The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1891.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9512, 7 September 1891, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1891.

The ways of legislators are fearful and wonderful. They always were, and, we presume, they always will be. For that reason we are not surprised that the Greymouth Harbour Bill was talked out on Thursday afternoon. We presume that the main cause of that calamitous check was the prevailing desire to delay the Female Franchise Bill as much as possible. That, working together with the idiosyncrasies of 'the men who have breakwater on the brain, proved a sufficiently solid obstacle to a very good Bill. That Bill is, °f course, sure to once more see the light. The eloquence' of the member for Ashburton in the final ten minutes which did the damage, has hurt that gentleman (unaccustomed as he is to public speaking and the lighter skirmishes of the stonewall order of tactics) a great deal more than it has hurt the Bill. We are much more sorry for Mr Wright than we are for the Bill. Still, the Bill has been very badly treated, and that must be pointed out. The faction which has breakwater on the brain is jubilant, and very certain to try and press its advantage. ‘lts brain being unduly weighted by such masses of heavy material, is really unable to do its office. The consequence is that thereisinthephilosophy of this school of economists, no dig-

crimination; a breakwater is with them a breakwater, and the travelling shingle in one' place is the travelling shingle in the other ; and the facts of nature are nothing, whereas the facts of finance are everything ; and nothing that comes out of the political Nazareth can ever by any chance have anything good in it. Hence it has come to pass that opinions which have been formed even before perusal of existing evidence are never allowed to be modified by even the production of fresh testimony. But the fact is that there are breakwaters and breakwaters. Timaru is one of the best; the fresh evidence of the last year settles that point beyond the power of cavil. Greymouth has an enormously rich district behind it, and an exceptionally powerful river to do the work of scouring between the moles. The glowing brain of the member for Clutha, which, like all glowing brains, constantly forgets the main facts in every situation, was, of course, quite regardless of this, the chief feature in the situation. Mr T. Mackenzie saw in his mind’s eye a canal constructed between New Zealand and Victoria by the constantly growing Greymouth moles, extending to circumvent the eternally restless sea. He forgot the current which, being confined between the moles, makes complete scour. Though these things are on the surface, so that he who runs may read, they deserve the closest attention of all who study politics at the present time. Surely no one has forgotten that the making of the West Coast harbours was one of the master strokes of the policy of the Stout-Vogel Government. The opening up of the resources of the West Coast was regarded as a great national work by that party, and that opinion was gradually communicated to the Colony, so firmly and completely that when the Bills were brought up they were, by common consent, regarded as outside the range of party questions. They were passed in that spirit, and the results of that passing have been most excellent. The two harbours of Greymouth and Westport are, for the first time in their history, good accessible ports of industry. The Atkinson Government did not improve their condition by its legislation, which handed them over to a control of which the less said the better. And now we have the members on the Atkinsoniansideof the House resisting the proposal to benefit one of these harbours, and excusing its resistance by such idiotic argument as that of the member for Clutha, who sees a canal stretching across the sea of Tasman. It only shows us that the greatest of the difficulties of these harbour works is the artificial difficulty of that form of political tactics which is labelled partisan. The truth is that when these harbours were taken in hand, it was seen that the enormous area of the coal measures, and the great wealth of the forests, made the development of the harbours a very necessary Colonial work. Every day the coal endowment is increasing in value, every day the output of coal increases, and would, if the facilities were, greater, increase more. Mr Wright wasqueagecTinr pretoircrtiiaTra harbour at Port Elizabeth would better repay expenditure. But the Port Elizabeth venture has been long ago exploded into thin air, Greymouth has become one of the recognised centres of that West Coast trade, and nothing can depose the place from that position. New mines are opening out, the Black Ball and others figuring largely and hopefully in the list. They alone justify the extra expenditure called for hy the Greymouth Harbour Board. The Greymouth section of railway is the most profitable section of the New Zealand railways, simply because the harbour has a sound back country. Anyone who says he cannot believe that the coal output must increase enormously, and thus find means of paying loan charges far greater than anything now incurred, must necessarily be a preteader. The pretensions of political partisans cannot be permitted to stop the progress of New Zealand. The Midland Bail way must not he forgotten as a factor in the prosperous development of Greymouth. For sometime this great work has remained quite hidden from the view of our peopb. The interest in it was at its heigh; when the people of Canterbury poured forth twenty-five thousand stronf to make a demonstration in its Lvour. The railway after that took its place in the programme of advancement which the StoutVoge Government marked out for he public of New Zealand. The contract was entered into, after man} difficulties, and the railway ceasd, for the best of all reasons, to he a question of practical politics. It dd not cease, however, to be an objeo of attack. The attacks from its pponents continued, and they were so insidious and masterly in thei; particular way that many good, wellneaning people imagined that the lidland Bailway had made shipwrek, and with the exception of a sectm or two between Greymouth andhe Brunner lake would never be beat of more. The struggle for the devition gave the public a different view of this matter a few months ago. But the best service was perfornd the other day hy the retiring Predent of our Chamber of Commerce. Mr ieece reviewed this work at some lengh in that cheery, comprehensive wayf his. He showed how the contrac is progressing, he marked the groing export of timber—one of the maifeatures we insisted upon in our adviacy of the claims of the line yea ago—he traced the progress of theoal export, he proved vigorously thaby the end of the contract period thelidland Eaihvay will be a living, moug, paying concern. He proved, in her words, that there is a huge greing feeder which will make the poiqf Greymouth eventually one of thfficheat in New Zealand. The Miand Hallway alone is a sufficient reen for permitting the Greymouth pede to improve their harbour. No haour’s financial basis is sounder, i anno harbour’s natural securities | argreater.

