A RETURNED LEGISLATOR. MR EUGENE O'CONOR'S TRAVELS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1994, 12 May 1892, Page 13

A RETURNED LEGISLATOR. MR EUGENE O'CONOR'S TRAVELS.

The name of Mr Eugene O'Conor, M.H.R. for Buller, but known everywhere as "The Buller Lion," requires no introduction to colonial newspaper readers. Mr O'Conor left the colony for Europe on the 21st September last, going by way of Melbourne, Colombo, Suez, and Naples, touring through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and France, arriving in London at the end of November, and subsequently visiting Ireland. From his tour Mr O'Conor returned on Saturday, much benefited -mi health, and a Wellington Evening Post representative called upon him to ascertain his conclusions and experiences.

THB STATE OF EUROPE.

! "My visit to Europe," said Mr O'Conor, "was due in part to a desire to visit my relatives, but particularly to study the various European forms of government and the working lof the ' Party system.' Throughout the tour I made a point of meeting the members of the Governments and Parliaments of the various countries and their representative men. I found amongst intelligent people everywhere an intense feeling of dissatisfaction with the working of the Party system. One Italian gentleman told me that it astonished him that in an age like this, so marked by the progress of scientific discovery, and the perfection of all useful arts and sciences, so untrue and unsuitable a system of Government should be allowed to remain. In Paris I attended the Chamber of Deputies and Senate many times, and realised that the system was even more unsuitable to the French nation than to almost any other. It seems to be quite foreign to their nature, and I can now understand why it is that they have a change of Government nearly every year. Frenchmen, in speaking on the subject, said that they felt certain that unless some different system of Government was devised, the Republic would not last, and that a system of responsible government under which such frequent changes were made made it quite impossible for men who had given special study to political science to effectively control the administration of affairs, owing to the very short tenure of office. The leading Frenchmen whom I met seemed to think that popular opinion was being gradually {>repared for any change that might take place eading to a monarchy, or to some other form of autocracy. My own opinion is that the large standing armies of the Continental powers must dominate the State, and when some great general distinguishes himself the French people will place despotic power in his hands, as they have done before. This is bound to be the fate : of all Continental States." j

THE LOT OF THE WORKERS.

"I was," continued Mr O'Conor, "painfully stricken with the condition of the working men of France and Italy. A very large proportion of the population is made up of the army and other non-productives. In France they are particularly fond of the legend, • Liberty, equality, and fraternity.' It is to be seen almost everywhere but in the lives of the people. The unfortunate labourers have to work from 12 to 14 hours a day for seven days in the week for a pittance insufficient to keep body and soul together, and frequently the wife is seen working alongside her husband, mixing mortar, carrying loads, and such work. Wherever I noticed this I spoke to the pair, and invariably found that the joint earnings were necessary for the family subsistence. This was in the towns. Country life in France is much freer, the subdivision of the land enabling workers to produce much of the necessaries of life, and so, even though the wages of a factory hand may be small, they are sufficient when supplemented with what he can grow. Frenchmen don't entertain the idea of immigration. Their minds are busy about the affairs of their own country, and they have not forgotten the inroads of the Germans— although," added Mr O'Conor, "I was very much astonished with the close correspondence which went on between their working men's unions and those of Germany and England, and the bonds of union existing between them. The country population is really the backbone of France." j

FEDERATION V. TAXATION,

" The general and local taxation in Europe," remarked Mr O'Conor, "is very heavy. It is

easy to understand this when you look on the fortifications, armaments, and armies everywhere. I think that the arguments in favour of the federation of the Australian colonies might be applied with ever so much greater intensity to Europe. It would save an enormous amount of wasted life and means if European federation would enable the States to dispense with their standing armies." - '•That will never be," the reporter interjected. ♦* I am not so sure about that," was the reply. " I think there is little hope of its coming to pass unless the question is forced on the working classes. But this now seems imminent."

IN ENGLAND — A BAD LOOK-OUT.

I "On arrival in England," Mr O'Coror resumed, " I was much struck with the magnitude of her industrial operations, but while I found that manufactures were being exported in greater quantity than ever, the competition of other countries was so intense that the prices had been reduced in the last few years fully 35 per cent. Manufacturers told me that, under the then circumstances, they did not think many of them would be able to continue, as the business was now scarcely remunerative, and it was descending still lower. I found a great many German and French products in English markets, and manufacturers complained bitterly that the only protection they had against these was the law lately passed which compelled them to be labelled as of foreign production, while if they sought the markets of Germany and France their goods were handicapped by import duty. At Manchester goods are still being sent out in enormous quantities ; but as production in India, where both material and labour is cheaper, increases with wonderful rapidity, in a short time India, hitherto one of the largest consumers, will have a large and growing surplus for export. The labour question was attracting great attention from thoughtful men, who believed that a great deal of trouble was in store. While I was in London there were over 300,000 artisans unemployed, and all through England the same thing was being said. Since I left they have had the coal strike to intensify the trouble."

