Lake Wakatip Mail. QUEENSTOWN, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1906 DRAWING TO A CLOSE.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2651, 30 October 1906, Page 4

Lake Wakatip Mail. QUEENSTOWN, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1906 DRAWING TO A CLOSE.

The second parliamentary session of the year 1906 is drawing to a close and will soon be among the things that aro not, To some the record of work done will be distinctly disappointing, to others who are willing to allow for the exceptional conditions that marked the beginnings of the new Parliament the record will be accepted rather as an evidence of future good work than present fulfilment, whilst the philosophical and pessimistic will be inclined to congratulate themselves and the country because little that is really new has been added to what they term an overburdened statute book. We agree with the Honorable Minister of Education (Mr Fowlds) that a big volume of legislation is not necessarily a good sign nor indisputably advantageous to the country. Unfortunately the teaching of the past ten years has been opposed to this doctrine. A large-section of the public has been led to look to the , Government and Parliament to effect that material prosperity which primarily and chiefly depends upon the character and circumstances of the individual colonist. It would therefore be a feather in the cap of the Ministry if, thus early in their career, they could induce the electors to accept so rational a view of the situation. New Zealand in the past has had too much interfering and experimental legislation thrust upon it. We are not, however, sanguine in this regard. We do not think the Ministry as a whole have this little faith in Acts of Parliament. Their bare and barren record is due to circumstances beyond their control. The regrettable death of Mr Seddon coupled with the absence of Sir Joseph Ward from the colony delayed the work of Parliament beyond hope of catching up, particularly when to these are added the reconstruction of the Cabinet and the seemingly incontrovertible assumption that the session had to close before the opening of the Exhibition at Christchurch. We dissent altogether from this last argument. It is, we think as unsound, as it is childish. The country sends its representatives to Wellington to work and pays them very handsomely to do it—far better than the majority of them could hope to be paid in private life—and if there were any urgent work to be done, then, they should have gone back after their Christchurch holiday and finished it. We are not saying there was urgent work ; we are merely pointing out the duty of our representatives. At the same time we cannot forget that the Premier and the Minister of Lands distinctly gave the House and the country to understand that their Land Bill was urgent, that it was to be put through, that they would stand or fall by it and so on. Alas ! all this brave show of words ended in complete collapse and the Bill, to the surprise of everybody, was withdrawn. We are not arguing as to the wisdom of this course; we simply say that the Government have suffered a tremendous loss in prestige through their change in tactics. Under certain quite conceivable conditions it would have resulted in their own downfall. No Ministry can afford to make blunders such as this and continue unaffected. Henceforth their promises will be received with a measure of mistrust and for this they have only themselves to thank. Still, we have no sympathy with those who affirm that the Bill will not again be heard of. The The Land Bill, beyond question, will be the first order of the day next year but the great moral effect its first appearance aroused is, we are afraid, dissipated. Nor is it easy to see how, with Sir Joseph Ward absent in London at the Imperial Conference and Tariff Reform imperative, the 1907 session is to present a more favorable opportunity than did that of 1906 for placing it in the Statute book. To our thinking the position, from the Government standpoint, is far from satisfactory. Shorn of the Land Bill the two sessions of this year, as we have said, yield but a scanty harvest. On th« credit side, however, we m iy place the following. There has been a gratifying absence of scenes in the House and of tomfool legislation such as used to set the country in a roar; the business of parliament has been conducted with promptitude and courtesy ; the finances are in excellent order ; the revenue continues to excel the Treasurer's most optimistic predictions ; we hav« been able to raise £900,000 of the next million loan within the colony free from the usual ruinous expanses, and several measures of moment in relation to our commercial life have been or will be continued. Among these is the welcome announcement tint in future all letters under a half rr. ■ •■• in weight for the United States will be carried for id instead of 2, ! , d as hitherto. We heartily congratulate Si ii Joseph Ward on the successful, if partial, consummation of his persist.'])', and able championship of a uuivei;-:ii system of penny postage. We have no doubt that in time other nations will follow suit. Tho San b'rancisco mail service is to be renewed conditional upon new bouts being built for the servic, which means that the prevalent happy-go-lucky departures from contract time must cease. This is the most direct and quickest route and it is hard to see, much ns we should like it, how the colony can afford to discontinue a line even though it is ncrn.ss (lie land of the alien and rival. We regret we cannot extend our felicitations to the Hon. HallJokes and the Department of Public

Works. His reply to the Otago deputation some ten days since was exceedingly disappointing and betrayed an utter inability to realise the needs of Central Otago and the justice of our claims. Nothing but tho solid vote of the Otago and Southland representatives, minus,of course, the Ministers, of whom, strangely enough, we have three, will awaken the Government and bring them to reason. Let these members speak as they should speak and demand what they should demand and we shall obtain our fair share of public expenditure on railway construction. Why they have not done so is for the i electors to ask.