The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1874

Evening Star, Issue 3539, 26 June 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1874

The coming session, according to all appearance, is likely to be a tame affair. One hardly knows what questions there are on which differences of opinion to a very wide extent exist. It is this absence of rational grounds for opposition that has disorganised the once strong party, of Mr Stafford. He held theories, shared in by many, that a certain course of conduct on the part of the Government, in relation to the Native question and to the social organisation of the Colony, was essential to prosperity ; but events have proved him in error, and consequently, although there are some few who put faith in him, the majority, by their conduct and their votes, have pronounced that they have lost faith in him. It is scarcely needful to revert to these circumstances now. The Parliament, whose term of existence expires this session by effluxion of time, has been remarkable, through having originated a system of industrial organisation, the effect of which must be felt by the Colony in all time. The merit is the greater to them, as the idea which they have adopted and done so much to give effect to was in many respects original. Much as tho Colony is indebted to the Treasurer for the boldness of his conceptions, he could not have given effect to them had there not been a majority who shared in his ideas. The time has not gone by so far as to have obliterated the recollection of the pondering doubt with which the announcement of the Immigration and Public Works Scheme was received by the country. Some hesitated to pronounce judgment; some feared that ruin would soon result from the policy proposed; some thought it very good, but too gigantic to be carried into execution. The country was drooping and in distress; production was at a low ebb, the goldfields were failing in their yield, men were leaving the Colony, the English Government had left us to defend ourselves, and with many all was despondency and gloom. Such was the condition of affairs prior to the first session of the dying Parliament. We are not prepared to say that all that has been done since has been properly done or effectually carried out. No doubt much more may be achieved during the coming four years than during the past; for experience has been gained, the faults of existing machinery revealed, and the necessity discovered where improvement can be made. Possibly this last session may be spent in discussing some of the points which have proved defective. Among them will be our immigration arrangements, which must even yet be acknowledged capable of very advantageous readjustment. We do not agree with all that has been said on this point. Better immigrants might have been selected in some instances, better arrangements made at Home for their transmission to the Colony, and perhaps better preparation for their reception on their arrival in the Colony. But where all was experimental, it must be acknowledged much has been done.

So far as public works are concerned, we consider reasonable progress has been made. Many men of imaginative turns of mind conceive that there has been slackness in their execution : that many lines of railway, for instance, should have been forwarder than they are. But we do not see how that could well have been. Two processes have to be gone through in railway construction: the planning of the work —that is, the mental—-and the mechanical. Neither is done by a mere effort of the will. Both are the results of considerable time and labor, and, moreover, the demand for laborers in all employments has bean so great that to have pushed railways unduly could only have been done at the expense of other industrial occupations. We believe they have been pushed forward as rapidly as was consistent with the progress of other industries.

It is not likely that any absolutely new measures will be proposed or dis-

cussed to any extent this session. The greatest inconvenience during the last two sittings of Parliament resulted from the obstructive action of the Legislative Council. Whether the Executive are prepared with any measure by which disagreements between the two Chambers may be arranged, without absolutewithdrawal ornegation of Bills which have passed the House of Representatives, we are not in a position to say. The question is now under discussion in Victoria, where all the evils of a dead-lock have been experienced more than once. Possibly the Government of New Zealand may think a new election a favorable opportunity for eliciting the opinions of the constituencies on the subject, and if any thing can be done by which the power of the Council to obstruct may be modified or curtailed, we think much will be gained towards our future progress.