The Dominion. MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1910. THE PAST SESSION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 991, 5 December 1910, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1910. THE PAST SESSION.

E " 7* ir Few people will be sorry that the ,s session has ended, but nobody will be less sorry than the Prime Minister. !• Although he has succeeded in foln lowing the established rule—a dull t and costly waste of time ending with ■ t a mad rush of Bills—it is quite t the least satisfactory session, from h his party's point of view, that the i. public has witnessed since he took e office. He will shortly be telling us, !■ no doubt, that the. session is one to 0 proud of and that it has been rich s in splendid laws of the first importf anoe. We do not suppose he will . claim that it is evidence of the vital--1 ity of "Liberal policy," for he cant' not venture to hope that anybody is ignorant that the Statute-Book is • nothing like the Statuto-Book that _ was- promised in the Governor's _ Speech or that was expected by him . when he met the House. There is little that he can look back upon ! with any real pleasure. Tasks set . and shirked, policies propounded and withdrawn,- heavy borrowing 3 authorised and carried out with " doubtful success, further taxation imposed on an already ncedlesslyi burdened community, alternate pet- • tings and bhidgeonings of rebellious followers, many rebuffs on divisions,, Bills revorsed in a panic at tho last moment—these are tho things which the Prime Minister must see as tho sessional record, sinco it is these things which the public will remember, and remember as somo of the things necessary to the maintenance of the Government in office and to tho production of its annual volume of heterogeneous statutes. The outstanding feature of tho session is the combination of heavy loan authorisations and increased taxation. Tho Government's well-tried resources of wrigglo and bluff can do much, but they cannot do evcryr thing; and they cannot persuade the average citizen that enormous new borrowing and heavy new taxation are anything but proofs of the manner in which this productive and for-tunately-situated community is misgoverned. The non-appearance of the Local Government Bill has surprised nobody, and would not be worth noting_ wore it not .that wherever the Ministry's Bills touched tho general problem of local government, it was to place fetters upon tho local authorities and to make local administration a function of the central Executivo. Tho municipalities—the city of Wellington,' at any ratemay bo trusted to mark in a suitable manner at tho proper time thoir indignation at the Tramways Act that the Government forced upon tho country by sheer fcrrco of numbers. As for tho withdrawal of the Land Bill, we think that tho Government's behaviour is less significant of its lack of policy or principle ujjon this question than of the direction in ; which, when it does venture to'mako a show of moving, it almost instinctively inclines. That- Bill definitely identified the Government with the policy o£ confiscation. Of the more important measures, there are only three for which wo can feel any real : gratitude—namely, those relating to gaming, defence, and municipal cor- j porations. There is a serious blot , on tho second of those which defers j its efficient working for somo years, | and tho first is satisfactory only through the vigilance of tho press. , Tho National Provident Fund, Act j and the Commercial Trusts Act are good in principle and intention, but their success depends upon the administration of them and the pub- ! lie's towards them. The '• new Libel Law not only is of doubtful quality in some respects, but was i poisoned at the last moment by the i introduction of a clause which even ( the Government's friends have begun to condemn. Tho new Licensing Act -j reflects no credit upon anybody, and least of all upon tho Government, < which abandoned, its principal propostfl between tho second reading < and Committee stages. In the minor i measures there aro some useful i amendments of the law. Perhaps wo should not leave unnoticed tho joke of tho session—the Public Debt Extinction Act. It is sufficient to say r of it that it utterly failed in its r sole object, which was to soften the s shock of tho hugest loan raised n within the memory of most of us. n ' The most striking feature of the t session was of course the vindication a of Mr.' Hike, who proved to tho a public, as well as to Sir Joseph h Ward's selected jury, the majority a of his charges. Outside' the little t knot of Mr. Hine's local enemies, s there will be few who will not agreo o that he has done a great public ser- v vice in exposing a corner of tho do- w cayod political morals which have o thriven under the "Liberal" regime, a It is only ono stone of which he has tl exposed tho festering under-side, w but the public is likely to develop an a interest in clean politics that can- ti not but have a good result. And g when, as will one day happen, the t< inner workings of the Liberal Ad- 1 ministration during twenty years h arc laid bare, tho public of that day Ii will see matter for both admiration Jv and wonder in Mr. Hink's achieve- q mcnt. Upon tho whole, the session, tl although" from some points of view cr discreditable to Parliament, has had tl its uses. It has served to reveal the m weaknesses of tho Ministry and of ei tho Government party—tho lack of w principle in tlic_ Government, its t\ readiness to cai its words and for- lc sv/ear its pledges, its naked anxiety tl to stick at nothing, in the way cither ti of injustice or acute ignominy, that pi will assist it to retain office, They m Are .vflstlj. fewer to-day. than • oven fci

in Juno last who believe for a moment that the interests of the .country aro tho first consideration of tho Government, who doubt for -a- moment that tho maintenance of office, is its policy first, iast and all tho time.