Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2,1897. THE PRESENT SESSION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8055, 2 November 1897, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1897. THE PRESENT SESSION.

Pakliami;nt has now been almost six weeks in session, and all that we have to show for the expenditure of several thousands of pounds that the country lias been caused thereby are nine numbers of Hansard, containing nearly a thousand pages of closely printed matter, the record of members' speeches. Wading through this dreary waste ot words, one searches vainly for record of any practical actions on the part of our legislators calculated to be of benefit to the colony. There has, in fact, been no attempt to settle down to the business of legislating, and our Parliamentary reporter informs us that it may be some days yet before any measures of importance will be discussed, there being a general inclination on the part of members to let things slide until the i-aces and show holidays, which distract attention, arc over. Then, no doubt, there will be v rush to get home in time for Christmas, and only the most important matters will be taken, and these dealt with hurriedly. The present session, therefore, bears promise of being one of the most profitless on record. This, no doubt, may lie partly accounted for by the livle season at which the session is held, and the disinclination of members in the heat of summer and with numerous counter attractions to settle down to serious work. What is more responsible, however, is the evil system into which Parliamentary

affairs are drifting in this colony. It has now come to be recognised that in the first session of a new Parliament members arc not expected to do much business. Days and days are wasted in repeating electioneering and pro-sessional speeches — members addressing their constituents through Hansard, as if to .justify their presence In the House by the columns of talk that they can pnt. on record. So we sec some 3,">0 pages of this session's Hansard filled with twaddle contained in what is known as the Address-in-Reply debate, and immediately following this comes what a contemporary sarcastically terms "a bale of printing paper, called, for want of a better name, a Budget," which is a prelude of another debate of three weeks' duration. The financial debate is largely ii repetition of the one that has gone before, and instead of leaving it to the leaders of the parties to speak as to the main principles involved, every member conceives it his duty to place on record his opinion on every conceivable subject. It is impossible to perceive that any good can come out of all the talk and wrangling that has been taking place within the walls of Parliament, and most people will agree with us that some reform in the methods of procedure is desirable.

The state of parties, which arc now so much more evenly balanced than in any previous Parliament, will no doubt make tho Premier cautious with any legislation that he has to bring in. He cannot altbrd to pursue (.lid old plan of pressing forward numerous bills of ultra-radical tendencies designed to catch the eyes of the masses, for to do so with the uai-row majority that lie commands would he simply to court defeat. It is unlikely therefore that the Premier will attempt to pass much legislation this session. After he lias gone through the ordeal of dragging his estimates through Committee and has framed his Public Works Statement, in which he will be confronted with the difficulty of having to satisfy the numerous claims for roads and bridges out of a. limited exchequer, he will be only too glad to declare the session closed and send members to their homes.