South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2550, 24 May 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 1881.

The General Assembly meets in the second week in June. There is an idea that the session will be a short one. According to the speech of Major Atkinson at Hawcra,the Government will only deal with two or three matters of importance. The coming session will be the last of the present Parliament, and very likely before the year is out there will be a general election. An expiring Parliament feels little inclination for work, and it is to be hoped that members will bear the common maxim in mind, “ the least said, the soonest mended.” Talk costs the taxpayers of New Zealand a considerable sum yearly. The price we pay for legislation cannot be less than £30,000 per annum. Several futile efforts have been made to curtail that expenditure. “ Hansard,” it was alleged, was responsible for no small amount of the mischief, and it has been proposed more than once to abolish that publication. The proposition did not meet with much favor. Mr Curtis proposed that no member, with the exception of Ministers, should be allowed to address the-House for a longer period than fifteen minutes, but his resolution was not entertained. As is well known, “ Hansard ” is a costly production, embracing a couple of large volumes annually. It may truly be said that the bulk of the matter contained in them is neither instructive nor interesting, It was suggested that the speeches of members might he cut down immensely ; that they would be improved by condensation. By adopting such a practice a few thousands a year would be saved. But members would not listen to the preposition. The everlasting twaddle must be reported in full. The dreary ones of the House, and they are a considerable body, speak to the “ Hansard ” reporters, and not to their fellow members. The money loss involved by the flood of talk is not the greatest evil. Useful legislation is retarded, and, as Mr Turnbull said the other night, a great deal of the business which occupies the House of Representatives for months could be transacted by a County or Provincial Council at a few sittings. The evil, however, is effecting its own cure. There is an opinion prevalent in all parts of New Zealand—Wellington City excepted—that Parliament must delegate a large proportion of its present powers to local bodies who will be more given to work than talk. Of late years the Home people have been suffering from the superabundance of talk in Parliament, though if the GSO and odd members of the British House of Commons individually indulged so fieely in talk as the 88 gentlemen of the House of Representatives, there would be an end of all legislation. The matter is engaging the attention of the Press in the Old Country, The most novel suggestion yet made for expediting business in the House of Commons, without having recourse to an unconstitutional method, is one by an

Italian priest, who must be a wag. He is of opinion that debates might be compressed within reasonable limits by the substitution of singing for speaking. Only a few solos should be allowed, and these should be sung by Cabinet Ministers, Undersecretaries of State, and leaders of the Opposition, but other members should be prohibited from singing except in chorus. This would effect, he urges, an immense saving of time, and with this accompaniment of music the debates would be far less monotonous under the proposed system than they are at present. Members who have no ear for music and no voice for singing, might express their approval or disapproval by gesticulations, which, if skilfully managed, arc often far more impressive than oratory. The proposal of the Italian is not likely to find favor in New Zealand, where it may be reasonably assumed the musical education of the majority of members has been neglected in their youth. We are afraid that their singing would be harder to listen to than their speaking. Seriously, however, it is perfectly ridiculous that the country should have to pay for the reporting and printing of stuff which is of no earthly interest either in a local or colonial sense. By way of experiment, “ Hansard ” might be abolished for a session. The colony would thus save a considerable sum of money, and there is scarcely a settler from Auckland to Invercargill who would miss its publication.