The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1914. A MEMORABLE PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2300, 6 November 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1914. A MEMORABLE PARLIAMENT

The Eighteenth Parliament of New Zealand, which concluded its work yesterday, has set' a mark upon the history of tho country and earned a right to be remembered alike for its influence upon national development 1 and upon those greater affairs involving the whole Empire, in which New Zealand is now playing its part. Upon the whole the period of tiie Parliament has been one of growth, expansion, and improvement. The administration of public aft'kirs has been thoroughly renovated, the legislation of the country has' been materially amended and improved in some of its major features, and the Dominion is in a sound condition to meet the multiplying responsibilities by which it is now faced. At its inception the Representative Assembly which was elected in 1911 owed its distinctive character and dominating tendencies to a popular awakening which led up naturally to the displacement of a party and Government which had degenerated in an unduly prolonged lease of office, and the substitution of a Government which better represents the healthy aspirations 'of the country in the direction of sound development and democratic progress. The Massey Government is no more perfect than any other human institution, but it has unquestionably justified the popular confidence reposed in it by enacting many genuine reforms and correcting the muddled administration and redkless and haphazard financial policy of its predecessors. In spite of. all that its detractors and critics may say, and in spite'of its minor mistakes,. the Reform _ Party _ undeniably, stands alone in its ability, and will to govern the country on lines of efficiency and progress. Its opponents have at all times been forced to rely mainly upon assertions that the reforms enacted by the Government aro not what they purport to be, and upon appeals to ancient histor.v which have a very limited bearing upon the facts of today. Against these merely negative criticisms and detractions, of which much has been heard during the session that ended, yesterday, the Government is able to place a,record of reform and'improvement which has' probably never been surpassed in the term of a New Zealand Parliar ment. .... The sweeping-regeneration which the Massey Government has effected in the laws relating to land, the Public Service, the Legislature, and innumerable detail- sections, of the public administration are by this time tolerably familiar to the people of the country, and none who havt subjected these reforms to even cursory review and scrutiny will attach much importance to the rancorous but unsupported abuse with which the Opposition has accompanied their passage and fulfilment. The broad facts of the political/situation found their natural reflection in the state of parties in the House during tho course of the Parliament. Animated by definite and public-spirited resolve, the Reform Party has at all times' been a compact and united political force, and it was slightly stronger in numbor at the close of the late session than when its leaders assumed office.' The Wardist Party on the other hand, not only loßt seats at by-elections, but was driven, in order to maintain a delusive surface appearance of strength, to rcsort to an alliance with Labour Socialist extremists. The main features of the position here outlined were intensified during the session just ended. ' Even the outbreak of war, which interrupted the session and for a time modified its character, did not elevate Sin Joseph Ward ' and his supporters to\ a frame of mind in which they might have been capable of reasonable and helpful criticism. Diverted temporarily from their ■ normal' path, they' resorted to . suggestions that the ordinary work of Parliament should be laid aside in order that members might fold their hands and contemplate the fortunes of war. When this short-sighted advice was decisively rejected by tho Government, the Opposition resumed its old habits, with the result,that the past session was to _ the full as stormy, and with as little cause, as those which immediately preceded it. These were not Conditions favourable to useful work, and in the circumstances _ and considering the heavy working burdens and responsibilities imposed uppn ttam by the organisation and dispatch of the Expeditionary Forces and tho necessity of adjusting the internal affairs of the country to tho conditions incidental to a state of war, Ministers are to be congratulated ' upon the success with winch they navigated a heavy working programme to the safe haven of the Statute Book.

The session lasted from June 25 to November <1, and there were 78 working days, many of which were very short in.the early period of the war. During Lluit time no fewer than 80 Public Acts, 1!) Local Acts, and 2 Private Acts received the lloyal As(s<int. It is impossible- in the, compass of a single article to review even

the principal _ items in... the. programme, but it includes a number of policy measures of the first importance, notably _ the Legislative Council Act, which _ makes the Second Chamber elective, the. Education Act, and the Aid to Public Works and Land Settlement Act. The last-named measure, in addition to the ordinary provision for works, embodies the authority for a special loan of a million sterling, to be spent over the term of three years in providing back-blocks settlers who have had to get along for years past with bad roads or none at all with reasonable means of access. The Government has shown its enterprising spirit in the Railways Improvement -Act, which provides for the improvement of main lines and for bringing tho stations in the principal centres up-to-date, and in the Local Railways Act; which will enable settlers in outlying districts to build and control their own branch lines. Other items which figure prominently in the list are the two important Mining Acts, and the Workers' Dwellings Amendment Act, which will further extend the benefits s>i a scheme" which has teen developed by the Government to a high pitch "of usefulness. Something like a dozen Acts and amendments were passed to provide for the regulation of trade and commerce, and to anticipate or remedy difficulties arising from the state of war. The best proof that the Government has oarried out this section of its duties with ability and success is to be found in the prosperous state of the Dominion to-day and in its excellent prospects for the future, both as regards internal _ industry and commerce, and the export trade which is so vital to its welfare. It is true that a number of Bills have had to be postponed until the next Parliament, including the Local Grants and Subsidies Bill, the Defamation Bill, and the Cook Islands Bill, but most of these measures, and particularly the most important of them all—the Local Grants and Subsidies Bill—demand the fullest possiblo inquiry and discussion of details before they are passed into law, and the record of tne Government is tho best possible guarantee that it will not rest upon its oars when it bakes up its interrupted duties in the next Parliament. Upon the whole' Ministers and members of the Reform Party have every right to look back with satisfaction upon a record of work and achievement which would still have been highly creditable if it had been established in normal times instead of in ono of tho stormiest political periods that New Zealand lias ever experienced. To _ the Opposition Party a retrospective glance over the course of tho session and the Parliament must be much less pleasing. It has distinguished itself mainly by accentuating the bitterness of party strife without in any corresponding degree assisting _ in the promotion, of useful legislation, and its positive influence-upon the work of Parliament has been slight.