THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1988, 8 July 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JULY 8, 1880.

These are days of economy, and rightly so. The finances of the country are in a "parlous state," and the true patriot just at the present moment has the whole of his patriotic soul engaged in cutting down expenses. But it is advisable nevertheless to avoid extremes in all things, more particularly when such extremes inflict a loss which is more or less irreparahlo. The proposal to totally aholish the publication of " Hansard" appears to us to be an extreme measure, which cannot he justified by even our present circumstances. This proposal seems to he in favour with a certain section of the House, and is worth alluding to, although we trust that we are right in conjecturing that the main hody of the members would not vote for it.

The expenses connected with the publication are certainly, as matters are nowconducted, very heavy. The Premier in the House on Tuesday stated that £BIG9 had been spent for printing " Hansard," Parliamentary returns, Statutes, Gazettes, &c, during last year, and Mr. Raid yesterday said that the cost o£ " Hansard " alone had averaged £6OOO per annum for the last five years. This, no doubt, is a very large sum, and it cannot be denied that it is very desirable that it should be curtailed. The matter was before the House last session, but the sacrificial knife of the financial butcher had not then been brought into full play, and the motion brought on by Mr. De Lautour was thrown out, the said motion being to the effect that " The House doth concur in the report from the Reporting Debates Committee, sitting in conference with a similar Committee of the Legislative Council, that the debates published in ' Hansard' shall be condensed next session." The views enunciated by members on the occasion of the debate on the above motion were of the most varied kind. They oxtonded from proposals for the total abolishing of " Hansard," through various processes of condensing

the same, up to leaving the matter as it then stood. With regard to condensation the principal question was, who was to do it. Some members pointed out that it required peculiar skill and a large general knowledge of politics and other matters to enable a man to do work of this description satisfactorily, In proof of which the fact was mentioned that the summary writors of the House of Commons were paid much more than the reporters. Other members, on the other hand, held that the present staff were quite capable of performing all that might be wanted, and that it might be left to the Chief Reporter or to the Speaker of the House, to decide as to which debates should be reported in full, and which should be condensed. Mr Do Lautour appears to have laid the arguments in favor of his motion very clearly before the House. Ho said the gain the Committee thought would weigh with members, if the condensation proposed was adopted, was this : —" They would bo able to secure the frequent publication of a report superior to the verhatim reports published in any newspaper in the world, as their ' Hansard' would bo. All members, of course, would be treated alike. All main debates would be reported in the first person, and the same rule would be applied to both leader and follower, and all the papers throughout the colony, and the constituents would get speedy and accurate reports." These were the advantages which the committee thought could be gained by condensing uninteresting matter and desultory conversations in the House, and issuing a daily " Hansard" that might be sent off by every steamer. Combined with these advantages it was considered that £IOOO or £ISOO might be saved in the process. In point of fact the present " Hansard" labours under more disadvantages than that 'of expense. It is always issued too late in the day. Fresh events have occurred and wiped out, to a certain extont, the memory of those of which it treats, before the publication sees the light of day. To show the little interest the public take in it, it may be mentioned that the revenue derived from the sale of " Hansard" is absolutely less than £IOO a year. "What seems to be wanted is a more or less condensed report of the proceedings in Parliament, issued at more frequent intervals, and at less cost. In England, the reports that appear in the Parliamentary " Hansard," are practically the reports which appear in some of the newspapers, and which are afterwards corrected by the members themselves. And in the case of the New Zealand " Hansard" it might be considered whether some arrangement mightnot beenteredinto with the whole or a section of the Press, with a view of its sharing in the cost of production. Mr. Reid's motion, mentioned in today's telegrams, appears to be a step in the right direction. It asks the printing and debates committee "to enquire and report to the House in what manner retrenchment can be best effected in the cost of publication of Mansard," and we only trust that the outcome of the committee's deliberations will share a better fate than did the report of the joint committee last session. But against the total abolition' of Mansard, looked upon as an official and reliable record of what passes in Parliament, we do most seriously protest. In the first place " Hansard " enables constituents to know what really does take place in the House. Unfortunately the reports that appear in the daily papers are often so deeply tinged by party bias, owing to the violence with which party questions are taken up by newspaper correspondents, that the public at large are frequently puzzled as to what was really said. So that it is very desirable that there should exist some impartial tribunal which can be appealed to when there is any doubt on a question or on the conduct of a member of the House. And there is another point. New Zealand is a young country—the nation is in its infancy. "We all hope and predict for it a glorious and important future. It is, therefore, to be much wished that its early records should be kept as intact and continuous as possible. Looking forward to a century or so hence, we cannot but feel that it would be then recognised that a break in our official records would be a serious affair. The Australian colonies have started their national fife under circumstances of peculiar advantage. There should be no haze over their early existence, for the means of diffusing accurate information are ample. Even America's advantages in this respect were far behind ours. The most reliable source from which future enquirers may draw should be an impartial and official record of what takes place in our Parliament. It would be more or less of a calamity if, in a moment of panic, the series was interrupted, for it would be impossible to fill up the gap. "We trust, therefore, that while the House applies itself to reducing the cost of the production of Mansard, it will altogether veto any proposal for abolishing it.