The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1918. THE WORK OF PARLIAMENT

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16303, 2 December 1918, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1918. THE WORK OF PARLIAMENT

Parliament, it is expected, mill adjourn at the end of the meek after a session of about six mocks, interrupted by the epidemic and peace celebrations, so that barely a month mill have been occupied with the legislative words. In April the House sat for five days, of which the first was taken up with the Governor-General’s Speech and the usual references to deceased members. Thus during the whole year Parliament will have actually devoted not more than about thirty clays to . the legislative, work of the Dominion. The times have, of course, been extraordinary. Ministers have necessarily had to devote most of their attention to mar and other matters closely connected with the war, and therefore have had little time to devote to domestic politics and affairs. Even some of the departments have had a great deal of their time taken up witlr work connected with the war and have had to neglect their ordinary work to some extent. No doubt this was to a great extent unavoidable, for the winning of the war was allimportant and nothing could be allowed to stand in the way of that. At the same time the country has had to suffer, and it is worth while considering whether much of the inconvenience and delay that has occurred might not have been obviated if there mere less centralisation of government in Wellington and local authorities mere endowed with greater powers than they possess under the present system. It may he retorted that as the war is over there is no need to hold an inquest of this kind. The war is over, it is true, but owing to the necessity for the Prime Minister and Sir Joseph Ward to go to England in connection with the Peace Conference a further interruption of the Legislature’s work, extending to fully four mouths, will take place, and when .the Ministers return their attention and that of the members of the House generally will be .largely taken up with the general election, which must take place before very long. There will be another session of the present Parliament, but the chances are that it will be a hurried one and that not much work will he done. If a new Parliament is elected in time to meet before the end of next year its first .session will, as is almost invariably the case, be a somewhat barren one. Therefore we may look to important business being again put off until 1920. As an illustration we may take the. passing of an Act to empower the New Plymouth Harbour Board to borrow for further improvements to the harbaur. Everything has been in readiness for some time past to commence the work immediately legislative sanction was given. There is a hare hope of a Bill being put through this session, and it is problematical whether the concluding session of this Parliament will give it the necessary attention. If not, then a work of vital importance to the whole provincial district will be-still further delayed.' Another case in point is the coastal

railway. Wc do not know whether it is intended to obtain Parliament’s authorisation of this before the House rises; if so, well and good. But we believe that if there had been power vested in a provincial assembly or a local body to undertake the work it would have been put in hand five years ago, and perhaps completed by this time and handed over to the Railway Department to administer. It may be objected that the construction of harbours and railways is a, matter upon wliicb a General Assembly should have a voiced that they are too big undertakings for local governing bodies to embark upon without the authority of a Dominion Legislature. That is a matter, however, upou which the localities and people most closely concerned are the best judges. New Plymouth can, with the approval of the ratepayers, borrow £40,000 to extend its electrical undertaking, without any reference to Parliament. It is quite properly a matter within the town’s own discretion. "Why, then, should not the harbour district be allowed to undertake a work of equal or more vital importance, and of no greater relative magnitude, without having to await the authority of the General Assembly? The Taranaki County can borrow, if the ratepayers approve, a large sum of money to make a road, without reference to the General Assembly. Why then should not the Taranaki and Egmout Counties be equally free to make a railway, which after all is only a superior road? There are reasons no doubt for placing limitations on localities undertaking works like these, | but the question is whether they outweigh the arguments in the opposite direction. The fact of the matter is that the present sys- - tern often places a great handicap upon the progressive spirit of localities and hampers development unnecessarily, and it is largely because the General Assembly cannot or will not give the time necessary to authorise such works. The war has accentuated this handicap and directed attention to it, and now that the war is over it is time to consider whether the General Assembly might not with advantage transfer much of its work to provincial assemblies