Essence of Parliament.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2787, 4 October 1910, Page 5

Essence of Parliament.

Wellington, September 24. " Arm Ye Brave ! A Noble Cause ! Your Zeal Demands."

Meaning, Sirs, that the Defence Act has entered on the first stage of amendment, the amending Bill having been read a second time under circumstances of unusual Parliamentary unanimity. The position is thus:- Before Kitchener came we passed the Act for compulsory military service. When he made his report he said what he thought about our scheme of soldiering, not in the language of the camp but in the sweet words of the courtier. Translated it meant that our system could be very good if we only extended its application to the manhood of the country. But that if confined, according to the intention of the Act, to boys, it would never, in the creation of cats, come to any good whatever. The opinion was clothed as advice from an expert. We are taking the advice. We are extending the compulsory age to five and twenty. There you have the whole thing in a nutshell. Sir Joseph in moving second reading flourished a multitude of figures, dived with them into the various ages prevalent among young men, divided them into their years, predicted what the forces would be every year, raised th 6 whole of the questions arising out of these numbers, presented the House and country with a mass of figures which gyrated round like the littlo colours in the kaleidoscope. It would be hopeless to follow him through these feats. This is not an opiate column. Therefore, it is quite enough to say that by the year 1916, if all goes well with the scheme, and all the units of all the years are good boys, we shall have an army of 105,000 men ready to fight anybody and anything and go anywhere to do it. The House said "Hear Hear."

When Mr Allen rose he was a transformed man. He came next to the Minister of course, because as everybody knows he is the Defence Minister electthat is to say, he i.«|the Defence Minister of the party not at present in power. But he threw all consideration of party to the winds, rising on the wings of patriotism to great heights of appreciative argument. He was genial withal, fluent, optimistic, without a trace of the querulous tone with which he addresses himself to most questions. The House was electrified, listening spell-bound to Mr Massey's lieutenant. When he announced that he would in the spirit of the Minister's appeal to rise above party, hold himself in readiness to support him in getting his Bill through the House, and it necessary march up to every platform in the country to continue the work of first aid. The House cheered him. That showed the temper of the House on the question. When he sat down everybody could see that he had a thorough grasp of the subject. We shall certainly not want for guidance on the defence question, so long as Mr Allen is above Domiuion ground, for he will be also above party all the time on that question. The only opponent of the extension of service to the manhood was Leader of the Anti-military party, if such a party can be said to exist in the Dominion. At all events if it has no body it has a head, and the head spoke with no uncertain sound on one important point. He declared that it is the duty of every man to join in the defence of his country. The declaration is good enough to cover a multitude of sins. Mr Taylor during his speech committed the multitude. He refused to agree to the extension to the manhood.

True, an expert had advised it, but what are experts ? Parliament had decided the other way last year. Is the wisdom of Parliament to be flouted by any expert? Never. Mr Taylor forgot to notice the reason given by the expert which is that the army of tne Dominion will be very much the better for an admixture of seasoned men. It is a reason backed up by common sense, which requires no ghost, expert, or other to tell it, that boys cannot ever do the work of men. Mr Taylor went on to argue that training is not required according to the plan of the military intellects of the world to enable men to defend their country properly in the hour of need, giving instances from history at large. But all the instances he quoted were really against him and there are many which he did not quote which are even more so. Naturally, with nothing better than that against the principle, the House decided to read the Bill a second time.

