SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9512, 7 September 1891, Page 2

SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

OUR LETTER SOME. * : POLITICAL AND OTHER GOSSIP. MB BBTCE. Mr Bryce has been the object of a mild vote of censure—a very mild vote indeed. That 'vote was made necessary by his refusing to withdraw the words he had need. So far as we understand the thing, he wished to substitute an explanation of his own for withdrawal in obedience to the Speaker. The Speaker’s ruling on the point amounts to so much. Now, wo ask, where will that sort of thing end ?- The House expected a better example from a veteran of Mr Bryce’s standing and experience. The House considered that Mr Bryce defied the chair—a mere technicality this really—but, nevertheless, defied it—and very logically the House upheld the chair. That is the position in which Mr Bryce 1 stands to-day. That he should leave Parliament and give up all chance of his political career in consequence, is a weakness of which a man who leads a party should not bo guilty. But no one will find fault with Mr Bryce for that, for ..after all it is the weakness of a noble mind ■ very sensitive upon a point of honour.. An example to the young people and young politicians of this country'on a point of honour at all hazardaought to have good • effect, but it is liable to the criticism that there is a spice of Quixotism in it. We .. aro really sorry that Mr Bryce has gone. The House might very well have rescinded ;that resolution, for this reason : that the • words complained of are a mere nothing—they hurt nobody—‘and Hie question of disrespect to the chair we« : in/dispute in ' the House, aftsr^-the Spoa^br’s,'ruling '.that there was some kind of disreapect,which. might and ought to have been followed

by Mr Bryce's assertion ihat lie meant none, not. knowing that be had been.ruled out bE order. That wc/uld have satisfied all parties and the int/sresti o£ justice and fair play. But as Air Br/ca would not move an inch there was bit one course. Perhaps ha was s sick of leading the Opposition. LAND., AND INCOME. . After a long' struggle in Committee this measure has gone through. The amendments are really what they purport to be. They amend the Bill in soma important particulars. It was tried very hard by Mr Shera to exempt all dmprovemen.ts—-a logical proposal j and it •was tried by Mr .Saunders to exempt agricultural improvements, which was not quite so logical, although a great deal can be said in support of it. But either would have spoilt the Government’s finance at the present time. The Premier made a very fair proposal when he asked the other •eide to wait until the end of the year, when .all the returns and information required for the purposes of calculation shall . he ,at hand. One would think that the 'members of, the , Opposition. . were playing the- old game of spoiling the ! Government finance. Indeed, for . our !part, we h?i,ye little doubt that they were. It would h»ave been a splendid victory for the Opposition of the old days, when Sir ; Harry war i the life andsoul of the Opposi-' tion party, to get the Government to base ‘its finance upon untrustworthy grounds: .The victory of the Government in thisi •matter.* is really the mbst noteworthy ieatni;e of the passage through Committee of the -financial Bill. SIR GEORGE GREY. ifir George Grey ought to have led in tb.at matter of the Land Tax pure and B-mipls, which cropped up while the Financial Bill,was going through Committee. But Mr Shera, who is a little ambitious, ■managed to get in front of him and moved ; the amendment. All the fighting, however, was done by Sir George, who retrieved his position from the very start. Ho one has ever worked so hard to carry a point as Sir George did on that occasion. And here lies the difference between him and Mr Pish. Sir George Grey confined his fighting within absolutely legitimate limits. Ho never obstructed for a single second, he never abused the forms of the House in any wav whatever, he fought eminently 1 fair. Mr Pish deliberately stonewalled the female franchise, and • thereby put the Government into a serious difficulty. Mr Fish proved himself the dangerous dement, not Sir George Grey. That fact, however, was not apparent to the Opposition. When Sir George mounted his horse and drew his sword, the Opposition imagined evidently that the opportunity had come for which they Lad been longing admittedly ever since the Government took office. Sir George Grey was tho dangerous element; Sir George Grey . would give them an opportunity; they would take it, and the Government would bo in the dust. The opportunity came; Sir George Grey fought fairly; he took the senes of the House after he had exhausted • all the arguments; he spoke remarkably well, every word that he uttered about tho question of principle was agreeable to the Government and disagreeable to the Opposition. The only difference between Sir George and the Government was the diilerenco of degree. The Government said, "Wait until we see our way.” The single mistake that Sir George made was that he refused to wait. He did not appreciate the difficulty of finance. Sir George is perfectly sound upon constitutional questions, hut the details of finance were never hie strong point. It is a very satisfactory feature of the night's proceedings that the Labour members, upon whom Sir George relied, were awake to that most important fact. His appeal to them was one of the strongest that could he made. That they kept their heads and refused to be parties to the disorganisation of the public finances is very much to ' their credit, indeed. Nothing they have done since they have been in that House has given them so much prestige. Sir George, having exhausted the subject, took the cense of the' House, and, although he was sustained by nearly the whole of the Opposition, the Government necured a very large majority. The recording of that majority ia really the turning point of the Ministerial career. We have no donbe, from the manner in which he behaved, tbat when the time comer, for currying the Government policy to its legitimate conclusion. Sir George Grey wilt he found to bo one of their most strenuous supporters. On that occasion the Opposition will not consider it to their advantage to go into the lobby wish him. THE LAND BILL. The principal feature of the month’s Parliamentary nows is the fracas, and tho moving cause of tho fracas was the oh- i etrusfcion of the Land Bill on, its way into Committee. Tho speeches delivered on that occasion by the Opposition were not required for any purpose whatever, even for the purpose of fair Opposition criti-

