THE STATE OF THE SESSION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 979, 21 November 1910, Page 4

THE STATE OF THE SESSION.

Despite the fact that the. Government desires, or professes to desire, that nearly forty more Bills should be passed into law, there. is every prospect that the. session will end a fortnight hence at the latest. In addition to all these Bills there are several. other important pieces of work to be transacted—the consideration of the report of the Committee upon Mr. Hine's charges, the passage of tho Public Works Estimates and the Supplementary Estimates, and the discussion upon the position of New Zealand's delegate at tho Imperial Conference next year. Since he took office as Prime Minister, Sib Joseph Ward has never showed to less advantage than during the past four and a half months. His Government's credit was falling rapidly when the session began: it has continued to fall rapidly and plainly for all men to see.- The four largest questions that were to be dealt with this session were: Land, gaming, licensing, and local government. As we predicted, we have seen' nothing of any Local Government Bill: tho Government has not, never has had, any policy on this important subject beyond the desire to steal away, little by little, tho powers of local bodies. Few people believed that a Land Bill would be passed. When the Bill appeared, with all its injustico, it became plain that a Land Bill was never intended to bo passed. The character and the wretched history of this short-lived moasuro throw a searching light upon the character of- the Government. Taken in conjunction with its fresh hcaping-up of taxation, its huge borrowing, and its water-power proposals, tho Government's behaviour on the land question indicates plainly that the Prime'Ministee realises at last that public opinion is against him. Hardly less ignominious was the treatment of the licensing question. That Ministers should have introduced a "Bill containing a clause providing for a dual issue on one voting paper emphasises tho degree to which the Government is out of touch with public opinion. The Pkime Minister's Budden and complete somer-

sault on the two most vital points of the Bill was an index of his readiness to do anything to avoid disaster. As for the Gaming Bill, the present situation is the fitting sequel to the extraordinary delay and jugglery connected with its introduction. The Bill is not yet law, and even now Parliament and the country may find themselves tricked over the bookmaker clauses. When we remember the tactics that enabled the Second Ballot Bill to pass, we cannot help thinking that the Legislative Council's amendments were designed either to provido a loophole for the bookmaker, or to provide room for such disagreements between the two Chambers in the last days of the session as to secure the loss of the wholo measure. Perhaps we may dismiss as hopeless the prospect that the Prime Minister may redeem his promise to afford proper facilities for a discussion of the subjects that arc to bo raised by our delegate at the Imperial Conference. The great advantage to the Ministry in the haste and cdnfusion of the end of the session is' the inability of the public to keep up with the rush of events. To ■ meet the Government's driving tactics, the best plan is for the Opposition to decide upon half a dozen of the most important points and concentrate their "attention upon these. If the public interest is again to be sacrificed by the Prime Minister in connection with his visit to England next year, let it at any rate be sacrificed to the accompaniment of a steady flood of light upon the Government's methods.