South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2316, 19 August 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1880.

That the Parliament of New Zealand is rapidly degenerating is so patent to everybody that the assertion admits of no argument. Either there is something peculiarly intoxicating in the atmosphere of Wellington, or the distance that divides southern members from their constituents gives them a sense of security that makes them <qnito oblivions of their grave responsibilities. Instead of conducting the business of the country in a calm, dispassionate, judicial spirit, they are found disporting themselves, like hungry porpoises, in a sea of interminablestrife. The popular Chamben if we may apply such a term to a House that has quite outlived any good reputation it ever had, may be termed a beargarden, or rather a badly managed circus. On one side of the arena we have the trained performing dogs and monkeys the animals the rush from the lobbies at the sound of the bell in company with their trainers and the master of the show—while on the other we have the pale-faced clowns and acrobats outrivalling the docile Opposition quadrupeds by their uncouth antics. The audience look on, amazed and disappointed, and while their attention is rivetted the collector for the side show and the pick-pocket travel round in company.

Proceedings like these must lead inevitably to the question—for what purpose has Parliament been created ? Are we really a civilized race, or arc we a lot of dupes and cannibals ? Is the whole aim and object of legislation to devise means and facilities for enabling one portion of the population to become wealthy on the spoils of the remainder? What is the meaning of the enormous and abominable pension list winch is being maintained and yearly added to out of the borrowed money on which wc have to pay interest? Is this the reproductive way in which a new country should invest its scant capital ? Is it for this that the bailiff is employed and the goods and chattels of defaulting taxpayers cancelled ? What about the gratuity which has just been placed on the estimates for Dr Pollen, a played out statesman whose public career is certainly not very worthy of admiration much less a pension ? Why is it that a bonus of £SOO was paid twelve months ago,when the finances of the colony were in an exceedingly rotten condition, to the Commissioner of Railways for the South Island ? How does it happen that Te Whiti, instead of being properly dealt with, is allowed to remain isolated and unapproached, a Maori scarecrow, while thousands of pounds are being spent weekly in maintaining an armed force in Taranaki? To say that the money paid in occupying disputed territory, maintaining a force of armed idlers, and voting gratuities, pensions, and bonuses, to men who have become wealthy on the spoils of office, is recklessly squandered, would be using a term far too mild. With improved laws, and in a proper condition of society, such gross misappropriations as are daily being made with the full sanction of the legislature, will be placed in the same category with the ordinary, but far less hurtful felonies for which men are cast into prison, Nor to vote away money for which no fair equivalent is rendered is fraud and robbery. If the vote is illegitimate it is no excuse for the proprietors of the circus to say that they had the assent of the trained dugs and monkeys. It is well known that these animals will dance to any kind of music. The time has come when the country must emphatically protest against Parliament playing ducks and drakes with tlic consolidated revenue. Because the capital with which the colony is trading comes like Picton herrings in huge shoals from the British money-lender, are wc to continue virtually throwing the greater portion of it away ? To borrow with the one hand and bequeath bonuses and pensions with the other is indefensible. Plain speech impels us to designate such a proceeding dclibeiate plunder rather than misappropriation.

We have had unproductive sessions of Parliament, but few so absolutely abortive as the one that is drawing to. a close. Nothing of a practical nature has been done to solve the native difficulty. The charmingly expensive game of roadmaking with the rifle and stuffing the gaols with harmless natives goes on unchecked. An iniquitous all round reduction of salaries and wages is being

carried out under the plea of retrenchment, and the public service is daily becoming more and more demoralised. A Property Tax Bill has been confirmed in a mutilated shape, which, while cruelly oppressing the thrifty of the population, will barely defray the cost of collection. Industry and enterprise have been discouraged in every possible way by heavy and merciless imposts, and the bone and sinew of the country, finding the natural avenues of employment closed have had to seek the miserable refuge afforded by Government relief works. The good name of New Zealand as a field for the investment of capital and immigration has been damned in the eyes of the British nation and the world. In a word, the colony has made a foolhardy leap backward, such as no colony under the British flag ever made before. So much for our dog and monkey show ! fcSo much for what we are pleased to call wise legislation!

But the worst feature in connection with our Legislative Circus, is the indecent haste displayed by the dogs monkeys, clowns and their trainers to terminate their performance. At the end of two months they seem to have considered that they have earned their salaries. Since the commencement of August they have been sitting up to all kinds of irregular hours, hurrying through work that ought to be done with deliberation and care. The easy go-by-thc-ruu method with which they dispose of hundreds of thousands of pounds is something alarming. Occasionally they have a short respite for the purpose of making a tear at each other, and then they go oIP to lunch. Of course they return in better humor, but generally as midnight arrives the spirit of perversity returns. The scenes that take [dace over the cutting up and distribution of the financial carcase would disgrace a feast of cannibals. What began as a farce is terminatingin a most objectionable scramble. And all this hurry and confusion—all this pitch and toss work—all this inevitable slaughtering of the first and best fruits of legislation—all this postponement of measures that the country is looking forward to, is due to what ? To nothing else, but the circumstance that the Legislative dogs, monkeys, clowns, acrobats, and trainers consider a two months’ performance at Wellington quite enough for the money. It matters not whether they have done anything in the shape of practical legislation or not, they have earned their money and that is quite enough. But does the country think so ? If their constituencies are pleased, they must certainly be easily satisfied, and they deserve to suffer in the future as they have done in the past.