The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5518, 3 December 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1878 .

The cost of the “ Hansard ” report of the debates in Parliament is, according to the appropriations for the current year—for reporters, £2500 ; for printing, £2700 ; to which may be added the cost of binding, &c., &c., which will make the whole about £5500. This is not so much, perhaps, as the cost of the Government yacht Hinemoa, but still it is a considerable sum to be borne “ by the men, and the women, “and the little children” who pay the taxes out of which the money for “ Hansard ” and for the Hinemoa respectively is taken. We shall not discuss the question of the Hinemoa at piesent, but we may be allowed to ask what good “ the “ men, and the women, and the little “children” get out of “Hansard" as that institution is at present conducted ? A month has elapsed since the prorogation of Parliament, but the publication of the “Hansard” is not yet complete. After long delay, the report was brought down to the 23rd October, six weeks since, and there, for some reason—sufficient perhaps, but unexplained—it sticks. It is said that some of the Ministers cannot bo induced to correct the proofs of their speeches, and thus their indolence and indisposition to do anything but talk prevent the people from getting, until for all general purposes it has become valulesss, that accurate and full information regarding the proceedings of their representatives in Parliament, for which, nevertheless, they are obliged to pay the very large sum which we have named above, five thousand five hundred pounds a year. Under the beneficent rule of our “ real Governor,” Sir George Grey, the interests of his people ought not to bo in this matter so much neglected. A stale report of a dead debate has, as we said before, as much interest for that omnivorous individual the general reader as an old almanack might be supposed to possess. Next year, or the year after, it is true that “Hansard” maybe useful to honorable gentlemen, by enabling them to discover and point out judicious changes of opinion on cardinal points on the part of their political opponents, but as a more register *f the flexible principles©! trading politicians, it is not worth the candle. It never was loss useful to members as a record than it has been during the last session, and never before, that we can remember, has the completion of the publication been so long delayed after the session was closed. We hope to find that the subject will bo taken into consideration by the General Assembly in its next session with a view to endeavor to obtain something more directly and im-

mediately useful for the money expended than has been had in the past session. There is an admirable reporting staff’; there is an overgrown printing office ; cause for such loud and general complaints as are now made has not existed previously ; tho block is therefore quite new, and we hope exceptional; it must exist in the administration somewhere, and it certainly ought to be discovered and removed. In other Colonies, notably in Queensland, tho “Hansard” report is a daily publication of the debates of tho preceding sitting. Every morning, we understand, a sheet is in the hands of the honorable members of the Legislature, containing, not a verbatim, but a full and accurate report of the proceedings of the day before, and slips of the same are furnished to the newspapers and circulated as a supplement by each. The convenience both to members of tho Legislature thsmselves, to the public, and to the newspapers is said to be very great. When an important discussion is going on in one Chamber the other has immediate information regarding it. Here in Wellington, as we see, members of the House of Representatives may only learn with certainty some six or seven weeks after the event what action wasreally taken, and what was really said in the Legislative Council, in regard to any measure of even the greatest public interest, whilst the Council is under the same disability with respect to tho House. The cost of the Queensland “ Hansard ” does not, we believe, exceed £7OOO a year, a considerable portion of which may probably be recouped by contributions from the newspapers that take and circulate the reports. The “ Hau- “ sard ” question has recently come under consideration in the Victorian Legislature, and a select committee was appointed to deal with it. Certain proposals made by the committee, which appear to be, practically, an adaptation of the Queensland scheme, are unfavorably reviewed in the “Argus” of November 6th. Our contemporary says : Tho proposal is to supply tho “ Hansard ” to the newspapers as a supplement, by which means, says the report, "the widest possible circulation will bo obtained.” There is no doubt of this. But the committee base their estimate of expenditure on a daily circulation of 10,000 copies, and the absurdity is appa* rent. The lowest estimate they received in evidence of the requirements of the Melbourne daily papers alone was 50,000 copies, and this number is probably considerably below the murk. And then the country papers have to bo considered. Wo should be very sorry to see Parliament lend itself to a movement to stamp out the provincial journals, or to materially lessen their influence, and to withdraw from them, as is suggested, all Government custom in the form of the necessary local advertisements, and to refuse them oven the Parliamentary supplement supplied to tho Melbourne dailies, could not but have a most prejudicial effect on their interests. Tho local journals have their own. mission to perform, and a very valuable one it is. They are independent centres of thought, and are checks upon the natural te 1dency in tho direction of the colony being too much governed and too much Influenced by Melbourne agencies. It would be mere justice to supply the country papers with the official " Hansard” if the Melbourne papers were so supplied. Tho House could not resist the demand, and in that cose the circulation would atone bound leap up to a minimum which cannot be estimated at less than 90,000, and which probably would be nearer 100,009. Taking the smaller number, and the committee’s estimate must be increased ninefold. There is a saving of course in type-setting, the same typo sufficing for 00,000 as for 10,000, but in paper, in machining, in stereotyping, in ink, in folding, &c., the increase is in proportion to the circulation. And the estimate would be— First 10,000 .. ..... £9,223 80,000. at £4500 per 10,000 .. 36,000 Reporting staff .. .. 4,15) £49,373 This calculation cannot possibly be materially reduced. It is based on the low figures of the committee, altered only to suit the circulation required, and if there is any little saving on the one hand, wo may be sure that incidental expenditure will arise on tho other. Tho committee, tho “ Argus ” says, have an alternative plan, namely, “that “ tho debates should be reported by a i( Government staff of shorthand writers, “ and the copy supplied by them to the “ publishers of the Melbourne daily news- “ papers, by whom it would be sot up in “ type and published in their respective “journals.” The “Argus” objects that no Melbourne journal would dream of making use of such copy, and protests against tho adoption of the scheme, which demands that the Treasurer shall pay his £IOOO per week for all time, without receiving anything in return, at a period too “ when the Land Fund is running out, “ when new taxation is officially an- “ nounced to be immediately impending, “ and when the strictest economy in “ every department ought to be the “ order of the day.” Hitherto although it was felt that the New Zealand “ Hansard” might be made more useful by the publication of daily reports instead of weekly, it has never failed so conspicuously as during and since the last session. The fault, which is not with the reporting staff, is easily discoverable, and wo shall not fail to keep the subject before the public from time to time, with a view to inquiry into and removal of the cause of complaint when the General Assembly meets again.