WORK, NOT WORDS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 148, 26 June 1925, Page 4

WORK, NOT WORDS

It was not to be expected that His Excellency's Speech to Parliament would depart from the line usually followed in such addresses. There has been a change of Parliamentary leadership, but the new Leader has already signified his general acceptance of the policy of his predecessor, and „he has not ( yet been long enough" in office to "warrant a demand that he: should proceed from the general to the particular. There is a further reason for not expecting an immediate and elaborate declaration of policy from Mr. Coates. Fusion is under consideration, and its consummation would not be advanced by a declaration which might be interpreted as notice to the Liberals that they would be given no voice in framing the policy. There are, however, one or two points of Imperial policy upon which Mr. Coates might have seized the opportunity to voice an official opinion with all the weight that it would carry in the' Speech from the Throne. Possibly he refrained from doing ao lest his pronouncement should be deemed too hasty; but as he has promised to make astatement to Parliament upon one aspect of .Empire affairs, we may hope that the omission willthen be repaired.

In so far as the Speech touched upon policy, it was a brief and businesslike catalogue of proposals. But its brevity cannot be counted a defect if it warns members of Parliament to be equally sparing of words. The proposals as stated in general terms are not controversial. A Child Welfare Bill has long been talked of, a measure to deal with deteriorated landsv.is the outcome of work done during the recess, and the proposal to apply sinking funds' to the redemption of securities at a discount has been previously mooted. Tlie Local Bodies' Loans Bill may prove debatable, but as yet we have no indication of. its purport. The programme in general is a modest one, which should not keep Parliament engaged for an unduly long period. Indeed, if members follow the example set them' in the Speech of attaching less value to words than tn work, they should have ample time to deal thoroughly with thosa important problems to which we alluded yesterday—taxation, electoral reform, and licensing.