THE Temuka Leader THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1903. WASTE OF TIME.

Temuka Leader, Issue 5000, 1 October 1903, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1903. WASTE OF TIME.

Parliament has been in session nearly three months and very little business has been done. The public have now really a good right to complain of the way the business of the country is being carried on. It is not a working Parliament; it is all talk and no work, and the new members are the greatest sinners in this respect. There are clever talkers amongst them and they want to show their speaking capabilities. Talking for talking’s sake injures the talker and wastes the time of the country. Some of the new members have already ruined themselves in the eyes of Parliament and the whole country. Take Mr Bedford for instance He is diminutive in size and a boy in appearance. He is only about 25 years of age, and yet he has been the cause of a good deal of waste of time. In his first speech ho made a violent attack on the Legislative Council,, characterising the members of that body as " cripples hopping on. Scddonian ■mitches.” Now, amongst the members is I he lion. Mr Qourley, who comes from Dunedin, the city Mr Bedford represents. That gen-

tleman has for the last thirty years been at the head of almost every local body in Dunedin. He has been Mayor of that city several times, Chairman of tbc Harbour Board, Chairman of the Bock Trust —in fact there is scarcely a local body on which he has not served with distinction. And yet that gentleman who was serving the public boloro Mr Bedford was born is insulted m the way indicated by this young whipper-snapper. Wo give Mr Courley as an instance because he comes from Bunedin. But with very few exceptions the .->ame tiling would apply to every member of the Beg'slative Council. Most of them have su veil in the House of .Representatives, and all of them have been public men, and yet Mr Bedford did not hesitate to attack them the hirst moment lie spoke in Bari lament. This is not all. The other day a motion referring to tiie resignation of the Bight Hon. Joseph Chamberlain was moved by the I’remier and it was seconded by the Header of the Opposition, and there would hardly have been any more debate only that Mr Bedford made a violent attack on Mr Chamberlain. 'J his brought out others, and several hours were wasted. A division was taken, m which 52 voted for the resolution, and Messrs Bedford and Ell against it. Not content with this, they, with seme others, sent Home a cablegram to Mr CampbellBannerman, stating the resolution did not represent the views of members of Parliament. But when the di vision showed 52 to 2 it is dilficult to understand the process of reasoning by which they arrived at such a conclusion. It only serves to show the folly of which they can be guilty. And when proved to be foolish in one thing the presumption is that they can bo foolish in ether things, and possibly not very wise i i u. ytliing. This was shown on the following evening by Mr Bedford moving that the Imprest Supply Bill be read a second time that day six mouths. The i i est i ailiamentarian in the General A isembly does not recollect a thing like this being done before. It has never i.i.en done, and no one but the greatest ty»o in politics could have done it. Mr Bedford, no doubt, did not know what lie was doing when he moved this amendment. In order to understand the full significance of Mr Bedford’s action it is necessary to understand that the Imprest Supply Bill is a measure which authorises me Government to pay the curre.it expenses oi the month. It includes ti.c snl.uis c.f civil servants, judges, members (.■' Parliament and so on, and if it were not passed the Government could not pay anybody anything. Now it can easily be seen that this is not a Bill which could be postponed for sTx months ; and the folly of Mr Bedford’s action may easily tie seen therefrom. But Mr Bedford went a stop further, for ins motion asserted that the Ministry as at present constituted had not the confidence of Parliament. This of course made it a no-conli-denco motion, and the whole of one afternoon and night was wasted over that. Now, this is the folly that has caused all the'waste of time. The fact is that many of the new members besides Mr Bedford are too fond of hearing themselves talk, and when one makes an attack another has to answer him until the House is more like a debating society than a deliberative assembly engaged in the practical work of legislating for the country. The Bight Hon. the Premier on last Saturday gave some of the members a bit of his mind. A deputation of 28 of them waited on him, to urge that Mr Kirkbride’s Mutual Fire Insurance Bill should he adopted and passed as a Government measure. Mr Sedclon, in reply, told the members plainly that they were wasting time and that if they went to work properly all the measures could be passed. It was all in their own hands. There were several other private members who wanted the Government to take up their measures, but he would not do this until reasonable progress was made with Government business. Ho did not like to accuse members of deliberately blocking business, but when it took all night to get into Committee of Supply and also to get an Imprest Supply Bill passed it looked like it. There were twenty local Bills and sixty-two Government Bills on the Order Paper, and unless members wont to work properly they could not get through these by the time of the Christchurch Show, The Mutual Fire Insurance Bill had the full concurrence of the Government and he would like to see it passed, but ho would not take it until Government business had been reasonably dealt with. This may possibly have a good effect on members, but it is not likely to restrain Messrs Bedford, Taylor and Ell. Still the |>. Jpv'.ss made on Monday night was quite satisfactory, and it may be now Unit members will settle down to business and give up making an exhibition of their oratorical powers.