THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1919. THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17251, 29 August 1919, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1919. THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT

—<*> . The Speech read by the GovernorGeneral in opening Parliament yesterday contained no surprises and no features of outstanding interest. Under the novel circumstances attending its delivery the absence of these characteristics is a merit rather than a defect. Mr. Massey withstood the temptation to make the Speech either an electioneering effort or a party programme, and in consequence it is nothing more than I a plain statement of the urgent busi- j ness which Parliament must transact before it submits to the judgment of the electorates. There is a good deal of internal evidence that the sudden withdrawal of the Liberal Ministers embarrassed even this simple compilation of the country's immediate needs. The Prime Minister remarks that the responsibility for the revenue, expenditure and estimates belongs to the National Government, and he therefore anticipates a non-paftisan consideration of them. The same observation might be applied to -practically all the business coming before the House en this occasion, and since the Prime Minister has been careful to obtrude no suggestion of party shibboleth into his outline of the session's work Liberal members can hardly refuse to reciprocate the tolerance he extends to them. This does not imply any stifling of fair and disinterested criticism. Indeed, there is a call for free discussion of many subjects which happily still lie outside the sphere of party politics. The present Parliament cannot leave everything to its successor. It must, for example, take at least the preliminary steps for the establishment of civil government in Samoa. This in itself is a great responsibility and the public will not forgive members who treat it with recklessness or indifference. Parliament should not be too ready to accept any cut-and-dried scheme. Full and even leisurely examination of all the facts is a first condition of sound decision, and since few people in New Zealand have made a special study of the Samoan Group the House cannot do better than insist that any arrangements now made shall be tentative and recommend the Government to elucidate, more information for the guidance of the new Parliament. The Prime Minister strikes a note to which all will respond when he says that the first duty of Parliament is to the men who have fought and to the relatives of those who have fallen. Following this declaration a foremost place is given in the Government's programme to repatriation and land settlement. Legislation to facilitate these processes is promised, and though the details are still obscured it will probably be found that one of the amending measures is designed to give effect to the scheme expounded by Mr. Massey when in England of granting certain areas of inferior land to bona-fide soldier settlers free of cost. If the State by this means secures the cultivation of land which would otherwise be idle for many years it will itself be the gainer. The quickening of land settlement consequent on demobilisation has resulted in the Department overexpending the £1,500,000 authorised last session, and it is estimated that by the middle of next mouth another £1,000,000 will have been spent. It will be the duty of Parliament to provide further large sums, and this it will do without demur. The only criticism which can possibly be made is that if the Government applied the millions it has devoted to the purchase of private estates towards providing communications to its own estate soldiers would have obtained better and cheaper land and production would have been more effectively stimulated, j The legislation of a general character which is forecasted in the : I Speech is of no great variety, but the Acts which are set down for amendment will facilitate a review of several of the most pressing social and economic problems of the. Dominion. A considerable portion of the Speech is devoted to the coal shortage, and the Government rightly comes to the conclusion that the present dependence on overseas supplies is unsatisfactory. It will doubtless make proposals for increasing the supply of labour in the it

mines of the Dominion,, and -■ these I will be awaited with interest. Mention of; the iWorkers' Dwellings Act raises the hope that a housing policy bearing some reasonable relation to the needs of the people will be enunciated this session. The amendment of the labour laws is also suggestive of interesting innovations intended to prevent or allay industrial unrest. The extension and modification of the moratorium is specifically announced, and the principle outlined is unexceptionable, although there may be room for disagreement as to details. Other legislation will doubtless be introduced before the end of the session, but even in this, programme there is enough to keep Parliament busy for several weeks. The extraordinary difficulties which beset New Zealand, in common with every other civilised country, make special demands upon the industry and intelligence of Parliament. Members would do well to remember that the electorates' are watching them with unusually critical eyes, and will judge them less by electioneering speeches than by their attention to the business of the country and the evidences they may give of" capacity and grasp of public affairs. GENERAL BOTHA. ♦ By the death of General Botha, South Africa has lost its greatest citizen, and the British Empire one of its most prominent statesmen. Soldier and politician, he has been the chief instrument in the regeneration of South Africa, and he has played a conspicuous part in the . vindication of that doctrine of Empire based on self-government which has been one of Britain's outstanding contributions to the peace 1 of the world. For twenty years he has been a commanding figure in the world's politics, standing in the forefront not by the force of ambition or even of genius, but distinguished by a lofty idealism and a singular strength of character. Though none was more loyal to the Boer cause or served it more brilliantly, Botha had done his utmost to avoid the war with Britain. He dreamed of a united South Africa, in whose freedom the interests of Briton and Boer should be merged, and all his policy after the war was aimed at that goal. The splendid inspiration of the men who sought and granted self-government to the conquered Boer States had its justification in the crisis of 1914. The forces of consolidation had not had time to complete their work, an element of stubborn hostility was still unappeased, but the old wounds were healing, Botha and Smuts had been won to the greater cause; and when the shock came, South Africa withstood it unflinchingly. Botha least of all doubted the wisdom of that choice. " There is one thing I am grateful for," he said on his return from his wonderful campaign '. in South-west Africa, " and that is I that I used all the powers at my I command to bring about the union _ of SoutlyAfrica. God alone knows ' what would have become of South . Africa hed we not become a united country." A passionate lover of peace, circumstances made Botha a great soldier. Environment would have kept him a simple farmer; character and opportunity made hiin the builder of & nation.