THE WORK OF THE RECENT SESSION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 25, 19 November 1878, Page 2

THE WORK OF THE RECENT SESSION.

The Opposition journals have been declaring loudly that the recent session of Parliament was barren of results. Such, however, was by no means the case. In this article, we propose to place before our readers an outline of the work performed by our legislators. The two previous sessions were tediously long, but the recent one embraced only Cl sitting days of tho House ; the hours of sitting being 459, or a daily average of 7 hours. The office of a legislator is bj' no means an easy ono,if he does his duty ; for wo find that no less than 197 Bills were considered by the House. Of these, 90 received the Royal assent, 77 wero dropped or otherwiso disposed of, and one was reserved for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure ; 29 wore brought down from the Legislative Council,of which 22 passe 1. The Bills passed, are likely to affect materially the future of the Colony. For instance, the Customs Tariff Act alters the duties upon many articles, relieving

some of the necessaries of lite, and taxing tho luxuries The t-ixcs on tea and sugar are reduced by about £100,000. ~ Then thovo is the Land Tax Act, which imposes a duty of a hall-penny in the* pound of value, on all i>ro]TJi-tles over £-500. This will do wliac i.-j needed to be done, via., makotho largo landowners contribute a piMpor proportion of tlio uua.'irned increment to the revenue, whilst snvdl holders, whoso property is of loss valuo than £500, are exempted from fclio tax;— a course with which wo have previously expressed our hearty concurrence. Other Acts of au important character which passed during the session, and received the Royal assent, are the District Railways Amendment, Trade Union, Sheep, Railways Construction, Public Works Act Amendment, Harbours, Naiive Land Act Amendment, and the Financial Arrangements and Appropriation. Now, if these are considered, it will be seen that a number of very important measures have become law, and that the session of 1878 will leavo a lasting impression upon the future history of the Colony. Certainly, a considerable number of Bills introduced did not pass the \ Parliament, and amongst them were j several important measures brought !in by the Government ; but although I these have not become law, the discussions which have taken place regarding them, have ventilated the I questions, and will enable the electors ! to arrive at a correct estimate of tho ! value of tho measures. Those wMch ! were dropped, include the Electoral ! Bill, which came to grief because the < two Houses could not agree upon the 1 Maori vote ; the Beer Tax and Com- | panics Income Tax Bills, which were • withdrawn at an early stage ; the j Education Act Amendment, Fisheries ; Preservation, Local Judicature, Maori j Representation, and Bribery Bills, i which were either rejected or withI drawn ; and the Brands Registration, j Impounding, and Fencing Bills, ' which passed the Council, but were i not proceeded with in the Lower I House. But members of the House j have other things to consider beside i Bills. Debates upon, all kinds of ! questions ; fierce personal lights : votes of want of confidence— all claim their attention and oratorical i powers. Hansard, which records tho speeches of hon, members in both Houses, has reached us as yet only as far as October 17, whereas Parliament sat until November 2. Yet so far the speeches cover no less than 872 closely-printed pages of matter. Besides the business transacted in I~tEe~ ""House, -- there -wefe 11- Select ! Committees sitting. The Public Petitions Committee reported on 201 1 petitions ; the Native Affairs Committee on 71 ; and other Committees on 119; the total number of petitions presented being 354. No fewer than. 434 questions were asked of Ministers, and the entries in the journals number 1466. Of returns by command or to order, there were 210, on i almost every conceivable subject, laid before the House — by far the greater number of a useless character, but prepared at great trouble and expense to gratify a whim or a passing fit of curiosity on the part of some member. From the facts given above of what our senators have to do, it will be seen, that although it is an "honorable" position they occupy, it entails a vast amount of labour, a deal of worry, and after all, they must face their constituents, and have their actions criticised.