New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4552, 22 October 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22.

Yesterday witnessed the closing scene of the present Parliament. . When next his Excellency the Governor summons the House of Representatives to hear his address,' a new Parliament will have been elected, and though we do not expect the enormous changes in its personality which ardent political partisans on' either side predict as certain, there can be no doubt that many of the present members will have been relegated to enforced retirement. However, it is scarcely so much iwith anticipations of the future as with retrospection of the past that we have to do; and as we lately, with reason, congratulated the Ministry on the manner in which they had demeaned themselves during the late campaign, so now we may be - permitted to speak of the conduct of other members, and of the work as a whole which the House has accomplished. In the first place then it may be noted that, as a general rule, the adherence of the Government party to their leaders has been loyal and effectual. Individual instances could, ■ of course, be found of members who spoke warmly in favor of the Government and their policy, but who in reality used language to conceal rather than to express their thoughts. There have also been instances in which, without questioning the absolute purity of the support accorded, that support might have seemed, to some, traceable to causes other than those dictated by a consideration for the general welfare of the country. But as we have said, on the whole the Government were able, whenever the crisis arrived, to reckon upon a steady consistent support at the hands of the majority pledged to back them. The occasions have not been infrequent when, upon matters outside their general policy, the views of the Government have received the sharpest and most searching criticism from the ranks of their own followers, but candid observers will admit that on these occasions the criticism was neither undeserved nor was it' inimical to their position upon the great questions of the day. Up to the passing of the Abolition Bill the Opposition leaders found themselves at the head of a party remarkable for its thorough unity of action. This is not to be wondered at, since the policy adopted by the Opposition was too simple to give scope for divergence of action. That policy was merely utter and complete hostility to the Bill, whilst the Government supporters had frequently to differ on matters of detail from a measure as to the principle of which they were quite unanimous. But the Abolition Bill once passed, it became evident that the Opposition had no more a com-, mon tie to bind them, and hence were seen mixtures of members in either lobby, on a division, that almost resembled in diversity the mixture of animals seen by the saint in his dream. The forthcoming electioneering struggle,. and the subsequent elections, should developean Opposition, small it may be, but united upon a common ground of policy. We would warn those who conduct that struggle, however, in opposition to the Government, that if they hope for success in forming a party (and, in the interests of good government, it is desirable that they should command a measure of success) they must be prepared to accept as a preliminary the position as it now stands, and to start from that point of departure. It will be perfectly useless for them to fetch forward the shade of provincialism, and promise in the future to give it once more substance and shadow. In that respect the dead- past must be allowed to bury its dead. But on the great general question of extending as far as possible that which the new order of things is designed to effect, local self-government, there need be no difficulty in agreeing upon a platform which it is quite in the nature of things may prove even more acceptable than that which the Government have pledged themselves to adopt. And if the Opposition, bearing this in mind, will but recognise the fact that large debateable questions of general interest, a reform of the incidence of taxation, a general colonial policy upon education and land, are sure before long to become the engrossing topics of the day, they need have no difficulty in coming into the new Parliament as a party with views deserving of consideration, and, perhaps, by some deficiency on the part of the Government, of approbation at the hands of the .country and its representatives. So far, enough has been said of party in Parliament past or future. The House may be congratulated on the work it has done during the session, though in the opinion of extreme people on either side that work has been too much and too little. . The Speaker’s address to his Excellency yesterday offers in its statement of what has been accomplished the best encomium on the work done. If it is to bo regretted that an amendment in the electoral law and a provision for fresh registration were not effected previously to the general election, at least the great question which the House had to discuss has been practically settled in principle. And in addition to this the list of Acts which have received the royal assent shows that a number of moat useful measures applicable in different localities have been passed. A word as to the composition of the present Parliament, which will so soon be spoken of as the past. It has become the fashion of late to deride at it and detract from its merits, but we believe that if its conduct through-

out the (most important session that the colony lias witnessed be, fairly considered, it will bis found that the next Parliament, to be as good as it, must bo made up of very good representatives.