The Evening Star FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3314, 3 October 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1873.

Though the results of the session which closed to-day will satisfy few, there has been a large amount of work done in addition to what has been spoiled. The list of reports requiring consideration, committees to be attended, voluminous papers to be read, Bills to be discussed, caucuses to be present at, and proceeding to be watched, point to mental labor that few men, however earnest, are equal to. As a matter of course, each Bill brought before Parliament is not of general importance. Some are of Provincial interest only, some of private ; but even they require to be keenly watched, lest some principle should be covertly involved that, if acceded to, would form a precedent for future proceedings, or perhaps inflict injustice or require correction at a heavy cost. Others are of a formal character, such as the Appropriation, Imprest, and Census Acts; but when it is considered that one hundred and ten Acts passed the House of Representatives in fifty-two sitting days—something more than two daily—that some of them could not be even thoughtfully read and their various provisions thoroughly mastered by skilled men in a week; that many involved new principles in legislation, at least so far as their application to public service is cencerned, the work done assumes a magnitude that few would be inclined, at first sight, to concede to it. On looking over the list of Bills passed, although but three are enumerated as private,

there are some six others partaking mostly of that character ; about twentythree may be set down as purely Provincial, so that it may be considered there were between seventy and eighty that affected the Colony as a whole. Twenty-six Bills passed by the House of Representatives were this session rejected by the Legislative Council : an unusually large number — about one-fourth of the whole. On an examination of the character of the Bills rejected, it will be seen that some of them have been presented to the Council before, very little altered in form, while others were sent up to remedy, if possible, the inconvenience likely to arise through the rejection of other Bills. In view of the large majorities by which the House of Representatives adopted the most important of those not approved by the Council, it can hardly be believed through the utmost stretch of charity, that the Lower Chamber were wrong in their judgment. Not the least important consequence of the session, therefore, is bringing prominently into notice the defects in our legislative machinery. The Tory party in Great Britain, wedded to the traditions of the past, when horrified at some new development of freedom or industrial energy being sanctioned by the Legislature, used to “ Bless God there was a House of Lords,” and there is a party in New Zealand, nursed in the same traditions, which approves of the action of the Legislative Council. We believe this to arise from stereotyped notions of privileges connected with landed property handed down to us from our feudal ancestors. These old ideas, which have worked badly in Europe, and to which most of the civil wars that have devastated different countries are traceable, should never have had footing here. They are upheld by those who hold real property or have an interest in land, and by many who hope to have; and they are acquiesced in by numbers who have not, simply because they do not feel sufficient interest in the matter to turn their attention to the right or wrong of the subject. It is certain, however, that in every country those who have held the land have contrived for their own benefit to throw upon those who were landless burdens they would not touch, if they could help it with one of their fingers. In France the evil led to a revolution, which through the interference by other nations to compel its perpetuation, has kept society in an unsettled state for ninety years, and promises to lead to further disorders. It exists in a modified form in every country where revenues;are collected from import duties, and will not be tolerated when education has done its work, and every man understands the duties of property and the value of equality of rights. These questions are now forced upon attention by the obstructive action of the Council, During the recess they must of necessity occupy public consideration; and we believe they will, because most assuredly the most important questions since the passing of the Constitution Act before long, have to be decided at the hustings. Reform or reconstruction of the Upper House has become a necessity, for it is proved incontestably that it is not two parties in the House of Representatives who are opposed, but one Chamber having the power of veto against the representatives of the people.