The Star.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XVII, Issue 2951, 14 October 1891, Page 2

The Star.

(PUBLISHED DAILY.)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1891.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Without going so far as to agree that in all cases the Legislative Council did. what was right and wise, we think that if the cool judgment of the people could be arrived at it would be found to indicate that the honors of the recent Parliamentary session rest with the Council. In the first place, it bowed willingly and gracefully to the demand for reform in itself. As to legislation, it criticised closely all the financial measures of the Ministry ; but, whilst expressing its objections decidedly, it recognised the consticutional responsibility of the Government and the representative chamber for finance, and simply registered the decrees of the popular branch of the Legislature. Its action with reference to the Electoral Bill and Land Bill is still a matter of debate, not only as regards the amendments it made in the Government bills, but also as to the compromises it was prepared to accept, and, until the last number of Hansard has been published, the full state of the case is not available to the public. In passing, it ( may be said that if the Electoral Bill, a most useful measure on the whole, i was dropped simply on account of the refusal of the Council to extend the one man one vote principle to bye elections, both Council and Government were to blame. The whole principle has already been given away by the Council, and seeing that it is applied in the general elections there is not the least reason why it should not be admitted in bye elections, which are so few as to be hardly worth considering as a factor in the representation question. On the other hand, as the matter at stake is so small the Government might very well have taken their bill if need were minus that provision. The defect could have been remedied just as easily in the future as the passing; of the whole bill in another session. In regard to the Land Bill the same argument will apply. Much that was good and necessary could have been secured^ and there is reason to believe that the Council would have gone a long way to meet Ministers on the clauses in dispute. The rejection of the Female Franchise Bill may be re- ! gretted, but a great change was proposed, and, even if we differ from the Council, its right to a suspensory veto cannot be denied. In rejecting the Settlers Land Revaluation Bill and the Land for Settlement Bill the Council acted inconsiderately. "With regard to social legislation, the Council

passed, as the Minister of Education admitted, the most advanced Factories Act in existence; and ife agreed to the extension of employers' liability for accidents to workmen. On the other hand, it threw out the Shop Hours Bill, which, to say the least, was a measure on which the country was by no means unanimous, and a few other measures o£ tbe aame class ; and it very sharply dealt with Sir George Grey's bill for admitting persons to the profession of the law without examination in general knowledge, and a second bill by the same author aimed at the Union Company's Friendly Society. The Payment of Members Bill was " '.aid aside." The Council took the dignified course of saying it did not in the present financial position deem it proper to award increased rpmuneratian to its members, but if the representatives of the people held that they were entitled to a higher rate of payment, tbey might recover their bill and amend it accordingly. It threw out tbe Counties Bill — a most necessary measure, it must be admitted — together with some others, which were sent up to it in the last days of the session. This, we think, is a fair summary of the actions of the Council, and if it ia to be admitted that a second Chamber is necessary, and is entitled to an independent ■judgment in legislation — and we see that several members who went to Wellington ready to abolish tbe Council returned home with a belief in the necessity of it — there is nothing in its record to show class antipathies or unconstitutional con* duct. As to knowledge of political science, literary style and ability, and decorous methods of conducting debates and business, the Council certainly compares most favorably with the House. It tolerates no " scenes," there is no " taking down of words," no stonewalling, and if anyone entertains tbe idea that tbe debaters in the Council are in auy sense mentally weak, or that Councillors' brains have got into the state defined by Professor Huxley " incap. able of expansion, and no new ideas can enter their heads," (vide speech of tbe the Premier, Wanganui Herald report) a perusal of the speeches made on any of tbe great subjects which occupied the attention of Parliament last session, will effectually dispel that notion. Speech for speech with the leaders of the House, those of the leading men in the Council will be found equally solid and critical, and often, we venture to say, more honest and broadly minded, and certainly less party-colored, personal, or passionate. Such is tbe result of our reading of Hansard, and we commend a perusal of Hansard as an antidote to the nonsense sometimes talked about the Council.