The Daily News. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1912. NEARING THE END.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 141, 1 November 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1912. NEARING THE END.

Mr. Massey is obviously finding out what a terrible thing it is to be in command of the Government machine. There was a time when lie ranked among the scoffers, and threw all sorts of bricks at the Government of which he was not a member, on account of their proclivities -for "legislation by exhaustion," and their horrid habit of keeping members at work while the New Zealand Cup was being run. These tilings, of course, count from the point of view, and his point of view Is now materially altered. He finds himself with the House having its annual fever for a quick dissolution, with liis programme still far from complete. To his credit, Mr, Massey is sticking to his guns, and insists that the Order Paper shall be finished before the House adjourns. This is not meeting with the approbation of the Opposition, but in common honesty it has to be admitted that the delay in the progress of Parliamentary business has been in a great, measure due to the obstructiveness of the members of the late administration, Mr. G. W. Russell having been the chief offender. It is this same gentleman who is now clamoring for an early end to the session, apparently quite oblivious of the fact that the session, might easily have been ended quite a week ago had he not been so persistently ready to talk about all things and everything. It is a well-worn and tired road that Parliament is pursuing, and it seems quite certain now that the unfortunate path of precedent is to be quite the same road for the Reform Party as it was for its predecessors. It is no primrose way, and the public cannot but wonder at a procedure that must be foreign to all their preconceived convictions of what constitutes political responsibility. Apparently there is no method of stopping this particular phase of political frivolity, because it is harder to dig politics out of the groove that has been established by the Standing Orders and by precedent than it is to eliminate twitch or the Canadian thistle. The people elect their members and pay them by the year, and these gentlemen calmly condescend to sit in solemn conclave for a period of about four months, and then the Races, the Show Week, or some other brilliant function that has nothing to do directly with the business of the country, calls for their attention, and they cheerfully adjourn after presiding with their hats ofT at a massacre of the innocents. If the House has business before it claiming its attention, there is no reason why it should [ not sit until Christmas tfmc. Many Prime Ministers have made this threat, though, so far, none have had the en-

terprise to inflict it. Mr. Massey will not lose caste in the eyes of the community if he insists, as he promises to do, upon his legislative programme being completed before the House is allowed to rise.

PARCELLING THE BALKANS. It is quite certain that when in 1878 the Great Powers accepted the Treaty of Berlin, and assisted to set up Bulgaria as an independent kingdom, they did not anticipate any such result as the present (remarks the Auckland Star). Russia, in particular, believed that Bulgaria, once freed from the Turks, would be a useful tool in her hands and would pnve the way for the long projected Russian advance towards Constantinople. The idea that the Bulgarians, so long the abject slaves of the Turk, could be metamorphosed into a strong and patriotic nation, able to defeat the Turks singlehanded, had not entered into the calculations of the statesmen of that area; and Russia, more especially, must find these recent developments extremely embarrassing, for, with the exception of England, it does not seem that any of the Powers either expected or desired that the Slav States in the Balkans should attain such a degree of independence and strength that .they would be able to oppose an impregnable barrier to further political aggression in the Near East. For many years past the Powers, and more especially Russia and Austria, have been waiting patiently for an opportune moment to dismember Turkey ; and seize the spoils for themselves. Now they find themselves confronted by a close alliance of. the four most important States in the Balkans, firmly resolved to maintain their own freedom and equally determined that if the heritage of the Turk is to be divided no share of it shall fall into the hands of those Sreat Powers. These facts constitute an entirely novel political situation in the Near East; and it is in the light of these recent developments that we must read the rumored determination of the Powers to step in between Turkey and . the allies.' Theoretically this is the course that the Powers might naturally be expected to take. They have maintained the Turkish Empire as a political expedient for a long time, and they are not likely to assist the Balkan Slavs to achieve their own private ambitions. But the interesting questiom that, now arises for the first time is, Can the Powers compel the Balkan States to obey their will ? In the old days of the Bulgarian atrocities it was easy to talk about arranging the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula. But with Greece and Servia, Bulgaria and Montenegro in arms, and a million enthusiastic and victorious fighting men to face, even the strongest of the Powers may well hesitate to step in between the allies and their rightful spoils, or to raise a hand in defence of the Turks if the Christian .Slavs proceed to wreak their long-delayed vengeance upon them, or even to divide the European possessions of the Sultan between themselves.