EDITORIALS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 956, 27 June 1890, Page 13

EDITORIALS.

Otili anticipations as to the character of tbo Speech delivered yesterday week by his Excellency the Governor, at the opening of Parliament, were entirely fulfilled. It needed no spirit of prophecy to ir.sp’re the prognostication that the Speech would be vague and indefinite as to all questions of policy. Speeches from the Throne always are vague' and indefinite nowadays. This has become so firmly established a rule that for a Speech from the Throne to set forth in plain language any definite or vigorous policy would bo deemed shockingly irregular, if not absolutely indecent. Therefore yesterday’s sppeeh was rigidly confined to the most hazy generalities. Indeed, it quite ont-Heroded Herod in this respect. We defy the most ingenious member of the Opposition to formulate out of the whole rigmarole any definite announcement of policy which Ministers might not instantly and logically repudiate as never intended to be inferred from the oracular utterances that they had put into the mouth of the Governor. We do not complain of this. It is a matter of course. The Speech is as all other such Speeches are —only rather “ more sc.”

Presumably it is deemed necessary on these occasions to indulge in prolix dissertations on the Colony generally; on the “ abundance <>f its resources,” the “ beauty of its seenery,” and the “ enterprise and industry of its inhabitants.” Yet we cannot discover the slightest advantage derivable from all this wordpiling. To us it seems pure “ padding.” In the same category we are disposed to place the observations on the Dunedin Exhibition and the colonial Jubilee. It is, of course, verv gratifying to learn that his Excellency “ was greatly impressed with the marvellous progress which the Colony had made,” but as his Excellency’s personal acquaintance with New Zealand only dates from about a year back, he can hardly speak from personal knowledge of the advance which the Colony has made in fifty years. Indeed, the fact that (according to Debrettl Lord Odslow was n«t born until a good many years after the Colony was founded renders it rather difficult for him to speak with personal confidence as to the comparative condition of the Colony 50 years ago. It therefore seemed scarcely necessary that he should be made to volunteer second hand information of this sort. 1 he reference to the “ happy and healthy children ” who took part in the Jub'lee celebration was doubtless pretty, and calculated to please the fathers and mothers of the complimented youngsters, but it could have been dispensed with on such an occasion. Nor was it requisite that the public should bo told of the increase in exports or of the decline in the flax industry. A good many people have very largo and unpleasant personal acquaintance with the latter fact, Whether the “ addition to the funds held by the Savings Banks ” is really a ‘'satisfactory” sign may fairly be deemed an open question. Seme competent authorities regard an excess of savings bank deposits as an unfavourable symptom, indicating slackness of investment and absence of enterprise or confidence. The rtferenci s to the promotion of land settlement may bear auy possible meaning that Ministers choose to attach to them, and therefore are not worth discussing. What they really imply we shall not learn until the measures thus vaguely hinted at are brought down. Nor can any opinion bo expressed upon the “ scheme ” for the defence of the Colony, until the nature of the scheme is authoritatively known. On the other hand, there is no doubt as to the meaning of the “ two years’ exceptional provision’’ for “schoolhouses and other public buildings.” In plain English, the Primage Duty is to be retained. The intention of the Government as to the ocean post age ratep, and the purport of the Bills which are to be introduced, are left to the speculation of the imaginative, the subject being merely mentioned. One observation is peculiarly sage. The Government express their gratification to learn that “ ‘ sweating ’ had not taken root.” Surely this involves the oddest confusion of metaphors. How “ sweating ” could possibly “take root” we do not pretend to understand. We wonder the Government, if they must introduce “ bulls ”

into Royal Speeches, did not go on to say, with a famous orator of bygone days, that the Sweating Commissioners “ smelt a rat ” and “ saw it floating in the air,” and therefore recommended the Government to “ nip it in the bud.” Will it be deemed flat blasphemy if we dare to ask what possible earthly use can these precious Speeches be ? Is it essential that we should maintain servile adhesion to Old World forms which, in many cases, are inappropriate to a colony such as this ? We cannot think so. There is not the slightest necessity for every Ministry to put into the mouth of every Governor every session a string of empty platitudes, and to follow it up with the fatuous farce of a detailed “ Address-in-Reply.” The Speech and the Address have for years past become a mere piece of tomfoolery which might with much advantage be discontinued henceforward. All that is needed iu place of the former is a brief formal declaration by the Governor that Parliament is open for the despatch of business. The only rise of the Addresfi-in-Eeply is to furnish an opportunity for an early debate upon things in general ; for the discussion of the past year’s administration!; and for the moving of a noconfidence motion without previous notice being necessary, and without its evasion through manipulation of the Order Paper, being feasible. But these things could obviously be provided for very easily in a much less clumsy and cumbrous way. It is to be hoped that Speeches from the Throne and Addresses-in-Reply will soon be obsolete in New Zealand. They may well be included in that useful “little list” of things that “ never will bo missed.”