The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1927. DECADENT POLITICS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 154, 20 September 1927, Page 10

The Sun 42 Wyndham Stre et, Auckland, N.Z. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1927. DECADENT POLITICS

FOR those who have been disappointed with the meagre legislative record of Parliament during- the past three months, there may be some consolation in the fact that things politically are no better in any other country. Indeed, it might even be argued plausibly that the work of professional politicians elsewhere is really worse. There certainly appears to be a great deal of exasperating evidence in support of the widespread belief that the decadence of politics has become, universal. The cry of the world is for inspired statesmanship and constructive legislation. But these are not found anywhere. It has been said by competent observers, for example, that the latest session of the British Parliament was, in respect of measurable national service, one of the poorest in a generation. Before its close in time for autumnal grouse-shooting on the moors members of the House of Commons became so apathetic and bored that not more than forty listeners could be whipped into their places for the final stages of a miserable session. Six hundred legislators sought more entertaining pursuits. A sheaf of important Bills, including the Trade Unions Bill which, at one time, looked like provoking a Labour revolution, was bundled through the House in record time. Perhaps it is not surprising, after all, that the majority of Londoners should prefer the thrill of a greyhound coursing a tin hare to the boredom of decadent politics. The Baldwin Government’s legislative programme was a thin one, and barren of outstanding merit. Patchwork took the place of constructive proposals, and most of the economic problems were either side-stepped or laid away for another session. It is to be noted that criticism of all this parliamentary sterility was neither timid nor too polite. Most of the blame for a lamentable record was thrust on the Opposition, whose first duty, of course, is to keep the Government up to the highest mark of achievement. In the considered opinion of one writer “the Labour Party is so bad as to be farcical.” Apparently, when its leader is absent, the members of the party are like lost sheep floundering in a bog. As for the British Liberals they are dismissed as a noisy remnant, disagreeing among themselves about everything bleating about the loss of their glorious past, and failing even to exist as an effective parliamentary force. These blunt comments on the defects of British politics might fairly be applied to political conditions in New Zealand. Parliament continues to be the least inspiring assembly in the country. The Government is so strong numerically that it could afford to indulge in a Rip Van Winkle repose, scarcely stirring uneasily in dreams at the antics of the mixed Opposition. Thus the whole House has become lethargic and almost legislatively impotent. Since it is the intention of the Government to keep legislators in session until November, it is to be hoped that its programme will be such as to make up for the deplorable record of the first three months of extravagant talks.