THE OBJECTIONABLE PROVISION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2862, 20 January 1909, Page 82

THE OBJECTIONABLE PROVISION.

to criticise on that committee certain measures that are sent to it for examination there is a tendency, by the mere fact of numbers, to try to swamp you. The majority chafes at criticism, even though it is honest criticism, and a good many of them are prepared to accept without examination on that committee , what the Minister brings down. It is full time that the people recognised the value of listening to honest criticism instead of trying to swamp it, as attempts have been made to do in recent years. When I speak of " the people" I mean the whole of the people. Honest criticism is of as much value to the workec as to the employer. The worker is suffering now, but if we had been ableto do all we wanted to do in the way of our duty he might have been protected from the present trouble. As far as the Opposition is concerned, we are satisfied to be judged by the public. We are only there in the interests of our country. We are trying to the best of our ability to ensure equal opportunities to all and to New Zealand a great country. We are doing that not for the purpose of serving ourselves or seeking; office, and we are satisfied to wait to be judged by the people themselves. We are thankful for the increase in confidence in us, and all we can hope is that the works we shall do during the next three years will justify a still further increase in that confidence."

RUSHED THROUGH THE HOUSE, j A LEGISLATOR'S VIEWS. ! - j The provision in the Workers' Com- j pensation Act of last year which is tha 1 cause ot the widespread unrest in the Dominion at the present time among mine-owners and miners was passed by Parliament in the closing days of the session last year. , Last week one of our reporters waited c upon Mr J. Allen, M.P., in reference to • the matter. Mr Allen said :—": — " This is 1 another illustration of the woi'k being j rushed through the House in the last stages of the sebsion without proper * examination. The piocess is to send bills c to committees to examine into them more f or less satisfactorily — very often much j less than moie, — and then to bring them j down in the last two or three days of A the session and force them through the j House with the imprimatur of the com- r mittee upon them, trusting to that alone. r It is tail time that Parliament as a c Parliament again asserted its rights and t insisted on these bills being brought t down earlier fiom the committee, co that t Parliament, too, may ha\e an opportunity q of examining into them. In my opinion n even the committees aie becoming chary t of honest ciiticism. I have found it I myself on the Public Accounts Commit- t< tec, and if you attempt single-handed, t or e\ en with anothei niPmbcr to help >ou, 1