The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1913. THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 17 December 1913, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1913. THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION.

The Parliamentary session which closed on Monday evening has been interesting from many points of view, but both parties will agree that it was much too long, and probably will agree to disagree as to n'here the responsibility rests for the undue length. Long sessions should be quite unnecessary in i New Zealand; for all the business that is done, twelve or thirteen weeks ought to be the extreme limit; and we believe they are a distinct disad-. vantage to the public welfare. Apart from the extra cost to the Treasury in hard cash, there is the still greater drawback of the very great personal sacrifice imposed on members of the Legislature. If they are required to spend five or six months in Wellington it will become incr3asingly difficult to get business men, whether engaged in farming or commerce, and men of moderate means, to enter public life. Yet it is just this class of men that is needed, for our Parliament should be largely an assembly of rr.en who are still more or less engaged .in earning their living, for the reason that they are most closely in touch with the everyday working conditions of life, and are most likely to accurately represent the wishes and the needs of the bulk of the population. If the sessions are .to be undtrty strung out, this class will be to .a> great extent excluded, and the representation must fall more into the hands of the two extremes in our community, the wealthy leisured men and the men to whom time is of no great value and the pay a material consideration. In proportion as representation falls mainly to these two classes, it may be expected that the debates will be marked by acerbity, and that .questions will not be discussed from the pomt of view of the most important element in the country —the men and women who belong neither to the rich nor to the "have nots," but to that olass whose welfare depends. oh peace and progress, Another reason why shorter sessions are advisable is that Ministers really need the time for the important work of administration. Referring specially to the late session, obviously it was mariced by an 'unusual amount of dilatoriness and positive obstruction. It is true that a great deal of important business was transacted, but an impartial observer of the course of events will be ready to admit that the bulk of that business was transacted within a comparativelj short time towards the close of the session, and that if there had been anything like the same application to business in-ffche earireE weeks' the work might "have been done in hair the time "and with less than half the irritation. The Government has carried; through a big programme of legislation, and deserve^ [to be congratulated very teUrfciljKon its sucdess and its consistency in giving effect to its policy. The strike trouble' has, of course, been, a matter of great anxiety and embarrassment, but 'hap-, pily the Government proved itself■«e&j(ual to the emergency. It quite firmly re- j sit ted all attempts to fring about Parliamentary interference. Not that it would not have been pleased to promote legislation if there was a reasonable prospect of it being effective; but that was just the element of justification that was lacking, the (policy adopted, therefore, was that of endeavoring to prcmote' reconciliation, and when, that failed it devoted its energies to restoring and maintainingorder during the present struggle, and passing legislation calculated to minimise the prospect of any similar disturbance in future. This course was made, the subject of a great deal of hostile- criticism, but in the end the Government was fortunate enough' to find its scheme approved not only by its own general supporters but by men of whom Mr Millar is no doubt a type; men who do not on general principles agree with the Ministry; but think that in this particular matter they pursued the wisest course. ,