The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1919. THE SESSION OF 1919

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10291, 28 May 1919, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1919. THE SESSION OF 1919

It cannot bo too strongly* insisted that the omission of a session before the general election would bo a disaster of the first magnitude, if it is only that more than ever before an election the electors require to be speqiallywell prepared for the exercise of the responsible duty of voting. This country is about to enter upon ai period of reconstruction; the key need of that period is substantial, if not phenomenal. increase in production; the financial power of the country has been revealed by the w*ar to the as.tpnijhment of the whole world; how can ‘thab'powcr be applied to the bestand quickest advantage? Such is the general aspect with some reason of detail leading up to a great conclusion. What is there to do, and what is there to do it with? To answer the question there must be a session of Parliament, ' and when the members have seen the array of problems and looked: into, each, they will be able to prepare-- to’ go to the hustings with; practical ideas. The problems start with the land question, which is both the essence core and the. mainspring of this settlement now the most urgent of the public needs. This question is closely followed by that of, public works—railways, roads, electric water-power—and the point of view of these for Parliament to realise is the view that takes in the need of the maximum -of simultaneous expenditure for starting all the works at equal speed towards paying point, 'finance is a problem requiring the most comprehensive grasp and the deepest study, the adequate understanding of which by Parliament is at this time one of the vital public necessities. Labour troubles and cost of living, these add each their own problem for Parliament to grasp before going to the constituencies. All these problems are the realities of the situation. Ihe voting of supplies and the renewal ol expiring laws are the technicalities. The latter are reasons for assembling of Parliament too powerful to be ignored. How much more powerful in the same direction are the realities, it requires ho ghost to toll us. The land question is, after proportional representation—which we have dealt with on a former occasion—the most important. It embraces so very many of the major interests of the situation. It is, as every schoolboy knows, in a far more advanced stage than the same question in tbo Old Country. There valuations do not exist; tenures are buried in expensive fogs; the rights of humanity have scarcely begun to be recognised in small ways, while in the main they are flagrantly ignored. At the beginning of a history of centuries the question enters with national spoliation, and the present day offers a few futile attempts at reform by means of small-holding statutes wrangled over lor years, to bring forth small fruits quite negligible in the face of the national disasters culminating in the contrast between congested cities and empty countrysides. Here the question is in most respects different. At tho outset private ownership took root in tho needs of early colonisation, securing legitimacy of origin, and today we can look back upon a long series of attempts to cure by substantial reforms the evils of the monopoly which has grown from that legitimate root. While all men regret that tho progress of settlement has lagged to the noint of requiring vigorous, radical stimulation, they can agree that tho land system, besides being clear of most of the fogs of the Old World, secures to the cultivator tho fruits of his labour, That the need for reform is pressing is -proved by the failure of Ihe long array of our enactments to do what was exported of them. Whst is required for Parliament is a review of that legislation, with demonstration of the causes of its failure. Thus only can Parliament Ih> prepared for tho comprehension of Dm need for radical reform. From this Parliament wc can expect little in the wry of reform, beyond the point at which all are agreed. But wc can expect, and we ought to have, a compre-

hensive review of the whole situation for the benefit of the next Parliament’.

Finance, the cost of living, industrial unrest, the relation of public works to the progress of settlement —all these questions must come up for discussion during the session ; and, the course of discussion qhould end by presenting comprehensive reviews of each of the great solid problems involved.' In this way can the preparation for the general, election be completed. The opportunity is so exceptionally favourable that we cannot help wondering how it has been found possible in any quarter to regard a session of Parlitnont before the election as superfluous. Such a conclusion, if accepted, would result only in getting the business of the country rushed before the electors without proper comprehension, and therefore without definite aims. But to reach definite results is impossible without definite aims. By this combination cities are built, and ships and bridges, and harbour works, and lighthouses—everything that has come from the hand of man. The coming election will bo a turning point in our affairs. We ought not to go to ?t beating the air.