The Doninion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1913. OBSTRUCTION AND THE TAXPAYER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1879, 13 October 1913, Page 6

The Doninion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1913. OBSTRUCTION AND THE TAXPAYER.

The campaign of obstruction, which has played such a prominent part in Anti-Reform tactics during the present session, reached another acute stage early on Saturday morning, after a short period of uneasy slumber. The cause, or rather the excuse, for the trouble was Clause 25 of the Land Laws Amendment Bill, and the result was another shocking waste of Parliament's time and tho taxpayers' money, tho Opposition blocking all progress till midnight on Saturday. Whether this senseless obstruction of the business of the country will. be continued when the House meet's this afternoon remains to be seen; but it is quite certain that the people of New Zealand must be thoroughly tired of tho manner in which the Opposition are subordinating the interests of the country to petty party < tactics deliberately adopted for the' purpose of blocking the progress of serious work. The utter insincerity of the whole business becomes quite palpable to anyone who may have the misfortune to listen to weary iteration and reiteration of cant phrases and worn-out political shibboleths by the dreary procession of obstructionist speakers. It is the duty of the Government to see that all urgent and necessary legislation is carried through before members go back to their homes, and if the Anti-Reform-ers are determined to make uso of tho forms of the House for tho purpose of blocking business on any and every pretext then the country must bear tho cost of tho waste occasioned by the tactics of the Opposition. But the electors will have tho means of redressing the wrong done them, and the degradation of their Parliament, at the General Election. After hours of valuable time had been wasted on Friday night, the pretence of the Opposition that they were being unduly driven and overworked was too ridiculous to deceive anyone. As a matter of fact, they after a timo abandoned altogether _ that pretext and carried on their obstruction almost entirely on- the ground of antagonism to tho freehold. The clauso of the Bill under discussion during the obstruction which has been carried on was explained by tho Prhib' Minister in his speech on the second reading of the Bill in the following words : — Thero is a very InrßO arm of land in the Thames district—much o£ it good pastoral land—which would be most suitablo for such a purpose if properly used, but settlers would not take it up under tlio ordinary tcmiro there—l refer to what has been called tho llauraki pastoral lease tenure. Under that tonuro tlm mining rights aro reserved—minerals are reserved. Wo intend to malco it perfectly clear that tho miners may uso that land if gold or silver is discovered thereon. I do not 6uppo« it in likolv that coal will bo dinoovcred at tlin 'iiaraca, TV irlnerak.

aro reserved to tho Crown, while tho fcosimple of tho surface may bo granted to tho settlor. I beliovo that this provision will havo the effect within a few years of bringing a quarter of a million acres into profitablo occupation. The area of land referred to is not likely to be put to profitable uso unless the freehold is granted, and it would be sheer folly to let it'lie waste simply because some day minerals may possibly be discovered under tho surface. There are special provisions to ensure the preservation of the rights of miners and pi the Crown; but the leaseholders in Opposition had reasons of their own for putting up a prolonged fight over tho clause, and they dragged in the freeholders of the party, who sought an excuse for obstruction on the ground that tlio Government wanted the House to work too hard. Somo AntiRefonncrs declared that they were fighting for the leasehold principle, others appeared to be protesting against the lata hours, and still others professed to base their action on the fact that Mb. T. \V. Rhodes,. the member for Thames, was the owner of a lease of certain land within the area under consideration. The Prime Minister endeavoured to meet the Opposition in every reasonable way, by offering to submit the clause to the Solicitor-General in order to make sure that no wrong would bo done to the State, ana that the rights and privileges of the miners were fully protected. He also promised that the clause would be recommitted, and that ho would make full inquiry into the position of Mr. Rhodes, though he had no reason to doubt that the member for Thames had acted in a perfectly proper manner. In fact, no one made any open chargo against hiui. He was simply carrying out tho wishes of his constituents. This assurance was actually accepted by the Leader of the Opposition, though he still endeavoured to secure an adjournment on the ground that enough work had been done for that day. The very reasonable and conciliatory attitude of the Prime Minister deprived the Opposition of every shred of justification for the continuation oi their obstruction, especially when it is borne in mind that the most prominent men on their own side of the House had voted for tho second reading of the Bill. The pretence that the_ Government was resorting to "driving" tactics was shattered by the comparison given by Mr. Fisher of the number of late sittings during the present session with the number for the 1910 session; but of course the real reason for the all-night sitting was a desiro to embarrass the Government and prevent it from placing its measures on the Statute Book. The flood of AntiReform "eloquence" which flowed on from hour to hour was as insincere as it was futile. "Nobly put" interjected Mr. Isitt when Mr. Hanan uttered some pretentious platitude about the "horitage of the people" or something of the sort, and he could not help joining in the laugh his remark evoked. It is stated that at one period in tho history of Rome the Augurs could not look each other in the face without laughing. They knew that their business was a farce, and that they were merely humbugging the people. So with the obstructionists in the New Zealand Parliament. They underestimate the intelligence of the public if they think tho electors of the Dominion aro likely to approve of tho waste of time and money and the degradation of the proceedings of Parliament which must result from the farcical obstruction which is now being practised. Seemingly they havo lost their heads over their defeat of last.session, and being unable to take their beating in a proper spirit are ready to sacrifice tho interests of the country and everyone else in order to vent their petty spleen against their opponents.