The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 1891.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9494, 17 August 1891, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 1891 .

Now that the Government policy is getting within measurable distance of the Statute Book, the various measures of that policy are assuming the character they will hear when they take their place in the national volumes as the guides which the nation must obey in so many things. The change will he considerable in many ways, of course; that goes without saying. But does it justify the fears that abound, and in some quarters appear to he on the increase ? The taxation, in the first place, will press more hardly than the Property tax. But on whom? Undoubtedly on those best able to hear it; nay on those who either escaped their fair share (the large estates) or, like the professional incomes, escaped altogether. The change being in accordance with justice, will certainly (as all human experience proves) be beneficial. The second of the two great departments of the change, is that in which the various Factory Acts—we call them by that name for the sake of distinction—are grouped together. But are these really the outcome of the last general election ? The plain fact happens to he that they were all drawn up by the Atkinson Government last year, and actually introduced into the House of Representatives after passing the ordeal of a Select Committee. Another fact in their history is important. After the election these measures were sent to Select Committees, and have been in some respects much modified ; so that they are actually more fair and workable than when they were presented to the House before the general election. Moreover, in their passage through Committee they have all been materially assisted by the leader of the Opposition and his friends, and the Upper House is receiving them with the respect which is founded on belief. It comes to this, then : That the new finance is fair, and the new social laws are accepted by both sides as both necessary and moderate, the Conservatives, iu fact, recognising, as their prototypes in London and every capital iu Europe are recognising, that legislation of this kind is the bounden duty of all Parliaments and all rulers. Prom which it follows that whatever panic may now be felt will presently give way to confidence based on approval of the change.