HOME RULE.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1785, 20 June 1895, Page 4

HOME RULE.

i J A/NEW AKGUMENTiIn a paper inthe Contemporary, designated" The Sulseof Parliament, 1 ' Mr T. A^'Spaldittg marshals the results of k laborious "analysis of the whole of thj? legislatioii of the Parliaments •of thfe United Kingdomfrom 1801 to 1890, shoeing the proportion of federal to Stateb legislation^" The /following are some of hisconolusioris'i'— i- j t i : : , t :i "WE ABE IN SPIRIT A FEBERATIOX." i The prevailing* opinion is that 1 Parliament is for the r*nost part engaged m : legislating for the whole of <the United Kingdom, ancb'th'at' only occasionally is itfforeecl toQegislate separately for one or other^f its constituent parts. But this , impression is entirely erroneous. . . ; . The' remarkable fact remains that since 1800 less than one-third of the total legislation has been legislation which affected the. whole of the kingdom,. or the empire; the remainder has beenlegislation which affected only one orrotherof its constituent portions. Speaking broadly, if our Government had been federal, onethird might have been transacted by the JFfederaK Parliament, the 'remaining two-thirds ; might have been dealt with m unequal proportions by local legislatures •' > . . ■■: Since 1820 :tlve progress of England m the gradual monopoly of legislation is enormous. "'She recedes occasionally, but only po take, a greater spring upwardsj The other I ; States ' make a slight recovery at times; "but 6hly to lose more ground m the end. And as we approach nearer to the present day, the more persistent is the rise of England and the. decline of the rest of ; the. States: . .' .. . - * : The evidence poiiits.to the conclusion that at same period after 1850, probably between 1851-70, Parliament became unable, from sheer pressure of work, to effect all the legislation which was deißfanded'of ft; arid .that result was chiefly due to the increased need 'for State as opposed to -federal legislation . In other words, during the last forty years the presumption that' an Imperial Parliament would, be capable .of , transacting all*sie business o$ the States^r-a piesumption which was indisputable at the date of the union of Scotland with England, and which seemed plausible at the date of the union with Ireland — has

been. • disproved,,., . The^remodelling pf the'- 'Constitution, w'hielnvas 'effected m iIBOO, "has," 'from;. tile pfrilit.of" View "of 'legislative efficiency, broken: down. ; The .true and , Qnl# j V ieojistitutional ." !remedy is to r.ecoguis.e; ( -the facts, and to deal with them. in a straightforward .manner I „a4)»i,tYtha.t; we\.ar,e m |a spirit of federation, that the federative itendency is growing, njoiu4e.crea:sing, 'that the attempt to conduct a really {federative sjßtem*und£r li the.> vSirnulation of unity has been always disadyantageous v .so. fatiasvlegislation is s concerned, to the weaker members p.f ' the union, and that recently-,, (Owing to the ipressure of parliamentary business, it hasbeen disadvsnfiagop.HS t e,ven the ! ' ' predominant partner."