The Dominion MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1918. THE DUTY OF PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 170, 8 April 1918, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1918. THE DUTY OF PARLIAMENT

The session of Parliament which is to open to-morrow will be of necessity one of the shortest in the history of the Dominion, but it will also be one of the most important. If the programme under which Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward arc to again represent New Zealand on the Imperial War Cabinet is to be carried out—and presumably no question will arise on this_ point— ■ the total business of the session must be transacted in the space of a week or two. Assuming, however, that members in this hour of crisis approach their, duties in the _ right spirit, Parliament will have timo in a very short session to do good work in the interests of the Dominion and the Empire. The Governor-Gene-ral's Speech will no doubt bo short and to the point, and the Address-in-Rcply debate should be correspondingly brief. The essential business of the session groups Under three heads. Members will be asked to consider the measures proposed by the Government to meet the call for additional military aid which has come from Great Britain. They will, presumably, be given an opportunity of dealing with some aspects of ithe-mission of our Ministerial representatives who arc to leave shortly for London,.though on this point the Government has not yet made its intentions known. They will be asked further k) pass financial legislation providing for tho extension of Supply until authorisation can be resumed at an ordinary session. This last measure should occupy little time. Some very important questions of financial policy are open, but the present occasion obviously is not opportune for dealing with them.

Taking as a guide tho speech delivered by the Prime Minister the other evening at Kliandallah, _ Parliament will be under no necessity of spurring the Government to its plain duty in the all-important matter of providing additional troops. On the ground that the Government is in communication with the Imperial Cabinet, and is awaiting its advice, Mr. Massey excused himself from making a detailed disclosure of the steps it is proposed to take, but he made it quite clear that the Government has no thought of evading its duty. "Our duty under existing circumstances," he said, "is to do all that we are capable of doing." The actual promise made to the British Government is to bo submitted to Parliament, and if members are satisfied that the terms of tho promise are in harmony with the policy Mr, Massey has broadly outlined they should feel no difficulty in giving it their whole-hearted support. This, however, is as far as possible from meaning that they have a merely nominal and formal part to play. A firm and courageous attitude by Parliament at this juncture will do a great deal not only to strengthen the hands of tho Government, but to stimulate and hearten the whole country to the effort that is demanded. 'In its immediate and local effect a firm declaration by Parliament in favour of a whole-hearted effort will, tend not only to siloticc the few voices that have been raised in advocacy of a weaker and •" less worthy policy, but to make an end of the public apathy which constitutes a more serious danger. It is no doubt true, as Mr. Massey maintained on Friday evening, thai the feeling is growing that the war will only end as it should if British citizens in every part of the Empire do their duty as they ought, but Parliament has a very definite partto play in bringing public resolution to a head, and will fail seriously

in its duty if it neglects the opportunity of playing this part which the session about to open will afford. At the same time a • declaration worthy of Parliament and of the Dominion will have its effect abroad. The Prime Minister has already transmitted an assurance to the British Government that the additional assistance asked for will be given, and has received a grateful acknowledgment. But an undertaking by Parliament that the Dominion will spare no effort in the common cause will valuably supplement, in Great Britain and in Allied countries, this Ministerial promise, and in enemy countries also such an undertaking by the remotest of the British Dominions will be not without effect.

While immediate war policy has first and chief claim to the attention of Parliament, the question of Imperial relationships as they are affected by the war ought not to be entirely ignored, even in the briefest session. Now,_ as on the occasion of their last visit to London, our representatives will necessarily carry a somewhat open commission and exercise a wide discretion and initiative, but there is at least one question wi|h which they will be called upon to deal upon which a declaration by Parliament would be timely and of value—that, namely, of the disposal of the former German colonies in the Pacific, and more especially of the islands in which, as a Dominion, we are particularly interested. The fate of these islands must be a matter of agreement between the Allies, and will be determined finally at the Peace Conference, and it does not rest with the New Zealand Parliament to say in express terms what should he done with them. But there is one condition upon which, alike in our own interests and in the interests of the Empire and of future world peace, we are bound to lay all possible emphasis. Whatever their ultimate fate may he Samoa and the other island groups taken from Germany must never revert to her possession. Even Labour-Socialist extremists who have, taken up in New Zealand the cry of "no annexations" a.dmit that this condition is just. It is, in fact, the one essential condition where the former German colonies are concerned, and in demanding that it bo observed Parliament would speak undoubtedly for all but an absolutely insignificant minority of the- population of the Dominion. As a whole the duty of Parliament in the session which opens to-morrow is simple, obvious, and imperative. Time-wasting debate at such an emergency ,would bo inexcusable, and oven the ventilation of grievances and criticism which at any other time would well merit a hearing must be deferred. But by concentrating on the vital issues to be laid before it, Parliament may do much to assist the Government and to strengthen the Dominion for the augmented war eTfort it is called upon to undertake.