest justifications wo have yet had of the complaints of those who object to "legislation by exhaustion.'' When even Sin Joseph Waud, who prides himself on being 1

able to get along on four hours' sleep pr diem, week in and week out, finds himself overcome with weariness and sleeps through important divisions, how can anyone wonder that the House has become unable to deal properly with the business of the conntry J

Wi: must congratulate the Government on its Family Land Settlement proposals. The details of the new measure will require careful consideration, but the principle should meet with general approval. Any reasonable movement in the direction of expediting the settlement of the idle lands of the country deserves commendation, and particularly is this the ease when genuine settlers are to be assisted as distinct from the .speculators, who so frequently enter j applications at the land ballots with a hope of being able to transfer (heir holding at a profit if successful in drawing a section. The proposal to eompulsorily acquire Native land is a debatable one, perhaps, for, a-s pointed out by Mi:. Hermes, the individual Natives who arc blamed for keeping their land idle in many cases have no chance to work their particular share in a block until the individual titles are ascertained. The land is held on a communistic system, and no Native can say in such caws that any particular portion of the land is his. He lias a share in the whole, that is all. But while this is tr.e case, there i.s no reason why the land should remain idle, and where large blocks are concerned the Stale can with advantage step in and force partition. By all means the Natives should be encouraged to farm their own lands and become useful citizens, but the policy of the Native Minister has been rather in the direction of encouraging the Natives to cling to their lands, which pay no rates or taxes, and, profiting by the industry of the white settlers and the expenditure of public money, derive the enhanced value, and eventually live in idleness on the proceeds. Of course Mr. Carroll urges his fellow Natives to become industrious and to turn their lands to profitable account, but his actions in promoting Native land Fottlemcnt fall far short of his professions. However, although they do not propose to proceed with the Rill this serai on, we must compliment the Government on having introduced it, and especially on the further evidence it affords of their gradual conversion to the Opposition policy of the optional tenure as the best means of securing satisfactory land settlement.

The Government candidate for the Wellington Central scat has announced that he has had the "unique honour" of being asked by the Government, the Opposition, and the Labour party to be their candidate. We should imagine, if this is the case, that Mil. Fletcher's political views up to the present election campaign have not been remarkable either for their clearness or their strength. However, be that as it may, it is rather a reflection on the Labour party's official candidate for the Central seat that Mn. Fletcher should go about stating that the Labour party wished to make him their candidate, but that he declined to sign their pledge. Presumably the Government candidate, in making this statement, desired to win the support of a section of Labour at the expense of Labour's official candidate. In the past this sort of thing has met with some success. Government candidates posing as the friends of Labour have diverted votes from the official Labour candidates to themselves by this means, and Labour has realised its mistake too late. The Labour candidate for the Central scat, Mr. W. T. Young, probably recognising the danger with which he is confronted by Mr. Fletcher's statement thai; Labour desired to have him as their representative, has taken prompt steps to have the matter cleared up. He has written to Mr.. Fletciieii, quoting his statement as reported, in our evening contemporary, and continues as follows: —

AS tho foregoing statement, in so far as it applies to the Labour party, has not l>sen contradicted by you, and "as it is a reflex of a similar statement made by you in tho Concert Chamber of tho Town Hall on the 16th instant, as published in the local daily papers of the 17tli instant, which you al=o have not contradicted, 1 now hove to request you io publicly produce the communication from the Labour party asking you to be their candidate, and also to publicly jfrotluce your letter to the party informing them that you would not sign tho pledge of the party. I shall be speaking in the Aro Street Mission Hall to-morrow night, and at this meeting an opportunity will bo given you to produce (he correspondence in question, and thereby establish to the electors the statements made by you.

This is a direct challenge. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Fletcher is prepared to take it up.