THE Thames Advertiser. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1882. THE UTILITY OF OUR PARLIAMENT.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XIV, Issue 4405, 1 September 1882, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1882. THE UTILITY OF OUR PARLIAMENT.

The House,.has now. commenced its! fourth month of session, and members appear to have made up their minds that they will not remain in Wellington longer than the end of next week. Most .people who are unacquainted with the usages' of our legislators, might imagine from this that the irn- : portant work of the- session had been 'completed, and that members were preparing to return to their homes -because they had no work to do. Whoever believes this is'very much mistaken indeed, as nothing can really be further from the fact. Till within the last couple of weelss very little business of any real moment has been disposed of. The rule so far has been , (To promise, pause, prepare, postpone And end by letting things alone; In short, to earn the people's pay By doing nothing every day.

A review of" the measures which have been introduced and dealt with during the past three months would amply demonstrate how truly these lines describe the proceedings which have taken place in Wellington in that I period. The cause of all this delay in public business, waste of public time, is not, we think, usually understood. The general impression to be that .the constant s'riving of the " outs" to become the " ins" is accountable rfor- all the trouble. No doubt much valuable time is lost every year through the over recurring noconfidence debates j, yet even these sometimes serve a good purpose—but the real source of the failure of Parliamentary institutions (tor failure they are proving) is to be found' in a different direction. Government by Parliament means essentially government,' by party; and, for the construction and I maintenance of parties, distinct, if, not opposing principles, are absolutely'neeessary to be held and contended for by each. In old-established countries like England these essentials may and do exist. The line which separates the party of progress from the rest-and-be-thankful party is pretty clearly defined, though of late years it is largely being obliterated; but in New Zealand, where a very different state of affairs exists, the dividing line between political parties is of such a faint character that it may be said to hardly exist at all. Indeed, the very fact that manhood suffrage is in operation will for ever most' effectually prevent there ever arising in this country a, necessity for raising the distinct party cries which,have for centuries formed the rallying points of two great sections of Englishmen; but, whether this be so or not, it must be admitted that the attempt to gove'rn.this colony by means of a nominated Governor, a nominated Upper House, and a 'representative Chamber of nearly one hundred members, is but a sorry burlesque uponthelmperial Legislature, and one which would afford amusement to contemplate if the expense of " plac ing" it was not so great, and the colonial issues dealt with byit soserious.' At the present* stage of the colony's history what appears to be mainly re. quired is not so much laws dealing with abstract questions, as facilities afforded and inducements offered, for the 'genuine settlement of the country, and because this fact is recognised by the electors, we have men sent to Parliament more with the object of obtaining grants of money or other concessions for their districts than f&r any other purpose. This almost entirely accounts for the apparently extraordinary scenes of "ratting" which take place in ' Wellington regu : larly each session. t Men go down full to the brim of great principles, fully expecting to find themselves ■ surrounded by a set of statesmen intent only upon the working put, upon defined lines, of the great political • questions upon which economists have written and orators preaohed; , instead of which, Jie 'discovers that he'has really beoome one of a sot of sohemers whose highest ambition appears to be the gaining of an advantage over his fellow members by securing, it may be, the passage of some bill for the aggrandisement of himself and friends, ov< the rolling of some log by which his constituents obtain' what but'too often is not their due at the expense of the colony; Now, while this condition of affairs is much to lis lamented, it is unreasonable to expect that anything much better can be obtained under our' present cirounvtances, .Our Parliament Ho\ise will'continue to be a great scrambling den until sucli time'as local and general finance shall have been separated. What inducement is there for a representative of a struggling district to give' his attention to large colonial subjerasWhen he knows that while he is fioing so his fellow-members are raking in all the spoil in the shape of'public works to their districts, and his is being left in the cold? And when he_ knows further that .his welcome on returning home will be very largely in accordance with the"weight of the bag he has secured for his constituents. Under the present system let a representative be ever so able, ever so honest, his chances of 1 retaining popularity or his seat, altogether depend upon his ability to fleece the public Treasury for the benefit of those who elected him. Our present system of Government cannot be a'success so long as a central body has the disposal of largo,sumo of money for expenditure Upon petty local wants; and no reform in Parliamentary procedure-can ouro the evil so loudly complained of that tho sessions of the Legislature are yearly becoming more and more useless for honest legislation, That things can be allowed to go on much longer as at present is not possible. They have now reached that pass that an alteration is inevitable; but whether the change which must come will be of & drastic or'a mild nature it is hard at present to judge. One thing, however, may be'relied upon aa certain, that tho

colony will not much longer submit to _ the expenditure of such enormous sums yearly in the support of an institution,: yielding such poor results as our present Parliament.