NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1872, 4 October 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The provisions of the Land Bill as explained to the House of Representatives lant ovening by tho Prime Minister eovor a very wide range of ground and indicate fcho determination of the Reform Government to press forward as speedily aB possible with tho task of popularising settlement on.the land. Almost every clasg of land settlement is dealt with under the Bill, and tho wholo purpose running through it is to provide facilities for thoso desirous of going on the land, and to encourage those already there, and the settlers of the future, to make their holdinp as productive as possible, Wo jiavii already, explained tlw jorovi-

sions of tho Bill designed to bring about the subdivision of large estates and to prevent reaggrcgation. It is a difficult thing to give effect to tho latter aim without prejudicing the value of holdings for borrowing purposes, but an earnest attempt ib made to deal with this most important question, and timo alone will prove whether or not it will bo necessary to modify tho stringent limitations embodied in the Bill. Settler? on Land for Settlement lands are to he given the right of acquiring the freehold of their holdings at an actuarial valuation which should provo satisfactory to all parties; and holders of small grazing runs are specially encouraged to maintain tho standard of productiveness of their holdings by a new provision which entitles them to claim compensation for improvements. Special consideration is also shown to backblocks settlers in the way of roading expenditure, add there are man minor provisions all tending to encourage settlement and hearten the settler. Tho Bill marks a material advance on the existing land laws, and there. are very few members of tho House who will venture to oppose Its main provisions.

The Anti-Reform Party In tho House of Representatives wore responsible yesterday afternoon for further waste of the time of Parliament and tho money of tho long-suf-fering taxpayer. It is usual about this stage of the session for Monday sittings to commence, and a motion in this direction was brought forward by the Prime Minister. The Opposition protested, as usual, and started a long and weary debate which lasted nearly tho whole afternoon. Everything worth sayine could easily have ». been compressed into half an hour, but tho intention of tho Anti-Reformers is to wasto as much time as possible in the hope of preventing tho Government from giving legislative effect to its policy. One after another they got up and said tho same thing over and over again in a pitifully feeble attempt to justify their disinclination to pet on with the country's business, which they were sent to Parliamont to do. It was all, of course, a put-up game to delay the work of tho Ecssion. Their tactics are evidently to make use of every opportunity that arises for preventing progress. They want the session to be as barren as possible. The Prime Minister and his followers, however, have made it quite clear that thoy are determined not to close down until tho necessary work is dono. -Tho. obstructive methods of the Opposition aro bad tactics from their own point of view, because they indicate a lack of responsibility and an unconcern for tho public iijtorest which the electors cannot fail to, note. Moreover, they must bring Parliamentary procedure into disrepute, and are liable to lead to undignified exhibitions such as those which have recently characterised tho proceedings of the Australian Federal Parliament. One may excuse an Opposition for putting up a big fight when some great principle is at stake, and for exercising the fullest liberty of criticism, but Sir Joseph Ward and his followers simply wasted tho wholo of yesterday afternoon, as they have wasted timo on many occasions of late, without serving any good purpose. When tho voto was eventually taken yesterday the Prime Minister's motion was carried by a majority of 38 to 28." A majority for the Government in excess of that which it can ordinarily look forward fro. Plainly some of the members opposed to the Government on general questions of policy aro out 01 sympathy with their colleagues in the obstruction tactics which have of late characterised the conduct of the- Opposition.

