The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1907. A BIG ORDER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13435, 6 November 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1907. A BIG ORDER.

Business 'will .have to »u>v« along in Parliament with lightning velocity if tin* Premier . is to carry through the piogramme he laid before the House yesterday afternoon, and Gti'.l make good his proniiise t.liat the prorogation ehoukl take •place a fortnight hence. It is probably quite true that many of the* measures l which figure on Sir Joseph's list, are noucontentious to be tolerably certain of an easy passage, .though the most ' harmless-looking Bill occasionally gives rise, to a prolonged and acrimonious discussion which uppe!t«' thb plans of uie most- skilful arid far-swing parliamentarian . But even gra\itin& the Premier a liberal allowance of practically formal business in the long .schedule of work whicli he asks the legislature to push through by the '2oth of- thus month, wa cannot admit that it m rtt all possible to cram into 'tlie iriSxt fortnight adequate consideration of • tlie Government's proposals for the suppression of gambling, for the. prevention of "unreasonablyhigh" prices in the wheat and flour market, • « for tfoei .introduction ,of a new system of industrial litigation, for tlio ctyswiiieation of. several important, branches of the, civil cervice, and for tho institution' of a , general: superannuation, .echema.' • for the employees of this Htate. ' Tho slightest reflection will convince any sensible person that the House could not hope to \ master./tiliese intricate questions in a. fortnight, and legislate 'upon them satisfactorily, even if it were abfe to give ( them ita undivided attention. But on top of them- it has .to deal with the Public Works Statement and Estimates- —which to the average politician who depends for his election upon his skill in getting ■ pickings for his constituency, is the most important document of the parliamentary year. Buit. passing over the ordinary member whcee -genius dtoer. not visa above grants for roads ' and' bridges, t-hero is room in the Public Works debate for the exercise, of all tho ,statesmanship, the House may possess. The country aland® urgently in need of a. new and beitter system of public works expenditure which will do away \vith ,the farce of men voting sums (aggregating a lruga total for works of whose very situation mfcst of them ; tire in profound ignorance*. Tho late Mr Seddon himself had come to recognise the evils of the present system, and in his last Financial Statement advocated the removal from tho House of most of the items which opjic-ar on tli'c Public Tories Estimates. We havn little doubt that if time were available, M.i\ Mtutsqr and some of hie followers have a I good dteal of .trenchant criticism to pass upon Ilia ridiculous and extravagant fitvle on which the colony now earriA out its public works,- and that they would', also bo able to offer a better substitute for what they condemned. But how will it be possible to do jusitko •(« thin qtuition if the Government persist in driving the House along at the pace indicated by the Premier in ' the statement he muds yesterday afternoon ? What a contract we have between the congestion of tho last fortnight and the unpreparedneiss of the Government during the first ' two months of the session, when members had little to do. but twiddle their thumbs in spite of the repeated Ministerial assurances'given before Parliament, was called together that the Government Inimess was ready for tlie House to handle tiH soon as it met. We aia quite.' willing to admit that Minis'.ws have accomplished a creditable performance in putting through their new-tariff and their trinity of Land Bills in a single session, but we look for nothing but faulty legislation if the list of Bills enumerated by the Pre-, misr yesterday i? hurried through in a. fortnight. A perusal «f .-e list impresses one with th-a frequency of amending Bills needed to set right the follies of-past sessions, but it will not bo d'angci'ous to prophecy that this year will not be behind its predecessors in, its crop of mistakes.

wealth by Xev,- Zealand horses, t]i :• in est. notable that comer. to meiw.-ry <-ti th.* instant being the fumm:* vi-.-to: ie-, ■>: the mighty Carbine. When this i"ivar. horsv won the Champion '.'■• Takes in 1889, the Melbourne Cup in IS9O. and again tlu> Champion Stakes x in 1831, he was mvne.l by that foremoct. Australian sportsman Mr' D. S. Wallace. Then again, the highly creditable successes of Mr G-. G. Stead with his powerful suing of th<>loughbreds-. übi.ut two veal's ago. iti Xew r-outh Wales. showed sportsmen acrcea the Ta.-aian S.:i that in the chief weigh;for age races at all ■♦•vents. Xew Zialand-<-r.-; ir.uhl mor-.- than hold thvir own against the pick of the Australian thoroughbreds. yesterdays v..>

ti>ry. however, puts all pi .'vism:. record* in the shade, for the Melbourne Cup "f 1907 was won by a horse bred in NT-.w Zealand and. own rd by Mr R. A. Oleia-rt, a Xew Zealand sportsman. 'Apologue that. saw the light in ;h<- paddocks. :.t Auckland. ami though his tunning in Uie. Caulfield Cup a week or two ago disappointed many admirers. Ids great '.via yesterday will be a theme of admir i -ion and "a topic for match rejoicing whoever good sportij of tlui Dominion are gather d together; It is certainly a record '.hat will long In?, admiringly ,1-cferred to: ::ntV for the ]>r:-r.eiiL. is a eiowning•' tiiampii for- tilto thoroughbteJ horser. of X««w * Zeiiland.