OiFriday night the Female Suffrage Bipassed the House of Eepresentativ after two noteworthy encounters. T 1 first of these was Mr Blake’s amdment; the second that of Mr Cacross. The former, designed to.

delay the coming into force of the Bill until after the next general election, was defeated by five votes. The second was a proposal to admit women to both Houses, and was victorious by a fair majority. Nominally both these divisions were victories for the friends of women’s political rights. Actually, however, the result of the double triumph will probably be the killing of Sir John Hall’s Bill in the Upper House. As regards Mr Blake’s amendment, we have on a previous occasion expressed our opinion on the constitutional question of delaying the measure until the country has had an opportunity of facing the enormous political change involved in the extension of the franchise to women. That, however, is not the immediate practical aspect of the matter. Our readers may choose which side they like. They may agree with Sir John Hall that delaying the Bill until the beginning of 1894 is defrauding many thousand electors of a privilege which we admit to be theirs by right. On the other hand they may think with the Premier, and other undoubted friends of female franchise, that the best way to make the reform unpopular is to endeavour to force it through without giving the constituencies a chance of seriously considering an immense and revolutionary change. Our readers may please themselves as to which view they take. The point on which we wish to lay stress is that the rejection of Mr Blake’s amendment gives the Council an excuse for throwing the Bill out. Councillors will point to the fact that the Premier of the Colony and almost half the Lower House have urged the wisdom of delay. Seeing that the Council itself is almost always favourable to delay, it is not likely on this particular occasion to reverse its ordinary course. Mr Carncross’ amendment will probably be the last straw on the camel’s hack. Logically the friends of female suffrage can say nothing against the amendment. If it is right and rational to give women an equal share of voting power with men in the constituencies, it is most unreasonable to pretend that exceptionally gifted women should be denied a chance of entering Parliament. If women are to turn politicians everywhere outside Parliament House, it cannot be contended that any magical barrier can be erected against them round that sacred edifice. Even the strongest opponents of the entry of women into politics admit that occasionally women produce an individual whose mental calibre is equal to anything of a first-class masculine order. Nevertheless, it is quite certain that these same opponents, and the older members of the Legislative Council in particular, regard the appearance of women in the Houses of Parliament with a holy—or unholy—horror.' Illogical as this prejudice is, we conceive that it may. probably give the finishing stroke this year to the Female Franchise Bill.