THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1907. THE FEDERAL PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13482, 5 July 1907, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDA Y, JULY 5, 1907. THE FEDERAL PARLIAMENT.

♦ . The Federal Parliament has reopened under more favourable auspices than have hitherto been known in the Commonwealth. A series of good seasons have restored J a general prosperity that has been missing to the Australian States for more than half a generation. The elections have left the relative position of the Federal Parties very much as they were, in spite of the numerical loss sustained by the immediate followers of Mr. Deakin, whose Premiership is, however, for the time being reassured by the determination of the Labour Party Caucus to give him a general support. Apart from the Tariff, which, in Australia as in New Zealand, is coming up for revisionthere, with various bounty proposalsno difficult questions threaten seriously to disturb the existing order of things ; and in Australia the Free Trade proclivities of Mr. Reid are not so popular as to warrant the expectation that any antagonistic fiscal revolution will expel from office the present Protectionist Administration. The probabilities appear to I be that the Federal Parliament now 'assembled will be able to deal with a series of questions which have been for some considerable time the subjects of public discussions, and [upon (which the public mind is fairly

well pronounced. Of these the most important to this colony is the promised scheme for harbour and coastal defence. In referring to the Australian intentions in our own Parliamentary debate on the Ad-dress-in-Reply, Sir Joseph Ward indicated that it would take the form of a batch of submarines, which would be very costly to establish and involve heavy annual expenditure for maintenance. It will be agreed by our colonists that whatever may be the result of the Australian departure, it is wise to allow our neighbours to make the experiment first. If it is justified by events, we shall be all the better able to profit by their experiences, and in the meantime there are many much more pressing defensive needs upon which New Zealand can spend its money without rashly entering upon the course that evidently appeals to the temper and ambitions of the Australian people. An interesting feature of the Australian! defence proposals is the intended provision for the local production of munitions of war. This will have the sympathetic approval of this colony, for it is extremely advantageous to us to be brought nearer the ; source of such supplies, as long as our comparatively small population limits our internal production in this direction.

The Governor-General's Speech has removed the uncertainty that has long hovered over the muchdiscussed Suez mail contract. It is definitely stated that the tentative contract has been cancelled through the failure of the contractors to establish the service agreed upon. The Commonwealth thus stands just where it did when it decided to attempt the enforcement of its decision that its mails should be carried by white crews and special steamers. The service now provided by the Orient Company is to be continued for another year. We may conclude that the Federal authorities will be all the more concerned in the encouragement of the great Imperial line which Sir Wilfrid Lauricr is eloquently advocating. The difficulty in this, as between Australia and New Zealand, is that Queensland is evidently desirous to retain Brisbane as a port of call, and would wish to see New Zealand connect with an Imperial Pacific service by supplementary steamers to Fiji. This is not possible from the New Zealand standpoint. A working compromise might be made by making Suva a port of call on an Auckland-Van-couver run and providing a supplementary service from Brisbane to Fiji. This solution will certainly be suggested by Sir Joseph Ward, and its adoption depends, of course, upon the amount which this- colony is prepared to contribute to the joint colonial subsidy. Among the other references in the GovernorGeneral's Speech, that to the presentation of a Bill enacting the recommendations of the Navigation Conference is of general interest and considerable importance. As has been officially stated, our New Zealand laws were favourably viewed by : f the British , delegates at ' the Maritime Conference, and very | minor emendations are here required. But the Federal Parliament will be asked to make alterations in its . navigation regulations which ■may excite discussion and opposition. The outcome depends largely upon the attitude to be taken up by the Federal Labour members. We may hope that Mr. Hughes will be able to persuade them of the advantage to be derived from the harmonising of local maritime law with international commercial conditions, and that the amending measure will pass in its completeness. In connection with the London gatherings, the gubernatorial comment upon the Imperial Conference takes the same tone as was taken by the New ! Zealand Speech. It is regarded as having promoted a better understanding and more intimate relations between Great Britain and all | the oversea dominions, a conclusion ! which stands in happy contrast to the amazingly ill-advised criticisms made by some British Labour members in a recent manifesto.