The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, OCT. 30, 1894.

Waikato Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 3485, 30 October 1894, Page 6

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, OCT. 30, 1894.

Equal and exact justice to all men, ; , ' i' Of whatsoever state on persuasiofl. teligious or political.. ■

Parliament ,is prorogued after during the expired; session adding about one hundred , Acts to the Statute' Book.: We, have during the progress of the session commented upon the measures which in.our opinion were of sufficient importance to call for notice at our hands, it is unnecessary that we shall; go over the ground again. In accordance with custom the third reading of the Appropriation Bill was utilized by the leaders of parties and Ministers to review the work of the session. This generally leads. to an interesting debate as it places before the public the opinions of those who have the best means of judging of the work done and of the manner in which it has been performed. In this instance the duty of criticism fell primarly upon Capt. Russell,,who leads the Opposition; ;The first charge against the Ministerial party which he makes is that Bills were forced upon the House which had not been. properly , prepared or understood by Ministers themselves, and that Government supporters gave no assistance to the Opposition in their endeavour to improve, these Bills and make them more acceptable to the country. These are grave charges, but the latter is incidental to party government, with an overwhelming and strictly disciplined majority behind Ministers. The former implies incapacity for office, and Capt. B-ussell makes it clear that this was his meaning by characterising the policy of Ministers

as being " bounce, bluster, borrowing, bribery and abuse." What a picture of Parliamentary government is this l If only partially true the general impression is confirmed that our Parliament has fallen many degrees from the high pinnacle of excellence upon which all critics acknowledged that it once stood. Imagine the Premier's mode of ad dressing the House in past clays resembling " the roaring of the bulls of Bashan." So Capt. Russell describes that ot Mr Seddon. The appointment of theSergeant-at-Arms and the Pomahaka purchase are alluded to and there can be no other opinion than that of Oapt. Russell, that the one was a deliberate infringement of an Act and the other a reckless spending of public money. We have during the progress of the session protested against the large sums of money at the uncontrolled disposal of the Government, and although we accept some of Oapt. Russell's statements with reservation we are absolutely in accord with him in thinking that a vicious policy has been entered upon and thatParliament has sorely failed.in its. principal function of safeguarding the finances of the country. Without imputing to the Ministry that! they will use their discretion for' the purchase of political support, we maintain most emphatically that neither they nor,any other/Ministry should be afforded a like opportunity. Mr Reeves, in replying, defended the Pomahaka purchase, and pointed out that the rapid manner in which the land was being taken up evidenced that the price was not excessive, he should have stopped there, and not alluded, to the Polhill gully purchase as rendering the criticism of Captain Russell a matter of indifference to Ministers. Any dabbler with colours or logic could instruct him that.'' two /blacks do not make white." He claimed for the Ministry that they had reformed the system of taxation and land settlement and. had carried out more labour legislation than any party in any country arid these with the addition .of the Advance to Settlers Bill, Industrial Conciliation Bill and the Land for Settle: ment Bill were good work for any session. Therein a very large section of the paople who ,will agree with us in thinking that these emunerated Bills are its worst features. Sir R. Stout followed with the charge that not a single measure had been passed which would improve the social life of the people, and charged the. Ministry with not having attempted to pass the Licensing Bill which would have been a step in this direction. He also traversed Mr, Reeves' statement as to the benefit of the new standing orders which were supposed to prevent waste of time and... twitted . him . .with t ,having for aji single sentence that would be. .retained in the minds of members., This was but as the compiier of the bief passably well the sting ' of the . assertion is its truth. Mr Seddon defended the Government in reference to the Licensing Bill:'and accused Sir Robert of having delayed the measure and thus been contributory to its .not passing. If the same circumstances arose <with regard to the Sergeant-at-Arms he would act as he had done. This implies that political support and obedience, to orders will always be rewarded by the present Premier at any cost, even if the circumventing of an act be involved. Bad political morality this. He claimed that, they had done a • good deal tor labour by promoting settlement, and employment in road making into the bush. He accounted for the exodus of i population to the attractions -of Colgardie, The policy of - putting men on the land and making roads would stop the exodus, Mr Buchanan who followed the Premier predicted that no more banquets awaited him in the country and asserted that confidence was . utterly destroyed in the country, and that he had initiated an era of borrowing which would certainly lead to. increased taxation of the people. He twitted him with having denounced the Atkinson Government for allowing people to leave the colony for Australia, and pointed out that at that time the different Governments were spending many, millions on public works. It ap-

pears to us that the Opposition had the best of the argument, andif Mr McKenzie is right the Government ordered their supporters to absent themselves from the Chamber in order that they should not be skaken in their allegiance. It must be remembered, however, that the Opposition could choose the weak spots. For our part we are glad that the session' is over, the country knows what it has to face in the shape of coercive legislation, and we are free for twelve months from the danger of some more of Mr Reeve's measures being sprung upon us. The main reason for regret is. that so much money has passed out of the control of Parliament without having been voted for specific work catalogued in so -1 clear a manner that mistake as to the intention of Parliament would be impossible.