The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1907. PARLIAMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3768, 25 June 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1907. PARLIAMENT.

The ponderous machinery of Parliament will again be set in motipn in a day or two and the country will be once more inun-.. doted with the opinions of,, legis-

lators. Parliament will open under circumstances that at least point to the possibility that it will open for the last time. Although Sir Joseph Ward is a man of greater ability than the late Mr Seddon he has not the entire confidence of hisparty. This of course might have been said of the late Premier but his marvellous aptitude off control over weaker men made his position secure and his tremendous driving power made him a man to be feared. Sir Joseph Ward may be respected for his capabilities, his polish- and his work at the Imperial Conference but that he has the team well in hand is extremely douttful. His Ministry is not a weak Ministry as was the Ministry of the late Mr Seddon, but the new additions are essentially ‘ ‘ cranks ’ ’ —honest enough in their crankiness perhaps, but incapable of influencing very largely the people not won to their views. It was unnecessary in the Seddon days for any Minister other than the Prime Minister to say anything definite and no Minister made any statements of import unless permitted so to do by the Chief. To-day all is changed. Nearly all the Ministers, except perhaps Mr Me. Gowan who is content to let his billet work for him, are very much in the habit of indulging in pet theories, t strong as

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that New Zealand has in this Minister an absolutely feailess, honest gentleman, who has never yet shown any lust for office or its spoils, but who by sheer force of circumstances has been placed in positions he has held with dignity, modesty and courage. He has too, been a stopgap who has been called upon times innumerable to face increased, work his health was incapable of standing. Mr HallJones has been accused of feebleness, an accusation never deserved. He is essentially a strong man and if he withdraws from the Ministry, there is no man who can adequately fill his place. Because of his withdraw!, because of the Land Bill, because of the apparent vacillation of Ministerial attitude, the coming session will be an iteresting. one. If there is any fight in the Ministry, it will have to show it this session. It is possible that the present Ministry comprise the ablest men in the House, which appears to be something of a reflection on Parliament generally. There is no chance of the Opposition defeating the Government and on the whole one is glad of .it because the small Opposition contains more cranks to the square yard than does the Government party. We do not want to be, governed by harebraintd theorists and theory is, ■a stronger point in most New Zealand politicians than practice. The defeat of the Government (if it is to be defeated) will not come from the organised Opponents of it, but from its own dissatisfied ranks. There is-in Parliament a reactionary party, which sensibly enough is averse’to the Government disposition to “lash out.” The Government’s hopes of salvation appear to be glued to the system of lashing out and it is only while the people are still convinced that spending of immense sums of other peoples’ money is the best way to progress that a spendthrift administration can continue to exist.- There is no guarantee that any, ministry, that could, be obtained by putting the House of Representatives through the sieve would be any thing else than a spendthrift one and there is also no prospects that Parliament is likely to contain the best brains in the country, while the loaves and fishes style of procedure is the fashion. There never has been in the past fifteen years a man in either House with the courage to say that New Zealand is woefully overgoverned, that .is overgrown with red tape and that bureaucracy is rampant, merely because it has been considered expedient to disarm dangerous people by giving them billets. The State undertakes too much with the result that it robs the people of individuality. It is high time New Zealand gave up experimenting, talked less politics, read less politics and had less politics and fewer politicians in Parliament. Everything in New Zealand is subordinated to politics and the effusions of politicians give a fictitious importance to a-country that should depend on reality and not assertion for its reputation.