Details were given in plenty by the Minister and canvassed by various speakers during the debate. As we are not to take all the men of service ages we must select those we do, so as to get the best. This is not to be by lottery, and lotteries are not the right medium for the selection of the soldiers of the King. The rule is laid down of the exemptions and the rest is done by magistrates to be selected. It seems fair enough to be tried. Mr Allen advised another way and no doubt in committee his w;.y will be threshed out. It will get fair play. So much is clear. The method of applying discipline to the citizen force without endangering the proper liberties is a problem. The safety valve in the Bill is the right of appeal for officers to a board. But the Minister disarmed criticism at ihe outset by announcing that he wou'd agree to extend the privilege to the men, and that he was ready to change the system to the Court Martial system with a properly constituted and appointed Advocate general for the protection of the rights of all concerned. The idea is to get the men accustomed in peace to the thing they will have to submit to in war. It will get rid of many causes of misunderstanding. Provided there is nothing of the hidebound high-feathered martinet. The details will have attention at the committee stage with many others. Till then the public can take a short farewell of the Bill; it is enough for them in one dose that the principle of compulsory service is accepted in its completeness. The wonder of the thing is that without more than a fraction of the time aud money spent by the continental systems of training we may expect to attain the same result, namely, an army fit to do anything and to go anywhere It is a stroke as wonderful as the touch of the financial magic, which by a payment of 12,000 a year added to what wo pay now, and the extension of the time of payment of the whole to seventy five years, we are to increase our effective repayment of loans from sii millions to sixty. It seems an impossible to the average mind. But the military scheme has the approval of soldiers just as the financial has of actuaries. The session has suddenly begun to look fruitful. The last day of the week was given up to finance and "bullyragging" but the rest A-as a procession of interest, not equal to the Defence Bill, but lively enough for all that. The Loan Bill got second reading without any sign of the tapering off process so much discussed of late. The water powers got put into a Bill of their own, and got talked at some. There is much eagerness about the same. Most men have now realised how big a thing this water power is. A 'Frisco service has been arranged and

the arrangement is remarkable for two things. First, the fact is demonstrated that there are, as has been happily said, two Prime Ministers in this happy country, the Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward and the Right Hon. Mr Gunson, who is also president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. On this occasion the Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward has been made to feel that the arrangement is by no means pleasing to the other Right Honourable. No one will argue against the Right Hon. mouthpiece of Auckhnd, but the arrangement for the 'Frisco service will not bo altered.

The other thing remarkable is that the Union Co., which has had the enterprise to provide refrigerated space on the steamers has met with the smallest possible lesponbe from the Maorilanders engaged in the shipping of meat to other countries, whereas the space has been fairly rushed from Australia. What do we deserve? The little omission of the send off to Mr Fowlds was repaired at Auckland after all. The speeches there contained very big references to the great proconsul. One of the members who was not sorry because of the omission has volunteered to remark that Auckland is the hotbed of " Greyism." But he has not yet grasped the salient points of the proconsul's history. The Gaming Bill has not yet got out of committee but there are fears in some quarters of what it may be found to contain when it does. Hence, we are bombarded with a memorandum from the president of the Jockey Club. Therein we read that there is a million a year spent on the wages of racing, and the demand is made of what is to become of the recipients all good worthy props of large families, brought up in innocence and virtue. In some quarters the answer is something about the wages of sin. In these the death penalty into which these wages are supposed to gravitate always, will, it is thought, take the shape of a clause in the Bill providing local option. We shall see. If we do, it will be found tint the session is too far gone for such a tremendously contentious subject. The same may be said with reference to the rumours that persist about the appearance of the Licensing Bill. The rum;, rs of these are simple innocents.

The Bill for the increase of the advances to workers has been well treated—it has produced a rush of claimants of the credit for the original ideas. Which means that its passage is assured with no further obstruction than may be necessary for more claimants to air their great privilege. A farseeing (man is your Parliamentarian.

A petition from John Chinaman is curious and not a little amusing. John is a master hand at diplomacy, even when he takes in washing. In his petition to the House he invokes the international principle of the open door, reminds honourable members that he cheerfully paid a pounds for admission to the Dominion, which is of course, the most glorious country on earth, in the certain hope of admission to all tho privileges of the citizens, and winds up with a vivid picture of the certain discomfort of many working men, who, if the Bill passes will have to becontent with know ing that the clean boiled rag of their Sunday expectation is lying in the wash tub by compu.sion of an unreasonable Legislature. It is a perfectly lovely document. As it has right on its side when it claims just the same treatment, neither more nor less than that accorded to the European, he will probably get what he wants. There are men enough in both Houses who will be men enough when it comes to the push.