POLITICAL NOTES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 141, 12 June 1909, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

[from our correspondent.]

.WELLINGTON • Friday

Although the blinds-will'bb down at the Talking Shop by this da.y': Week, if not, .indeed, a day "or. two': sooner, there is already an order' paper of; eight pages, and to-day will witness a; further batch- of questions and -notices of motion. Three private members' Bills are already down for introduction to-day. Mr Herdman has lost no time in bringing down his Public Service Bill, by wheh he would fain have a Public Service Board appointed to deal with all applications for employment in the service and all appointments to and promotions, therein. Next session there is bound \o be a big "go" over this subject, but so long as the present Government lasts we shall not see the vicious old system of government by commissioners introduced. The country should remember the Railway : Commissioners, and what a. universal demand there was for their dismissal. , ,

Bad as sometimes Government patronage may_ be, the exercise of practically unlimited power over the Civil Service by an irresponsible Board would be ten times worse. Besides which the whole Service will be classified by this- time next year, and any abuse "of ministerial .'.power and patronage will be impossible. Taken all round very little exception can fairly be taken to the Civil Service appointments made by the present Government.

Mr Fisher, who so long posed as an Independent, has bow_ formally joined the Opposition. • He is introducing a, Sunday Labour Bill. No one wants to see 'an ultras-Puritanical Sabbath in this country, but of recent years there has been creeping in a tendency to decrease the value of Sunday as a day of rest, and no harm can be done by Parliament debating the subject. But this debating will have to be done next October, not next week. Local supporters of the Opposition are promoting a "mass indignation meeting" for Tuesday next at the Town Hall to protest against the adjournment of Parliament. It was announced by the' Opposition's morning mouthpiece that the preliminary meeting consisted of prominent commercial and legal gentlemen ; but it is unkindly stated, this time in the Government organ, that no trace can. be found, of the commercial magnates who are alleged to have been there. Two young lawyers, Messrs Yon Haast and Buddie, who were active . supporters and henchmen of Mr Herdman at the last general election, are the "prominent legal gentlemen," and as for the meeting to be one of "citizens," "quite apart from political party," this pretty little fiction is exploded by the fact tha,t four Opposition members, including Mr Massey, are to be the chosen orators of the evening. In this connection this morning s Times unkindly unearths a somewhat remarkable statement made by Mr Massey in 1897, -in-- which he said that the public did not care one iota whether the House sat next October or the October after- that. But circumstances alter cases, and Mr Massey now sees an excellent opportunity for heaving a brick at the Government. There can, .be-no doubt, however, and it is only fair to the Opposition to admit it, that the adjournment of Parliament until October is extremely unpopular with all sections of tW;Wellington public. So many people depend upon the session for making a-large proportion of their yearly income that : the adjournment ■hits them very, hard, especially as just now the winter as on and the depression is making employment so very, difficult to obtain. But the meeting of protest comes too late. To nave had any effect it should have been held a fortnight ago. Once again the Opposition have "missed the 'bus." What's the good of protesting against the door not having been locked when the1 horse has been stolen? j

Mr Wilford was elected Chairman of Committees on the motion of the Prime Minister,' Mr Davey_ having generously waived his claim and "stood down." The popular "Tom" has now got a "leg-in" for the Speakership in years to come, but he may have to wait some years,-for Mr Guinness is hale and hearty, and so long as he is in the House and chooses to stand, I don't think Parliament will feel inclined to change. Mr Wilford should put up an excellent record in the chair. He is good-tempered, quick-witted, can be stern when sternness is necessary, and, a specially good qualification, he not only has a thorough knowledge of the Standing Orders, but he has fine, clear, resonant voice, and gives his decisions promptly and without any verbal fumbling. He ought to prove a big success, and the House is lucky to secure his services.

I should not be surprised if, next session, some Member raised the question of quinquennial versus triennial Parliaments. It certainly would be a move in the right direction were our Parliaments to be of five rather than three years' duration. The first session a new Member is necessarily very much at sea, for it takes him a few months to • 'learn the ropes.'' The second session he is properly equipped for his work,.but when the third year comes round he has another election ahead of him, and he is apt to bear that fact rather too prominently in mind, and tq vote arid speak too much with a # view to votecatching and vote-keeping.