It is fco be feared that Sir Jobeph Ward has little heart in tho task he has undertaken of welding together the disunited elements which constitute tho present Opposition. His speech last evening on tho Land Bill was pathetically weak as a criticism of tho Government's jDroposals, and it was obvious from his halting and confused generalisations that ho had given little study to the measure. It would have been much more to' the advantage of the party had he permitted ono of his followers, Mr. Mac Donald, for instanco, to load off in reply to Mr. Mabsey. Still it must ne said for Sir Joseph Ward that he got down from tho fence on which he has perched precariously for so long and ranged himself on the side of the freehold. Ho stated that ho had long ago declared himself in favour of tho optional tenure, but we fear he suffered a lapse of memory on this point if ho means that ho has on any previous occasion openly declared himself -in support of Crown leaseholders being given tho right,to tho freehold. All that ho has declared himself in favour of in tho past has been tho right of those who took up land under tinoptional tenure to obtain tho freehold, a right which they already held, and which, seeing that his Government put up as little land as possible under that tenure, does not count for,very much. However, no ono, except perhaps his own post rabid leasehold followers, is likely to quarrel with him for having plucked up -courago to at last declaro himself definitely in favour of the form of tenure which the Reform Party has fought to obtain for so many years. It is a little pathetic to hear Sir Joseph Ward now declaring that tho solution of the land question is tho optional system backed by a penal graduated tax and a penal clauso dealing with aggregation. Why is it that he did not realise these things when ho was leading a party with a majority of 48 in a flouso of 80? It is easy for him, now that his opponents have shown him that they are prepared to do what ho shirked doing, to profess his willingness to go ono better than they have gone. But ho and his party, had 20 odd years in whic) to carry out what he now advocates, and they had not tho courage to tackle the matter: whereas the Massey Government has done it in less than 20 months. Sir Joseph Ward an'd his party missed their opportunity, and they now know it. Is it surprising in the circumstances that tho Leader of tho Opposition should have appeared to so little advantage last oveningt

Burning questions appear to havo been the order of the day at tho Anglican Church Congress, which has been holding its meetings at Southampton during tho present week. Somo people were afraid the inclusion of such a Bubject as "Tho Kingdom of God and tho Sexes might givo tho Suffrngcttoa an cxcuso and an opportunity to assort themselves in a more or _les3 unpleasant way, but tho Bishop of Winchester (Dr. Talbot), who is president of this year's Congress, declined to alter the programme, and nothing shocking happened. The problem wm wiotnor

Interesting subject, and the discus-1 sion of "Tho kingdom of God and the Social Order," dealt with by such competent speakers as Sir Horace Plunket, tho Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Hugh Ceoil. Dr. Scott Holland, and Mr. Philip Snowden, M.P., must havo been well worth hearing. One of the objects of theso annual conferences is to give churchmen and churchwomcn un opportunity of expressing viows quito freely on the moral and religious aspects of tho great problems of tho day,, and it would bo a regrettable exhibition of timidity to I exclude any subjcct merely bccauso people held strong opinions on it. The Congress has no legislative powors and passes no resolutions, but it brings representatives of .ill sohools of thought together, and gives them a chanco of discussing matters of moment with tho utmost candour. • Such gatherings help _ to make men tolerant by ' broadening their outlook and compelling them to see things from other people's points of view. Thoy also enable the avcrago man to got an insight into the trend of thought among the groat scholars of the Church, and the professors get a glimpso at things through tho spectacles of the Bishops and parish clergy, while tho politician and the socal reformer tell all and sundry how tho wrongs of the world should be righted, and find that they themselves have something to learn even from professors and clergymen. Tho list of speakers for this year's Cqngrcßß is a very attractivo one, and the full reports of tho proceedings should mako. interesting reading.

The Lyttclton Times which has developed to quito a fine art the practice of mean suggestion was recently tempted to depart from its customary sly method and to vonturo on a direct misrepresentation of fact concerning tho borrowings of the Massey Government. It was a foolish indiscretion, for whereas it is not always easy to doal effectively with-a journal which under cover of a plausible pretence of ingenuousness circulates a mean insinuation as to tho motives' i or > actions of political opponents, it is a simple matter to expose a palpable untruth. The Christchurch Press, in tho case under review, not only showed tho inaccuracy of the statement published by. its contemporary, _ but when that journal tried to oxtricatc itself from its unhappy prcdicamont by resort to further inaccuracies,, administered to it a very severe and well-deserved castigation. Tho Christchurch Anti-Reform journal was plainly much perturbed at tho exposure of its methods, but at every attempt to wriggle was pinned down the moro decisively by its contemporary, which ultimately printed its conflicting statements in parallel columns, and made it look moro foolish than ever. Now, after tho lapse o; a week or two, the Lyttclton Time:is trying to cover its previous confusion bv returning to tho question. This time it is moro cauticuß, and while pretending to attack the Government on the old lines does not vonturo to repeat its previous grosi misrepresentation. We suspect, nowever, that it will not escape the further trouncing it deserves from it' contemporary for the manner in which it has again sought to mislead its readers by endeavouring to convey the impression that Mr. Allen was after all responsible for tho increase in tho Public Debt duo to tho borrowings of the Mackenzie Government. Honest criticism appears to have gone quito out of date with the majority of tho anti-Beform journals nowadays.