The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, 18th OCTOBER, 1886.

Southland Times, Issue 9351, 18 October 1886, Page 2

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, 18th OCTOBER, 1886.

"We have at length received s copy of " The btatutes of New Zealand : passed in the fiftieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria, and the third session of the ninth Parliament of New Zealand." If the late session were to be judged by the size of its Statute-book, it would take precedence of most of its predecessors — if not of all of them. The volume we have just received is a very goodly one indeed, containing no less than 691 pages, or 163 more than that of 1885 ; while those for 1884 and 1883 contain only 399 and 409 respectively, Our readers will accordingly be ready to conclude that a vast addition was made last session to the. laws of the colony. This however is fortunately not the case. It was a great amending and consolidating session. Three Acts "to coni eolidate and amend" alone fill 272 pages, viz.,the Counties, Municipal Corporations, and Mining Acts. About IQO pages more are occupied with the Defence, Mining Companies, and Native Land Court Acts,; also of the consolidating and amending kind. From these figures it will be seen that the amount of original legislation produced last "session vvas comparatively small, though of course a good deal of new matter is introduced into thejconsoUdatedvmeasures. Whether the I* amendments " are as a rule improvements remain! to '"& swu '

There is, however, a presumption in their favour; but the only thing perfectly certain about the balky volume in. which they are now presented to newspaper proprietors, politicians, and other public persons arid bnsybodies is that it will cost ' the colony a pretty penny. It is very creditably got up. A cynical person might be tempted to say that the contents are not worth the paper they are printed on. But cynicalsayings are not always true, Mr Macandrew, however, who is^ no cynic — being, on contrary,' a patriotic colonist and enthusiastic Scots man — has mote than once expressed a wish that the statute - book of New Zealand were reduced to a tabula rasa. He seems to chink tnat the colony is cursed with laws ; though after all it would be more correct to is ay that the thing it is cursed with, in common with all other countries under the gun, is the necessity for making laws. The statute-book is, in other worda, a necessary evil, however unnecessarily balky it may have already become. We cannot get on without laws, but it would not be difficult to draw them with a great deal more precision, conciseness, and intelligibility than an ordinary New Zealand Act of Parliament can boast. Our Acts are at least said lo be somewhat remarkable for their prolixity, and the clumsiness with which they are expressed and constructed. And they are apt to retain this character even after endless amendments. But the laws of all countries, even of America (notwithstanding certain not unsuccessfull attempts at simplification) retain- a vast amount of mediaeval barbarism; and when mediaeval barbarism and colonial barbarism combine, the result is what we call a caution. Still the fact remains that laws of some kind or other are quite indispensable, and we must c'en make the best of those which our legislators produce. Mr Macandrew's wish, at any rate, is not likely to be fulfilled till the Millenium, not to say that the lawyers would bo pretty sure to make a stout fight for their ancient forms and privileges even after that era of universal peace and goodwill had dawned upon the world.