THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9190, 20 October 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, ISSS. Although we have the most friendly and kindly feeling towards the member for Parnell, we have never been able to approve of the general course he has taken in politics. Nobody ever could tell what was his policy or his party. At the end of every session he has the same story to tell—that all parties have been wrong, and that he has not been able to do anything to put them right. It is difficult to see what Mr. Moss has done in the past, or what he is going to do in the future. One idea he has always insisted on, and that is, that Provincialism, or something like it, should be restored forthwith. The restoration of Provincialism as it was, with nine Parliaments meeting in

different parts of the colony, is out of the question, and we are quite sure that those who remember the vagaries of the Provincial Councils as they once existed, and of Provincial administration, with their " responsible go\* rnnients," will never desire to see these institutions restored. " There is no doubt a vast amount of work brought before Parliament at present with which it ought never to be troubled) and which it cannot fitly perform. But a constitutional change could not be made at present, and any alteration must be effected gradually. The central authority is not now greedy of power. It is too poor to be so. For the last few years we have seen the central authority eager to throw on the local bodies powers and responsibilities which they were very unwilling to accept. We are now taxed by the Government, by the County Councils, and by the Road Boards. If Provincial Councils were again established they would have to receive powers of taxation ; for the Government could not make grants of money to enable them to carry out their business. No part of the revenue could be assigned to them, for it is all required to pay the interest on our debt. And it is quite certain that we have a sufficiency at present of taxing bodies. Mr. Moss has always pointed to the fact that Parliament at present concerns itself with much that it knows nothing about, which it can not deal with safely or fairly, and which it ought never to touch. That is true enough. But, surely, Mr. Moss is not the man to find fault with Parliament for interference in concerns which it cannot safely meddle with, seeing that he is a prominent man in a kind of interference which is much more injurious than anything he has ever pointed to as an example. Last session he strenuously insisted that Parliament should keep in its own hands the power of iixing the salaries and wages to be paid on the railways, and that under no circumstances should these be reduced. The railway labourers and workmen generally should be paid at the market rate. It is not fair to the general body of the taxpayers, or to other working me]!, that anything else should be done. We do not know whether they are overpaid or underpaid ; but this we feel sure of, that Parliament is the most unfit body to deal with the question of the rate of wages to be given to the railway employes.

Parliament at present occupies its time in discussing many matters which it ought to leave alone ; but the remedy is coming in its poverty, and in the impossibility of raising further loans. The boroughs have now pretty complete control of their own affairs : and we look to see the County Councils increase in power till they have complete control of strictly local matters within their boundaries. Mr. Moss, in his ideas as to constitutional reform, has not a single follower, probably because he has never yet shown what he wants. He says that retrenchment can never be effected by cutting down salaries (even when they are above the market price of the services rendered), and th« " the only remedy for all our evils is to '"ake all local works out of the hands of the General Assembly." What local works does Mr. Moss mean ? What local works are they doing in thus district which they could be deprived o;' ? He said that the cry for retrenchment was made a political engine, instancing the changes which had taken place in the railway workshops. This amounts to the serious charge against the Government that they have discharged men of w. • e politics' the,, did not approve. Mr. loss should ate the facts upon which he bases his accusation, and have the whole matter brought out. Mr. Jury, who is a supporter of Mr. Moss, aids him by saying that " every man in the railway employment who voted for Mr. Moss had got the sack." We are not inclined to think that Ministers are in any way perfect, but we do not believe for a moment that they have been guilty of any such crimes as are imputed to them. Besides, why should the Government endeavour to oust Mr. Moss ; he is not a very formidable opponent, if he is an opponent at all, and he supported them in the most important measures of last session.

The first plank in Mr. Moss's political platform—if he can be said to have a platform—is the restoration of some form of Provincialism (although all that the provinces ever held is gone), and the second is Protection. Well, he ought to be congratulating himself that that, at all events, has been achieved, in the passing of a tariff which enormously increases the cost of living. Put even here he complains. He says that there "is little Protection in the present tariff, and it was drawn up entirely for revenue purposes." Again, "Itwas not a Protective tariff, but incidentally it afforded Protection." It is a pity that Mr. Moss is not satisfied on this head, because we do not see that more gratification could possibly be afforded him in the way of heavier duties. We wish we were able to afford Mr. Moss more hearty approbation and support, but so long as lie continues to occupy his present loose and uncertain position, it is impossible to approve of him as a member. He will always be powerless in the House. He spends his time crying for what is quite unattainable, and makes his pursuit of that an excuse for striving for the continuance of abuses which other people are willing to reform, 3"-.ck as the excessive number of members who at present constitute Parliament.