THE GREY RIVER ARGUS FRIDAY, June 26, 1925. PARLIAMENT.

Grey River Argus, 26 June 1925, Page 4

THE GREY RIVER ARGUS FRIDAY, June 26, 1925. PARLIAMENT.

Appropriately, the final session of ibis Parliament opened yesterday in weather that was very Zoggy. The ‘‘speech from the throne’' provided nothing that would lift the gloom, it was not only humdrum, but devoid of any line of policy promising progress for the country. There is certainly a list of proposed measures, but boiled down they amount to nothing. The session is destined to prove a barren one. The Government arc concerned only to give the impression that they mean business, but political stagnation is their ideal still just as much as it Had over been. They o?>\ iously base their calculations upon two considera- ; ions. One is the evident preoccupation of a majority of the Members with the 'manoeuvres for a l ory fusion, the main object of which is to isolate Ihe Labour Party in opposition. Kesulting therefrom is the anticipation that a sufficient number of people for the purposes of the Government can be persuaded for the present to discount Labour in opposition, by the reiteration of the cry of cx_ terism against every principle espoused by the Labour Party, irrespective. ' ly of whether the Government is in the right or in the wrong. No doubt the Government hopes to make use of 1 the seven millions, recently borrowed by grace of the underwriters, in such ' a manner as to create momentarily on the eve of the election a better impression than that previously exist. • ing; but tiie fact cannot be disguised that it is now like drawing blood from a stone to secure an advance from the Slate: amt the fruits of the people’s industry are being swallowed up by a small minority. There is no relic! for the working class to be descried in the inam-ial proposals of the Government, ami the landed classes arc assured of further concessions. So far as it goes, the restrictive legislation proposed relative to child welfare will be useful, ami the proposed extension of the Agricultural Department’s tutorial activities should also prove ben. elieiai; but the amending arbitration measure will not make any diilcrence to the workers’ lot. ft is sometimes said the Government docs not fully set forth its policy measures in the Governor-General's speech, but n is safe to assume that in such paucity of policy as the speech disclosed yes. teruav, the Ministry would have made 1 the most of a measure of substantial social amelioration if it had any such proposal in contemplation. The North Island is certainly assured that some, thing is proposed to arrest the deter. i ioration of pastures on Crown lands, ; but there is a sad lack of any scheme . of land settlement to put before the . country on the eve of the election, such as should accompany the imnn1 gration policy now being pursued, to which, curiously enough, the Govern. ■'or’s speech omits any allusion, bum. lining up the present political situation. it cannot be denied that for guidance and insight the public must depend solely upon the fidelity to its l dutv as an Opposition which they can -confidently expect from the Labour thirty.