The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1908. STATE PARLIAMENTS AT HOME.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13608, 30 May 1908, Page 5

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1908. STATE PARLIAMENTS AT HOME.

life are glad to otwerve that on* of out Christchureh eontemfiomiea which has lieett a consistent opponent of tfotne Rut-' for kelaml Lh beginning tu show signs ol wavering In its opposition, and of eonnng roulid to the +« inr we expeessed that the proper conduct of the national business in the United Kingdom demands the cieation. of separate parhameßts to. attend tft the purely domestic affairs of the different tneavbeiu .»f the ' I't&n. dor contemporary confess-» "h.'t •'iris- difficult to *'V how the House .d Commors can go on' mwh Inngvr try it*: to 'combine eonts«l oE ihe local atfa»rs of England. . Tre!#h»l. and Scotland. ' with of "defence questions. ?" affair:* and -Imperial relation*." it » i; -" elude* that- "the result "of the present systtm »* that'nothing is stopervL«*d proand iU finds the remedy for this* gminenttf ttrmt ! Sf(tci:OTy" erind'tlion of government in decentralisation. which, as it admits. "must be faced sooner or later." Th*' occasion for these remarks' was th • reEOsal of the House »»f Commons to grant leave for the introduction ;.y » •private memiber o! » BBC for the establishment of » legislative body in Scotland. The promoter of the Bill '.Mr * Pirie (dedftred tb;<f the Hottse of Commons "acted as u mitLston** to Svottfit national development." and h- propceed to improve toaktet* by the creal ot» isf a "Stfots Parliament." which should have power Bw make laws for Scotland winh wsjpeefc to th** following;: 'ffe. estaMfe»htnettt ' ahd tenore of executive »n«t adminiattative offices, and ths v appointment and payment of executive and. administrative officers: local goveinment and municipal instifcatioiis. public hettlth, ctimioal. law. the admiDistTation of justice, police, prisocs. marriage, divorce. and education, hospitals', chariiiss, and asylams., lunacy, iaiiw»ys. "fisheries, canalst. and harbours; also with the holding, acquisition, disposition, and descent-" of land, the Ijegnbtion of.labour in facto-: rie«t and mines, the acquisition by any -pub lie authority of any property on jjnsc terms from nftT petsioit - for amy "patpos# in *espect. of" which the Parliament, has power, to'make law*: the regulation of trade its. intoxicating liqocTi.- hint- not so us to, . iactnde the power to impcee any duty or tact on the-'Sale of stioh liquorsj the Church, as by law established, and its endowments.

lo other word.*, Mr Pirie is desirous* ♦>[ introducing in the I'nitftl Kingdom a variation of the system which obtains m Australia, where~there are State parliaments to control the local affairs of the. constituents of the- Commonwealth. _ and a Federal Parliament to attend ««> tb-** national concerns of the Continent. Even in New Zealand, where we have a. small population. and an extremely comprehensive systems of local government, we have occasional instance of thte- inconvenience of having to #abmtt matter* »>f purely local motnent to ;v legislative body which: has no personal acquaintance with them. The position would b;> infinitely worse in Australia, where the- extent of tlie coun-. * trv, ami the variety of climate and conditions would render it practically impossible to cotlect.a parliament suineienttv versatile to legislate satisfactorily for every part of it. This recognised, When the Constitution .Act wbeljr retained the local tegisdntutes for th.- various States. It is ttue- that the Hou-e of 'Commons, as a purely British assembly, has not to deal with the magnificen; distance* which obtain in Australia, bat on the other hand, as an Imperial parliament, it is the custodian of interests much more widelv diverse- than those entrusted fch the- Federal parliament. The' enormous area of its deliberations is succin,!} described in a quotation fs»>ui Mr Sidney I iOW - given by our Chtistchttrrli ti>nt»mporary. "The members ol! th< House nf Common.*, in their carnal hours of comparative teisur®. w he writes. 4 "are expected to discu.»i» the high policy of an Empire greater than that »f Alexander. Charlemagne, and Napoleon Buonaparte, taken together. From a" famtft. in Asia, a campaign in Afnca. tlu-y turn to a row with the polite' in Ireland'. .* squabble with the Post Office in London. 'The men who on Monday, afternoon are holding in the"' hands tfw- issbes of jpfcwe and war. and pronouncing a d-ecmon that may change the course of histoty. may on luesd.vy be dividing over tramways in Caunberwell or in Giavesend." It b obvious fe the mean♦ut intelligence that tke House of Commons t» struggling under a hopeless burden, as it is only -the most inveterate bias* that can delay tlie necessary reform ol local parliaments. i« the plea that the Irish demand is demand of disloyalists whose object is- the dismemberment of the Umpire. Their claim is the same as has* been made for Scotland by the present Lord Advocate, who declared that '-Scottish legislation ought t» go forward at a Scottish pace, and we -hootd not be compelled 'to mark time -with; English advances." - We could wish that the Nationalists, both in Parliament and ottt of it; would Use more of the argument thiit Home Rat** would, vuntfy increase the efficiency of the legislative ' machine, and less, of the persistent accusations that are mpde of English injustice to Ireland, for. we believe that by doing so t&ey would' hasten the reform' Which is bound to come-, and which, as we have said, is beginning to overcome the opposition of its enemies even it> this cotintry.