The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1911. OPENING OF THE SESSION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 28, 27 July 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1911. OPENING OF THE SESSION.

The Parliamentary session opens this afternoon. The bill of fare provided does not appear to be full or lengthy, though we are assured it is going to prove 'lively." This is predicted of almost every session. Whether this year there is going to be more "liveliness" than usual, events alone can prove. It is good to see animation, even in the Parliamentary arena; it is much more preferable to inertia; but if we could depend upon practical work, upon members getting right down to business instead of occupying the time of the country in hearing themselves talk and letting off steam on every occasion, it would be a welcome departure and of infinite value to the country 1 . We will doubtless be treated to a week or so of talk on the Address-in-Reply, when nearly every member will seize the opportunity .of expounding his political faith for tho benefit of his own constituents, whom he has to meet a few months hence (taking care that a verbatim report is forwarded promptly to the newspapers in his electorate). After this flood .of loquacity has expended itself members will attack the real business of the country. Few policy measures are to be dealt with. Our hoary old friend, the Local Government Bill, is to make his usual appearance, and, no doubt, his usual exit. There is the Hon. Fowlds' Town Planning Bill, which is a very wise proposal, providing as it does for the improvement of towns in the matter of breathing spaces, beautification, sanitation and the like, an improvement which no one who is at all observant will deny is badly needed in this young country. Another matter to which attention is promised is one of vital interest to Taranaki, namely, the control of the storage of oil in bulk. The Ministerial mouthpiece, the Wellington Times, has this to say on the subject: ' One of the most interesting Bills, as indicating the advent of a new factor in the wealth-production of the Dominion, is a measure to be introduced bv the Hon. R. Mclvenzie for the control of the storage of oil in bulk. Large quantities of mineral oil hre already on the surface at New Plymouth, and precautions against a . huge conflagration must be taken in ' time. Possibly the opportunity will also be taken to deal with other aspects of the industry, such as the erection of a refinery.

While no one can object to reasonable precautions being taken in connection with oil storage, etc., it is to be hoped nothing in the nature of irksome restrictions will be placed on such a promising industry as the development of our oil resources. It deserves and requires all the assistance the Government and the people of the Dominion can render. Tf harassing restrictions are imposed, it is not likely that the British capitalists who at present are so keen • on interesting themselves in developing Taranaki and other New Zealand oil 1 fields, will further trouble about the Dominion. We cannot believe that the Government intends doing anything so detrimental to the interests of the country. If the anticipations of those best qualified to speak on the matter are. only half realised, it means that the oil industry is going to play a most important part in the future of the Dominion. If the Government went out of its way to assist putting the industry on a strong, commercial footing it would be only doing its duty. One thing is certain, and that is the results from any assistance tendered in this direction would not be less beneficial to the country n= a whole than the benefits arising from State help to the mining and other industries. The text of the Bill will be awaited with much interest locally. Other measures talked of are amendments to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Act and a consolidation of

the Public Health Act. Tim finances will be discussed at length. The Government proposes to transfer £BOO,OOO of the surplus to the Public Works Fund, to increase the salaries of railway servants (and not before time), and to make sundry concessions to the railway .users, notably second-class passengers (news which will be received with great satisfaction). The cost of the new defenco scheme will be discussed, with more definite information than ' has hitherto been at the disposal of the House. Among other matters to be discussed are the designs for the new Parliament Buildings, the progress of the hydro-electric power scheme, and the trend of population to the north, with its consequent dislocation of electoral boundaries. Mr. Massey may he expected to introduce a request for enquiry into the Mokau lands transaction. The House will receive a report upon the enquiry into the Cook Islands administration, whicli was asked for last session by the Opposition. Both Houses will be in charge of acting leaders, Sir James Carroll taking the place of the Premier in the House of Representatives, while the Hon. James McGowan will lead the Upper House until the return of the Attorney-General. The latter and the Prime Minister are expected to arrive in New Zealand on August 22, by which time the House will probably be ready to discuss the Financial Statement and important measures of the session.

A DYING POWER. The House of Lords as a collection of powerful personages wielding their power entirely by accident is passing away. During the' past few years the gilt has been removed. A coronet no longer causes a hushed and awful humility among the common herd, and the drawing aside of the lordly robes has disclosed the fact that the "son of a thousand carls" is just as weak flesh and blood as the son of a thousand Govent Garden porters. The wane of the power of the peers began when Mr. Lloyd George hurled his taxation proposals into their camp, when he made the people of Britain agree with him as to the iniquity of laws which protected their immense wealth, their individual and collective power, their influence over the voter—by being his landlord —their utter meanness in resisting every effort made tn tax them in just proportion to the va!ute> df their holdings. The Unionists have fought tooth and nail for the preservation of their class interests. As may be noted by the cablegrams about the "row" in the House of Commons, finding that the 'last ditch" was difficult to negotiate, they took refuge in noise. Throughout these historic proceedings which must end by the loss for all time of the inestimable privileges of the hereditary nobility, the British Government has steadily, unerringly and calmly smote every coronetted head at it showed above the glacis. It has fought so that the people of Britain and the Empire shall be as free as the jingo songs say they are. It has fought to put a stop to abuse of power, to give the underdog in Britain a right to believe that he is a human being, and that the wearer of the strawberry leaves is not necessarily a person to be hedged round with every conceivable protection because ho happened to be the son of his father. As far as may be gathered, the people (as distinct from the personages) are at last coming into their own—and a time seems to be nigh when it will be uncommon for a man whose work is necessary to the Marquis' existence to abase himself in humiliation to the shadow of a deed that may have been performed five hundred years ago.

MR. JAMES WADE. To have served the community at all is good. To have served it unselfishly, whole-heartedly and kindly in a most important capacity for 29 years, is better. Mr. James Wade, " the retiring chairman of the Education Board, is in the comfortable position as a local public man of hiving no official enemies. He retires to the regret of his confreres and of the public. In his capacity he has seen the initiatory struggles of education in this province, and has, happily,' during an unsullied service, aided very materially in the expansion and development of instruction for the young. Apart from his official control of the business of local education, Mr. Wade has, we believe, always had in the_ "back of his head" the dominatory notion that a kindly man must necessarily have that his'work was first and last for the children. We believe that if it were commoner for public men, either local or national, to keep in the mind's view the essentia! reason for their existence and work, the pettiness that sometimes disfigures public life would be infrequently exhibited. A charming courtesy and a gentle spirit of true comaraderie are wholly consistent with the gravest and most important work a public man may do for his fellow citizens and their children, and it is <Mr. Waders natural sweetness of character, and his sound judgment, that have aided him in the undertaking in which he lips been so creditably engaged. The unselfish gift of time and talent to honorary and honorable work is one that should receive every recognition. In the valedictory references to his qualities on the Board there was an unusual and spontaneous naturalness, proof that not merely the occasion but the man was the inspiration of the speakers. It is regretted that Mr. Wade's health is at present indifferent, and we cordially join with his confreres in hoping that he will regain a full measure of strength and live many years to enjoy the esteem of all who know him.