'cisffl.' The obstruction was'perhaps; hot organised ; rather, perhaps, the result of a breach of discipline on the part of certain members of the Opposition, who had made up their minds that they would give the Government's slap in the face for having forced the second reading at a late hour: some weeks ago. This conduct of theirs,; by stirring up the of all concerned,' prepared for the outburst of feeling on all sides which led to the clearing of the galleries. The result has been a scene of disorder, culminating in the retirement of the leader of the Opposition from political life. We hope the Opposition will take warning by that result. Let them remember to guard against what ate described in the play as ** the consequences of ill-advised asperity.” THE UPPER HOUSE. The Lords have taken exactly the proper view of the Land and Income Tax Bill, and, consequently, the Land and Income Tax Bill will he law in a few days. They did not like the measure, but they debated if. fairly. It is one of the best debates of 'the session, and will well repay perusal when it comes to be, published in Hansard. There was a total absence of the criticism . .which savours of party; the tone of almost all : the speakers was judicial. Their speeches were pitched in the Conservative key for the most part, hut they all recognised that it was their duty to give effect to the will of the people, expressed after the fullest deliberation and the most mature consideration on the part of the public, and that duty they performed in the most handsome and the most prompt manner. The Council has undoubtedly risen to the occasion. What the Council has said certainly deserves the gravest consideration. In a matter involving so many changed in the incidence of taxation, every interest in the country being involved, there must necessarily, be at.the present stage a large amount of. uncertainty. So much, the Government has admitted frankly and handsomely upon every occasion. It only shows that the public mind requires to be educated upon this matter, so that it may accept the final revision which will be made next year on fuller information supplied by the various Departments. The great thing to consider at pi’esent is that the first step is now being taken towards a change in the incidence of taxation, and that we have reached that point where dogmatic criticism is out of place. The hopefnl tone employed in the main by the speakers in the Legislative Council, will do more to counteract the wild jeremiads of the Opposition Press than’ anything else that could have been devised. The Council therein deserves the thanks of the country; THE OUTCOME OP IT. It is industriously represented in many quarters that the deluge has come upon us. Capital is frightened and labour will bo starved—a lamentable consequence of meddlesome ignorance. These are the criticisms of the Opposition which may, if not checked, do serious damage to the public credit. There is no occasion for them whatever. The financial proposals in their present form simply have the effect of getting a'fair share of taxation out of pockets that are well able to bear it. There is no bursting up in the policy. It is simply a revenue policy based upon the principle of .equality of sacrifice. There will be no, bursting up, and there will be no inconveniehce. The ange' that is deyeloped in some quarters— ij: be said;tothe credit of the full -purses in the quarters - ■ t»y, their o^’-era—is causedlliy the defeat o? the'attempts to g&t loopholes made in the Government measure for the advantage of trusts, large companies, and such like institutions. The Premier upon this point stood very firm, ...and the country will reward him, therefore, with its confidence. As for the Labour Bills, they were formulated before . the elections by the Conservative party then in power. They are not the outcome of the elections at all. They do not represent the imperative demand of “an ignorant set of Labour members ”to tyrannize over their fellow subjects. As a matter of fact these Bills were very much improved by the handling they got from these' very members, having been made less oppressive to particular interests. They are now what they were intended to be, namely, a machinery for ameliorating the conditions of labour, without any undue interference with the operations of capital. The legislation of the session, take it all in all, will be proved by time to be about as beneficial as anything on the New Zealand statute hook. A little thought will convince thuiking men of this fact, before the panic criticism which is now in vogue can develop any power of mischief. THE PUBLIC TRUSTEE. Mr Hamerton desired to be heard at the bar of the House. It would not have been good for him. At the bar of the House a man can make a speech and he can do nothing more. The case of Mr Hsmerton required a great deal more. It las been pointed out that no charge is made against him, that no witnesses have teen heard at the bar, that it is not permitted to Parliament to deal with his case for mere incompetence. The replies made by the Premier were very full. There is a charge formulated voluminously in the Commissioners’ report; Mr Hamerton has made certain admissions; thirdly, the law especially states that incompetence is a reason for legislative interference with his appointment. It must be tome in mind that there is no charge of had behaviour, no intention to make one, and no sign of such a thing. The best way out of the difficulty, then, undoubtedly was, as has been done, to arrange the terms of Mr Hamerton’s. retirement—all parties being agreed, including himself, that it is jnst as well for him to retire. A leading feature of this case is this The incompetence is due largely to overwork, of which he has himself complained to successive administrations. Their neglect, therefore, is the prime cause of his incompetence. The House has, after considerable discussion, arrived at the right conclusion. It has recognised that Mr Hamerton was not altogether to blame for the condition in which his department has been described by the Royal Commission to be. The Public Accounts Committee wished .him to hear the whole burden; the House, by the only process open to it—that of compromise -fhas placed only part of it upon his shoalders. The opponents of the compromise declared that the whole Civil Service would now be demoralised. Well, the answer to that is: there are very few Civil servants who are entitled to any pension. Moreover, 'these few are not likely to be encouraged to do wrong by the deprivation of a portion of their pension, which is the punishment indicted upon Mr Hamerton.