The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1907. THE GOVERNMENT'S PROGRAMME.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 36, 6 November 1907, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1907. THE GOVERNMENT'S PROGRAMME.

No more ironical commentary upon the preposterous'programme announced by tlie Premier yesterday afternoon could have been devised than the immediate turning of the legislative machinery of the House of Representatives to' the most' ridiculous piece of fussy, triviality' that has, occupied Parliament for some years. If it were not perfectly obvious that the! Premier has not the slightest expectation of placing,upon the; Statute Pook before November 20 the overpowering mass 6f legislation which he catalogued yesterday, his reputation as a sensible person would be seriously' injured. Why, then, did he make the absurd' pretence of believing that he can, in two weeks, pass into law a, legislative programme as great in bulk, and,' possibly, as great in the sum of its contentiousness, as the business already .dealt with during the past four months? The 'answer must 'be that, by setting his expectations grotesquely high, he hopes to soften the House into passing more Bills than, it would be inclined to pass if it were'presented with a programme of dimensions suitable' to a fortnight's discussion. With' the exception of Ihe Harbours Bill, every one of the forty odd measures , mentioned by the Premier was put forward as a Bill which the Government expected to pass, i d which the House'might see its way to accept. No doubt many of these Bills arc free enough of contentious' ingredients to give the House little trouble, but the contentious section of the programme is manifestly large enough to demand far more than two weeks for itself alone. The Premier admitted 'to this section the measures relating to Native land, gambling, the flour duty, the tramways, the civil service superannuation scheme, and ; the proposed wages boards. Some of these measures are still in the hands of Select Committees, and there will therefore be less than a day available for the consideration of each,one of .them when allowance is made foir the measures of smaller importance. We foresaw as long ago as October lfl that this year would see repeated the annual scandal of Parliament—the end of the session rush. Since that date only two of the large measures have been got rid of. Exactly wtait the. Government should do now is difficult to'determine. The wisest course, probably, would be to drop all but the measures which can, without discredit to Parliament, be safely despatched in a couple of weeks' more work. Should the Government persist in its intention to force the more important of the contentious measures upon the country at high speed, the public will naturally suspect that this session, likfe many previous ones, has been stretched to its abnormal length with the deliberate purpose of wearing out members, and thus securing their quiescence in the Government's programme. The Premier stated yesterday that nothing will be done to limit freedom .of discussion, for which, perhaps, we should bo thankful, but not, even Ministerial geniality and courtesy can give to eleven days the spaciousness of the three months properly required for the programme which was announced yesterday. In addition to the passing of Bills, the business, ahead of Parliament includes (lie debate on the Public Works Statement and Estimates, and the consideration of the Supplementary Estimates. Everything, in fact,'points to the perpetuation by the Premier of the bad methods of the past, decade of legislation. . We expect that the next fortnight will witness a remarkable cessation of the garrulity of Ministerialists, and the substitution, for their obstructive tactics in connection with the

Meikle Bill, of a quiesccnce equally culpable. Upon (he Opposition, as usual, will devolve the duty of doing whatever is possible to prevent' the hurried enactment of measures of the highest importance. Legislation by exhaustion is plainly not yet rendered obsolete by the Ministry which announced itself as the pioneer of principle and business-like methods.