THE RESULT OF THE SESSION. (From the Oamaru Times, 27th October.)

North Otago Times, Volume XI, Issue 359, 30 October 1868, Page 3

THE RESULT OF THE SESSION. (From the Oamaru Times, 27th October.)

The third session of tlie fourth Parliament of Ne"V7 Zealand, after upwards of one hundred days, or rather nights, spent in talking, wrangling, and fighting for place, has been proi'ogued by the Governor, — the prorogation speech, although worded after the customary model of congratulatory expressions, and hopeful auguries, pretty plainly indicating that His Excellency is at one with the countiy in a feeling of dissatisfaction with the results of these fifteen weeks' labor of the " collective wisdom." It niay be doubted whether the country will endorse the statement of the first paragraph, of the speech, that the discussions which have occupied, so " much time" have " originated in an anxiety for the peace of the country," and the Governor's hope that ' " they might not have altogether failed to have a good result (the italics are our own), by enlightening the country on the important question of the relations between the Europeans and the Maori races," is so cautiously worded as to imply that'His Excellency has but little faith in the realization of the very slender hope expressed j and we will venture to say that the country at large is in the most thorough state of incredulity as to the obtainment of any good result whatever from the oceans of talk which have been poured forth by our " school of statesmen" — statesmen 1 save the mark ! ' Statesmen remarkable only for the entire absence of all true statesmanship — we speak of the majority, acknowledging a few honorable exceptions. Statesmen who seem to think talk of far more importance than work, who propose to themselves the glory of filling an indefinite number of pages of "Hansard" I with, the record of their eloquence, rather

than to seek that honor which is in the long run sure to be awarded to the honest and patient work of those who labor for their country's good , statesmen who seem to think a well-turned bon-mot, a .witty repartee or a clever adaptation of illustrations borrowed from natural history for the amusement of the House, a much , more agreeable way of passing the time in Parliament than the troubling their gigantic minds with such petty considerations as the remedying of grievances and the .providing for the general weal of the people; statesmen who, having no opportunities for indulging in the pleasures of the chase by a good burst with the hounds, amuso themselves by hunting Ministers to death for the glory of turning them out ; statesmen who do not hesitate, to put the country to very considerable expense by vexatiously opposing important measures — not so much it would seem because of the merits of the matter in dispute, as because on the fate of those measur.es may depend the fate of a Ministry whose defeat would give the said statesmen an opportunity of establishing themselves in their vacant seats ; statesmen who will fight and struggle for weeks upon party questions and then quietly go. home to their respective Provinces, leaving the most important measures unpassed, the most crying wants of the people unprovided for, and an immense mass of legislation to be hurried through with indecent haste by thin Houses. Such a state of things as this, and the picture is not over-colored, is almost enough to make the people of JN"ew Zealand, free Britons as they are, sick of the farce of Representative Government, and wish to put the world back eight hundred years, so that we might be governed like a Roman Province in the days of Caesar, by a dictator with almost absolute powers. What has Parliimenii done towards lightening the burdens of an overtaxed people 1 What has it done for the remedying of the inequalities in the representation 1 What lias it done towards the bringing about a, less complicated and burdensome administration of government ? What has it done towards the remedying of the grievances of those districts which have sought its interference for the redress of the injustice which, they have experienced at the hands of Provincial Governments? What has it done towards the solution of the Native difficulty 1 Simply nothing, and that after a session which can have cost the country not less than £10,000 ! It is time that the people bestirred themselves. Let them require every member to give an account of his stewardship, let them call upon all those who have failed to discharge their trust honestly and conscientiously, to resign their seats, and let them, take care to return to the succeeding session such men as will prove their statesmanship by work, and not talk, by earnest and patient effort for the advancement of the Colony and the weal of the people.