THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY DECEMBER 19, 1907. OUR RIVAL STATESMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13625, 19 December 1907, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDA Y DECEMBER 19, 1907. OUR RIVAL STATESMEN.

The Premier and the Leader of the Opposition have been speaking during the week upon topics worthy of notice. At Pukekohe Mr. Massey again drew attention to the manner in which business is rushed through the House at the close of the session and to the generally slipshod methods of conducting public affairs and keeping our public accounts. The Leader of the Opposition very properly condemned the glaring evil of systematically suspending the Standing Orders of the House so that every check upon the hasty and careless performance of legislative duty is removed, as a matter of course, when the end of the session draws near. We have repeatedly pointed out the danger of this method and the inevitably serious consequences to the goo'd governance of the Dominion ; but the Government is so much the gainer thereby that it designedly takes advantage of the subservience of the House and the indifference of the country to thus avoid criticism and prevent discussion and inquisition. In the very nature of things there must be a process by which, upon emergency, a constitutional decision upon any matter before Parliament may be promptly arrived at. But to make use, ordinarily and customarily, upon pretence of saving time, of a process such as suspension of the Standing Orders, which was obviously intended to be used only in an emergency, is unpardonable. Yet it is strange how quickly evil communications destroy the political good manners of our legislators. When Mr. Powlds was a private member he was the most eloquent denunciator, in the metropolitan delegation, of what he frankly termed " legislation by exhaustion." He once excused his absence from the House when a matter of local importance had been brought on by explaining that there wore limits to human endurance, and that no good legislation could be obtained under the system which reduced members to helplessness and then force*! measures through over their

sleeping heads. Mr. Fowlds lias not been so eloquently critical of late, and. we. should like to know if he still agrees on this point with the Leader of the Opposition. At Taihapo. Sir Joseph Ward, in opening a new post office, very aptly congratulated the place upon its progress and its prospects. The Premier was deservedly complimentary, but we would draw his attention to the very different position of places like To Kuiti, wjiioh is as comatose as Taihape is wideawake. Taihape is a place which any resident may well bo proud of, for though nob largo it is a model of what can be done by New Zealanders at forming a commercial and agricultural centre in a new district and in a few years. To Kuiti is of much greater immediate importance than Taihapo, and has undoubtedly greater prospects— this from its position in relation to lands capable of producing wealth and supporting trader Yet it is a hopeless-looking place compared with Taihape, and its residents will be the first to tell us that as far as making great use of their natural advantages goes they might almost as well not have them. The reason is plain. Taihape is a free township and Te Kuiti a Maori-lease township, while around them the same dominant influences are reflected. It is to the fact that at Taihape the European settler has the encouragement of knowing that ho may personally share in the advance and progress of the district and that he is not under the thumb of a native landlordry which will pluck him bare at the expiration of his lease that its advance and progress are due. Had Taihape been situated as Te Kuiti is.situated it would bo as discouraged as Te Kuiti has been, and with the same results. And had Te Kuiti had the opportunity of Taihape it would long ago have become the Hamilton of the King Country. Wo would urge the Premier to have these depressing leasing conditions removed from Te Kuiti and to make it ar. absolute rule that no railway or any other European township shall ever again be laid out upon Maori lands.