The Dominion. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1914. PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2181, 20 June 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1914. PARLIAMENT

Another session of Saritam-cjifc is to be opened nest week with the usual quaint customs a&d old-time ceremonies which give $ picturesque touch to its proceedings. .. These interesting survivals fi'oßl by-gone ages do not quite fit in. witfa modern ways of doing things. form a .sharp contrast with many of their surroundings, and convey mue.h the same impression as a gßapse of an ancient castle in the neighbaiiraood of _ a modern industrial centre. If faa'liament were an invention of our own generation, it is. »ot likely that any room would have been found for these; time-honoured rites, which would have much difikmlty in justifying their existence from the strictly utilitarian point of Fifiw, The Legislature would probably have beeft little more than a glorified City Council if its procedure had been devised bypoliticians of the Kinetccnth or Twentieth Century. There would have been no Mace, and no stately bowings by the Usher of the Black Bod find other peepk; the Sargsant-. at-Aniis would* probably have" btm

a dignified ■policeman, .while, Mn. Spokeu would otilj; liave been an ordinary chairman with a casting vote. Some provision might have boon made for tho opening of the proceedings by the Governor in knee-breeches and -cocked hat, but perhaps there would have been ho Speech from the Throne or Addrcss-io-Reply. Some matter-of-fact people- over whom common sense exercises undisputed sway, and who regard utility as the only i thing weedi'yd, may think that the j modernisation of Parliament on the lines indicated is a reform ranch 1 to ha desired, But common sense ii-rul utility do not influence the life of ' maa to anything like the extent that, many of us seem to think, and i-ri; judging a, great institution which has its roots in the far" distant past, its whole history must be taken into consideration. The British Parliaißsitt hears the marks of the ages through which it has passed, It cannot be re constructed afresh to meetthe ideas of each aew generation, and ■ when we beat in mifid its long and. gradual evolution, it does not re*; quiro a great amouflt of imagination to see meaning and appropriateness in thos-ij rites and cefememies which provide the picturesqw clettieat ts the otherwise drab process of lawraaking. fhe "pld manners and customs of Parliament have a real valueas cob-nectin.g-links with the bistoriq past. They witness _to the continuity of tho nation's life. Individual members, come and go,'and one century follows another; W-t Mte. Speaker, the. Sergeant-at-Arnis, the Ifohets, and the Slace live on for ever. The dignity and ceremony connected with these offices are more than so :mucrh B'icaningiess pomp and show to anyone who possesses the historic instinct oven in a very modest degree. They are- symbols of authority and agelong existence, and symbolism' often speaks'with a power and dirccteess which mere words caMofc einulate. To a man without the gift of iraagiiiatiojj, the "primrose- by the riveir's bri.n")'' is inerely a "yellow primrose," and BOthing More.; bat the seeing eye and the understaiiding heart knwv that TbsxvSon was right when he declared that the whole ttys■ter.y of the universe was wrapped up in the "flower in tho crannied wall.'' And so it is that those .who can see .a little Ijcloiv tho sßrfeeo a-ra able tfl appreciate the value of historicsymbojiswi. It adds, dignity and seriousness to tati' natioiial life and character to be reminded from time to time thai- the a.ge in which we live is isolated attd self-contained. It is vitsUy townected with the past •a.g<l tho future. There is power in the thought that- aw New Zealand Parliamoßt is the offspring $f tho great Mather of Psrli&meate, with its menjories of Gladstone and BeaeoKSFiELi)., of Pitt and BxmKE, of GfitunVEt-ii and lla-jsippes, ana! other great names. which carry us baok to the days of 'Km&vbeijj, Simon de HoKiroßT, aad Edward I. Its' history strctdlies batik to the dini days before the Norman GMrquDst, when fcarly English Kings ealkd their warriors and wise, men around them to discuss the afiairs of tie State, But tho glarnmw of its, wosdMal story ought hot to close- wrr eyes- to the shortcpinin.gs of Parliament and its .t&eifcds of Only re-' tipnth? Ms. G-ksWaWiit Tnade a.pftS-sioaat-c protest in a tewst in the .London Times ag-ainst the iae-ffeetive- [ ness of tho LsgislatliTc, It -was 'almost impossifekv. he' declared, 'to: g'et things dtmc whieh wore urgently needed, iwid w.hjeh evcryane agjeeel; ought to be don©; This dirlicuTty' i#ili. ! not, h&wevfijj bo overcome by topping off a few piettittsqup. dolaiis and making the prpeeduTo m drai.) and, dfrea-j-y as possibk, The probahJli-; ties arc that Parliament did its business in a more thorough.and businesslike way in. the days- of the Tufious and Strauss than at the present time. The stonewall is, an of more modern times, and it is.ln. recent years that members have become aceustomed to talk to their constituents, through Hansard an.d the Press at Buch great length, that w*y little tinse la left to do the real : work of. the session, One $uspeefcs that H&jjW yiH or CeosiAvele woU-id have found a vig&rously-effectjy.e way of dealing with the- 1 methods of. organised obstriictipn which have become an HEdesirabie feature of : ioeettt political warfare. ■ This sftrt o-f thing js bringing the .whole .Pa,rl'lamentoy systeia into dis-repute, and public opinion will bef-oro loflft insist upon an alteration in the.. rules of debate, so as to prevent deliberate waste of. time, without interfering with fullest freedom fa* 'reasonable discussion. Thft variou-s stages through which .Bills have to pass are ■designed to secure arilple" time for consideration and reconsideration, and -such safeguards cannot safely be, tope-red with. It is' well that PafHaraent'shcfflld' "make haste slowly," but no minority should have power to block business to Such an' extent as to throw the whale le.gt-sfe' tivc machinery out of gear. It. is iiapessibic, for instaßcc, to justify such a fareica.l a-tid-iutfle ■of organised obs.tfvie.tion a;s that tot whieli the Opposition was responsible /during tho discussiofs on the repeal 1 of the Soeon-d Ballot Mb in our -House of Be.prese.nt.a..tives last session. To put an effcetivc- check on such methods would not interfere with freedom of speech;, it. would simply restrict its abuse.