ENGLISH POLITICS AND POLITICIANS.

From labour troubles the talk naturally went to politics. Mr O'Conor said he had attended a great many sittings of the House of Commons, and was most courteously received by the leaders of both sides whom he consulted, rfs he had done in the Continental countries, on the working of the " Party system." 11 1 don't think," he continued, *' that the Parliamentary eloquence I found in England reaches a higher level than with us. I think that, with the exception of Mr Gladstone, there is not a speaker in the House whom I would put ,on a level with Sir George Grey, and many of our own members are quite equal to the best of the others. Of Mr Gladstone it must be said that he is head and shoulders over his contemporaries, and the most astonishing man of the day. Mr Balfour I thought very little of. He brought in a Local Government Bill while I was there, and made a sad mess of it. The Irish members seem really to rule the roost. They have more to say on most questions than all the other members of the House put together, and they speak most effectively. Mr Dillon was in very good health, and spoke very effectively, and Mr Redmond, the leader of the Parnellite section, also spc«!;s very well ; but the most fluent and powerful speaker on the Irish side is certainly Mr Sexton. For eloquence he takes next place to Mr Gladstone."

A LEGISLATIVE BLOCK,

"The business of the House," Mr O'Conor continued, "is trammelled by the system under which they are working, and most of the members agree that it is next to impossible for any Government to proceed energetically with any measures, no matter how pressing they may deem them. There are .bo many opportunities for obstruction both in and out of the House that the way business proceeds seems more calculated to worry members and kill Ministers than to do the business of the country. The appointments in the House itself are not better than our own. The structure is a very imposing pile, but the accommodation for members seems insufficient, and the accommodation for visitors', except in one or two select places, is very uncomfortable, and unsuited to any person who goes with a view to hearing or understanding the proceedings.

The ladies are even worse treated. They are caged up where they can neither see nor hear much of what is going on, while they themselves are entirely out of sight. It surprised me that the gallantry of English gentlemen should not have altered this. ' "Home Rule for Ireland," resumed Mr O'Conor, "will be accomplished at an early date, and when this is done the House of Commons will be able to turn its attention more closely to its own and Imperial affairs, and I will not be at all surprised to find some means adopted to? give greater stability to Cabinets and Ministries. Ther-leading men I met seemed to be unanimously of opinion that something must be done in that direction." A MODEL BTATE. "I have told you all about .'England, and France, and Italy," exclaimed the member for Buller, "and not a word about :StVitzerland, the most interesting State in Europe. The Swiss have been surrounded with difficulties, both in the 'nature of the country they have developed, in their own circumstances as a people, and in differences of and language. Yet these have nqt barred the way, and they have the best constructed and managed railways on the Continent. Of their taxation system the same may' be said, and their system of Government seems to have secured to them the best and most economical State service obtainable. In Switzerland they don't trouble as to the mere ''formation or personnel of Ministries, provided the work be well done, and the people themselves watch every political movement and give it direction. The 'Referendum,' of which so much has been said, is growing stronger and more in favour in the country, and is being adopted in almost every form of Government, both local and general. Their Parliaments are models of business management. The discussions are to the pomt — no bjatant egotism — no wearisome drivel to be circulated through the country for the gratification of a member and the disgust of everybody else. Their business is dono in the morning" — ' "So is ours, very often," interjected the reporter. "But they commence in the morning," was the response, "and theirs is conducted in & manner both as to brevity and precision which might well be copied in every English-speaking country. Party struggles such as we are acquainted with are there entirely unknown, except by those persons who keep au courant with the politics of other countries, and when I spoke to Swiss politicians upon the subject they shrugged their shoulders contemptuously at the folly of men meeting as the Parliaments' of other countries do, and spending valuable time in party squabbles which would not be tolerated for one moment in the Swiss Republic. There are distinct parties on a great many questions — as, for instance, religious v. secular education — but people who would vote together on this question vote apart on others. One question was put to me everywhere which I was unable to answer, and that was how Englishspeaking politicians can reconcile their behaviour in Parliament with their duty as patriotic citizens, and a Frenchman gravely assured me that the word 'Parliament' was derived from the two French words 'parti' and • mentir ' — to speak and to lie — and that they endeavoured on every occasion to justify the designation." THE MORAL OP IT ALL. " I have made a study of these questions of constitution," Mr O'Conor concluded, "and I intend, with whatever assistance I may get from within and without the House, to bring the matter fully before the people of New Zealand. I have come to the conclusion that in any democratic country it is absolutely necessary to devise new methods of government, and above all to ensure that the principal powers of administration shall be vested only in the best men, in order that reason and justice, and the public welfare, may be the first consideration. I intend to open the campaign as soon as I meet my constituents. I will probably go down the coast next week. , Afterwards, I will proceed by taking such action in Parliament as may be considered advisable by others of tho same way of thinking as myself." Four pounds of gold have been collected from the soot of the chimney of the Royal Mint in Berlin.