THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT.

Kumara Times, Issue 495, 29 April 1878, Page 2

THE PEOPLE AND THE GOVERNMENT.

The Premier is evidently determined that the people of New Zealand shall be kept well acquainted with the course oflegislation. Speaking at Hamilton the other day he said they were all aware that through New Zealand there had been a very great difficulty experienced by its inhabitants in ascertaining what the Governm -nt intended to do in the country. Wellington was at a great distance from the North, and when the Assembly met there wtre no reports of its proceedings until Hansard was published, which was not v until, at least, a. week subsequent to any debate, and then it did not reach the people heiv, for some time." The result had been that laws had hitherto been made in New Zealand without the people having had the least kuowledge of the nature of those laws until after thev had become the law of the land. He believed that in many cases, if the papulation of Now Zealand had been at all aware of the -nature of the laws that were about to be made, thev would have risen almost as one man, held put.lie meeting, and protested against laws which it was proposed to enact, and in fact prevented many of an oHnoxious character being made at all. Well, the coin-se the Government tried recently ;had l»eeu this, to let the inhabitants of every part of New Zealand know exactly the nature of the laws they intended to submit to the Legislature,. ,tp explain ike. reasons which induced them to propose such laws and thus emble the people of New Zealand, from end to end, to ex-p'-etw opinions on what the (iovernm-nt was about ro do. (Chee.s.) That had been so fully carried out that almost' every man in New Zealand had had an opportunity iu public meetings of voting whether he would like a certain law to be made or not. The result of that had been that an extraordinary enthusiasm had been evoked throughout the country. The population wtre atteuding much more to politicas than they had done hitherto. They understood public questions-better than thev had previously any opportunity of doing. He thought the result would be satisfactory to the whole of New Zealand, and it would be established as a precedent, which must be adhered to for the future ; and he believed that henceforth it would be impossible for any Government to impose laws upon New Zealand without the inhabitants first of all insisting upon knowing what th>se laws were to lie.