THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1907. THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13941, 28 June 1907, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1907. THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

There was no ground for supposing that ilio Speech which is annually put in the hands of his Exoellency the Governor at the opening of Parliament would this year contain a, greater amount of information than it generally offers respecting the intentions' of the Government, Indeed, thfc main features of the programme which is to bo presented during the session have long been well understood throughout the colony. They comprise the proposals for the amendment of the land laws and of tlio industrial arbitration laws aJid for the revision of the Customs tariff. The reference' to Ihcsc subjects in tlio • Governor's Speech is not remarkable for its fulness. But it is made clear that tlio fiscal changes which are contemplated are not, as has been supposed in some quarters, to be confined to the mere rectification of the anomalies, numerous though these are, that are presented in tlio existing tariff. Revision and simplification—such as, it may be hoped, may have the effect of obviating the need for Commissioners' interpretations, which liavo in the past practically created in some respects a new Customs tariff without the authority of Parliament —are promised. Further, as will bo observed with some degree of satisfaction, the prospect is held out of the remission of some of the taxation on the necessaries of life, tho imposition of which lias conduced so greatly to -the production of tlio satisfactory revenue returns of recent years. The industrial legislation is to include a Bill amending the Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act and a. Bill which teems to imply a confession of the failure of the original Workers' Dwellings Act—it being now proposed that a- smaller proportion of the wages earned by the worker shall be required from him for the payment of his rent. Besides these measures a . rather formidable catalogue of projected legislation is presented, and the importance of much of it is apparent from the fact that the Bills which are to be brought down include proposals to deal with the gambling mania-, tlio evil of secret commissions, and tho provision of pure foods, to remove the doubts that exist respecting the borrowing powers of local bodies, to establish schemes of classi-

fication and superannuation for the Civil Service, t-o provide for tho disposal of Native lands upon such lines as may be recommended by the. Royal Commission, and to legislate further in rcspcct to mental hospitals and to shops and offices. Fortunately there is -every reason to believe that the Government is unusually well prepared with legislation for the consideration of Parliament. This circumstance is, as the country cannot fail to recognise, the dircct outcome of the re-assertion, under Sir Joseph Ward, of the reasonable principle under which, subjcct- to certain limitations of welldefined policy, each of the responsible Ministers, is the master, in his own department, and. the control of the most important departments of the State is entrusted to men who do not shirk the full acceptance of the responsibility that should be borne by them. It is difficult to imagine any more conclusive demonstration than is afforded at the present time of the hollowness of the cry which is sometimes raised that there are not sufficient Ministers of the Crown. For five months, covering by far the greater part of the recess, the Prime Minister has been absent from the colony. For five wcelc? out of that period the Acting Prime Minister has been prevented from performing his public duties through a. serious breakdown in his health—not so serious, we are pleased to know, as to render his retirement from, the Government absolutely necessary, but sufficiently rerious to made it imperative that ho should, seek a- prolonged rest' and change. Despit.o this, lufwevor, and notwithstanding the fact that the remaining Ministers have spent a considerable amount of their time in visiting different parts of the colony and that one of them, in particular, who has had a campaign of his own to conduct, has been but occasionally in Wellington, the Government has apparently got the bulk of its legislative proposals ready for submission to Parliament. Whatever views may be hold regarding the character of some of these.proposals, it is not open to tho comhninity to deny that, so far .as it is to be regarded as.a working machine, tho present Cabinet has justified the hopes which were expressed respecting it at the time of its formation.

Necessarily the Speech contains various references' to the Conferences in Great Britain at which the Prime Minister represented the colony. And in this connection the most interesting announcement made by the Governor is that, as a result of the representations made to it by Sir Joseph Ward, the Imperial Government is prepared, upon being requested so to do by resofution of Parliament, to recommend the ICino; to raise the status of New Zealand by changing its designation from "colony" to "dominion." There may not ordinarily be much in a name, but there i'g no 'doubt that there if? a ring about tliei word "dominion" which the designation of " colony" lacks, and that the title it is now proposed to ssok for New Zealand carries with it a suggestion of power and influence and dignity that is not to be associated with tho title of " colony." Moreover, there is always tho danger of the existence of some confusion, in the minds even of well-informed persons, between self-governing colonies and Crown colonies when the generic designation of "colony" is applied to each of them. The application of such a designation as "dominion" to New Zealand will certainly have the effect of giving to our country such a distinction as will place it on a very different piano from the minor dependencies of tho United Kingdom. It may possibly be objected to the choice of the title of" dominion" that, having acquired, in the case of Canada, a special significance, it is not strictly applicable to the circumstances of New Zealand. On the other hand it is difficult to suggest any designation to'which an objection of a like kind might not bo raised. Tho choice of the designation "dominion" seems to represent simply a selection of the term least likely to involve the risk of confusion in future, while calculated at the same time to be indicative of tho increasing importance of these .islands. Tho Government is firmly'impressed, tho business community will be pleased to notice, with the desirability of providing fresh avenues for the development of the trade of New Zealand. With this object in view it is negotiating at the present time for the establishing of a commercial treaty with the Dominion of Canada, and the opinion is expressed by Ministers in the Governor's Speech that tho colony and the Empire would be benefited by the institution of a judicious system of reciprocal tariffs between New Zealand and other parts of the Empire. This is a matter which, it may be anticipated, Sir Joseph Ward will keep constantly in view, and the problem of the ocean mail services of the colony, concerning which the Government is hopeful of effecting a practical solution, is also one that will certainly receive the personal attention of the Prime Minister, whose grasp of the whole question is so complete as to encourage tho belief that a satisfactory arrangement may be devised by him. While the expansion of the external trade of the colony is in every way to be desired, the importance of the development of the internal resources of New Zealand is not to be disregarded. Our commerce can,' in fact, only continue to grow if the process of opening up and settling our lands is industriously pursued. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the undertaking by the Government that a vigorous promotion of closer settlement and ail energetic construction of the main railway lilies will be among its objects may be construed somewhat literally. In existing circumstances, as we know, the North Island Main Trunk line demands so much of the energy of the Public Works Department and so much of the annual vote that is available for railway construction as to necessitate the exercise of a certain amount of self-denial on tho part of settlers who are looking forward with good reason to the introduction of railroads into other 1 parte of the country. But tkeiexprcs-

sion of the determination of the Government to secure the completion of t.lie lino between Auckland and Wellington by the closo of noxt year, couplc d with the information the Lender ,of the Opposition lias afforded regarding the progress that is boing made with the work, justifies the feeling that the end of this great enterprise is at last within sight. "We trust that, whether he be in office or not-, Mr Hall-Jones, under whose direction the operations on the line have been greatly expedited in recent years, may bo well enough in. health to take a prominent part in the ceremonies connected with the opening of the railway.