The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 1010. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 855, 29 June 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 1010. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.

At the present time New Zealand is probably the only British country in which the Governor's Speech at the opening of a Parliamentary session is little more than an empty formality, defiant of the traditions of British Parliamentary government. We doubt if anyone speculated seriously as to what yesterday's Speech might be expected to contain; very few expected to find in it either light, or instruction. Nobody, therefore, will bo disappointed by its freedom from interest in any of those particulars in which, the Speech from the Throne is in other colonies expected to bo interesting. It is really interesting to students of politics only for the exactitude with which it reflects tho spirit of the Government, and especially tho spirit of the Pkiaie Minister—the spirit, that is to say, of vagueness and of equivocation, the spirit of a Government that shrinks from coming out boldly with any definite stiituiimiit of policy. Arch-opportunist though ho was, Mr. Seddon allowed his courage and originality to creep into his Governor's Speeches; for the sharp cj'm there was always a hidden surprise, to be found in Seddon's day. His successor, inheriting his leader's opportunism without his ideas and his subtlety, does not dare, apparently, to trust himself to say anything new or definite. . So it results that the long Speech with which tho session was opened yesterday has no positive interest at all. So far as it refers to impending legislation, it is for the most part a guarded summary of the Win ton speech; so far as it refers to the legislation and administration of the past year it is remarkable only for; the cheerful brazonness of its mis-statements and unwarranted implications. We are told, for example, that "it is gratifying to recognise the \continued and marked improvement which is evinced in the public finances." The continued and marked improvement is displayed by such administrative extravagance as has reduced the excess of revenue over expenditure in the Consolidated Fund from over a million aud a half in the biennium ended March 31, 1908, to a little over half a million in the biennium ended March HI, 1910! This extraordinary result, or "improvement," as the Government would have it, is not, as one would like to be tho case., due to a vigorous attempt to reduce taxation, but to a vigorous policy of wasting the increasing revenue. His Excellency is also made to imply that joy and harmony have attended the working of the State-Guaranteed Advances Act, and to father the astounding statement that "the savings contemplated" by tho retrenchment scheme "'will be substantially realised"-

and this although, .as wo have shown, there was no real retrenchment, but a large real increase in the actual cost of the Departments! It will therefore be almost without surprise, and without either joy or sorrow, that the public will read tho two words we venture to italicise in the assurance that the, Estimates "have, as usual, been framed with a due regard to efficiency and economy." These, however,, are minor points, though very full of significance. There is nothing in tho Speech to indicate the character of the proposals which are to bo brought down dealing with such matters of major importance as defence, local government, trust restriction, prison government, and waterpower. That w_as not to be expected. But it is impossible to say which, if any, of these subjects are to be tackled with serious intentions.

Parliament and the public are told no more about tho local government scheme which has been promised for many years than that "proposals will be submitted"; and there is the same bald refusal to give even a hint of intention with respect to all the other Bills that will bo produced "in due course." Some of the Ministers are accustomed to say we ought to copy Mr. LloydGeoroe's! Budget proposals. It would be much more to the point i f they were to copy the usual frankness and decision of British statesmen in announcing tk-iv intentions. But before they could do that, of course, they would require to copy the British model in a more fundamental particular: they would require to have a policy, or, which is the same thing, to proceed on a basis of principle. If, however, the blankness of the Speech in respeot of the measures we have named is inexcusable, what arc we to say of tho manner in which the promise ia given of legislation in amendment of the Gaming Act and tho Grown Suits Act? This promise is contained in the inclusion of the words "gaming" and "Crown suits" in a concluding paragraph giving a long list of subjects to bo dealt with. Wo supposo that tho appearance of tho word "gaming" is the Government's obedience to that stinging censure of the Spielers Encouragement Act for which the whole country is applauding Mil. Justice ChapMa)). We suppose so, we say, but nobody knows what this " Government which legalised the bookmaker intends. Do they mean to abolish the lotalisator, to revert to the law as it etood in 1006, or to surrender their proltrjrs to the whip of public disapproval 1 And is the reference to the Crown Suits Act indicative of a recognition of the universal indignation of the public at the cruel and unconstitutional use that the Government has mado of an antiquated statute , ! As to the Land Bill, it need hardly be said that the undefined "amendments" of last year's measure have not teen do-, cided upon: the Government must discover how the wind blows before it decides what it believes in.