NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2211, 25 July 1914, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

— *—— •■ ■• It must be confessed that Parliament just now is a very dull and tiresome place. The Opposition, who are expected to keep matters lively, arc quite, hopelessly weak and disappointing. . The tortuous ambiguities of Sir Joseph Ward are only varied by the cheerful inanities of Me. Witty, or the scarcely preferable noisy pomposity of Me. Russell, or the. droning fluency of Me. Forbes. Somehow, the present Opposition succeeds only in being amazingly ineffective in its recognised role as the critic of the Government. The kind of so-called criticism that obtains at the present day in the House of Representatives ■ has ; no more life in it and no more positive quality than a bunker on a golf course. It fails because, generally speaking, it is unoriginal, 'pointless, and, worst of all, desperately dull. . It consists for the most part of turning and-re-turning the same .old woll-worn figures and facts; ignoring details which will not dovetail into a partisan case, and basing wildly improbable suppositions upon real or "imaginary: obscurities. ;Nothing. could be nioro gratifying than the development by the' Opposition of a real faculty of criticism in vilace of the droning incompetence that novy serves their turn. Under the system of Party Government the Opposition should be , the intellectual vanguard of the representative sembly; its, function should bo! : io stimulate' thought, and, if,need be, •to provoke- brisk controversy; but Sir Joseph Ward arid his followers seem to bo_ capable of achieving no more definite' result .than that of reducing their opponents to a state of weary boredom arid occasionally putting them to sleep. The debate on .tho Imprest Supply Bill on Thursday last, when the Opposition seemed to be trying their very best, to make an impression, was really pathetic. ■■-,-■■ . ■■ '

The issues in the-■ Commonwealth elections , have not been greatly cleared up by,the policy speeches of the leaders on both sides. The elections wore precipitated through a deadlock between the Senate and the House of Representatives. In the earlier days of Federation both the Senate, elected on a; basis' of six members per State, and the House of Representatives, constituted on the ordinary population basis, were dominated by the Liberals. 'When the Labour Party came into power it so happened that the quota of new Senators elected at that election gave it a majority, in both Chambers. But at .the last general elections the Liberals were in a majority in the House, but failed to carry the day in the Senate. As tho_ Senate insisted on its undoubted rights as a representativei.bbdy, an impossible position was created." The present election may or. may not bring the Houses into line again. • The great bulk of the Australian people seem heartily sick of the wrangle between the two Houses, but neither Me. Cook nor Me. Fishee is offering a solution of the difficulty.! Me. Fisher ignored the problem in his speech, and Me. Cook's only contribution was a .suggestion that the : Senate should be elected by proportional representation in order to dull the edges of tho party lines in it. ■ The provisions in the Constitution for settling'deadlocks meet the case of an occasional disagreement between the Houses, but fail entirely when one systematically; thwarts the other. It is remarkable that neither leader should have produced a plan for preventing a repetition of the re- 1 cent scandalous hold-up of the political machine. Recent appeals to the electors have shown only small margins between the strength of the two parties, and there must be small comfort to the average citizen in tho thought that the present costly double dissolution may leave things exactly where they were. ■ ,■ ■ •

One of the few purposeful speeches in last Thursday's Imprest Debate' was that delivered by the Prime Minister in the latter part of the evening. It was eminently conciliatory in tone, but contained a timely warning that the amount of work before Parliament makes i£ exceedingly undesirable, to say tho least, that there should bo any further waste of time. With a month of tho session gone, comparatively little work has as yet been accomplished, and it is high tinic that the members who have carried on so many trifling debates since the session opened should. settle down industriously to the work which they were sent to Parliament to perform. The Government programme for the session includes at' least three policy measures of' tho first importance— the Legislative Council Reform Bill, the Education Bill, and the Bill, not yet introduced, which is to remodel the'system of State grants and subsidies in _ aid of development work. In addition there arc measures like tho Defamation Bill and the Motor Bill, which demand very close and careful attention, and a number of smaller Bills, which a recalculated iu ono way and another to effect valu-

ablo improvements' in tho existing law. These, with the two highly important non-party Bills dealing respectively with licensing law and with the taking of a referendum on the question-of Bible lessons in tho State, schools, which still await attention, and the discussions on matters arising out of the Financial and Public Works Statements, would make a fairly heavy programme for any session , . In the present session, witli s an election-in ca-rly prospect, tho proper handling, of such a programme demands close and steady application. All things considered, the Prime Minister was fully warranted in asking members on both sides of the House-to assist him in getting the. work of tho session put. through, and in supplementing his request with a plain warning that if necessary the session would do extended to tho utmost limits in order that justice _might bo done to the important legislative proposals which await attention, ■

L? tho American Meat Trust does not seek to control the New Zealand trade it will only be because it considers 'the game is not worth' tho candle. . An addition of four millions to an annual turnovor of £liQ,000,000 is an inconsiderable matter, and that is the position so far as New Zealand and the American meat packing combine is concerned.: Our whole export trade would bo just another cherry in the basket. The Trust, however, is not a concern that despises trifles. After it swallowed up the United States it took charge in Canada, and later on in the Argentine, where it is stated that only, one company now_ holds outagainst it. The operations'of the Trust are under investigation by a Royal Commission in Australia, and last week Me. Mallow, the manag-' ing director of its two; .works' in Queensland,; gave evidence. Me. MalkoHy naively stated that tho reason his principals, Messes. Swift and Co., had' come to Australia was because they thought they could make ■& profit. They had We selling outlet and trade-in England, and as supplies could now bo more readily obtained from Australia than from America, they had decided to come out and treat the cattle themselves. He had come put six and a half years ago, and gone through all the States, and had advised his principals to open up in Brisbane .if they wanted a' good .supply all tho year round. Me. Malkow : incidentally stated that his company had no interest in any works in New Zealand. At the same, sitting of the Commission evidence was given, by the heads of Queensland meat companies that they had been approached by representatives of . Messes. Abmoue and Co. , and Moeeis and Co., the principal concerns in the Trust after Swifts. If' Australasia is brought into line, tho men behind' the Meat Trust will bo able,to fix the price of meat day by. day on the London market, just as they have been doing in. America for many years past. The prospect is not a pleasing one for either John. Bull or John Bull, Junior.

The Prime Mjnistek's; statement that the Government has decided on a strong forward policy in railway building and road making was received with applause by the deputathe Conference 'iyester<Ja.j;vj7 will be echoed tliroiignout' , the "country for the greatest, need of the moment is probably the provision of better access to the lands now in course of settlement. The details of the Government's plan for dealing with'the roading. question will be awaited with the greatest interest throughout the country. • The local bodies are everywhere becoming alive to the need for new- methods,'but new methods.mean, the purchase/of plant andinvolve an initial outlay of some magnitude. Local bodies , dealing witn isolated areas, often hampered by straitened finance, arid each working independently of the other, do not offer the best machinery for bringing the roads to a proper pitch of efficiency. The ; failure of the present system is most noticeable in the back country where the need is greatest. The amount of money that has been wasted in temporary work on back-blocks roads must be enormous, and the waste will c'ontinae so long as they are controlled by local bodies living from hand to mouth.' There is a great deal to be said both for and against the ; Government taking over the maintenance of the arterial roads. It is fairly obvious, however, that.,whether or not the Government actually does the work, it, or somo* governing authority, must control and direct it.