WELLINGTON NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 October 1915, Page 6

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE WAYS OF PARLIAMENT, " RELIEF FOR MINERS. ■ T (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Oet. 2. A few years ago the Reform Party, then sitting in Opposition, was demanding that Parliament should bo allowed to do its work in a proper, businesslike fashion, without the haste, confusion, and carelessness that it attributed to the Liberal Government. Then the Reformers got into office, and proceeded to do things in the same old way. Now a National Government is occupying the Treasury benches and, as might have been expected, its manner of directing the business of the Legislature simply reflects the methods of the parties. Yesterday the Public Works Statement and Estimates were placed in the hands of members of the House of Representatives during the afternoon. Other business occupied the attention of members until the- dinner adjournment, and it is safe to say that when the House met at 7.30 p.m. the only jnember who had read through the two bulky and complicated'papers was the Minister for Public Works. Then the Railways Statement, another highly important paper, was brought down, and after members had discussed, it in a surprised and perfunctory way they turned to the Public Works documents. Soon after 2 a.m. they completed the task of voting a sum of nearly £3,000,000 for public works in ail parts of the country. An Opposition would have protested, and might have succeeded in securing for members an opportunity for deliberation. But there is no Opposition just now, and in any case the end would have been the same. Parliament's control of finance is largely a fiction. Power is in the hands of the Ministers.

The tendency for the authority of Ministers to become unfettered is an evil recognised by all democratic communities. The subject probably is not of much general interest just now, but one may mention in passing an incident that occurred in the House last week. Members were discussing the Miners' Phthisis Bill, which provides a maximum pension of £1 a week for a married miner who has been completely incapacitated by a disease that is recognised to be a direct result of the risks of his calling. They urged that the sum was inadequate, and that a sick -man with a wife and family could not possibly live on an allowance of 20s weekly. The debate took time and the Government was in a hurry. So presently the Minister .in charge of the Bill stated bluntly that if the members continued to "waste time," he would withdraw the Bill altoI gefcher, and leave the miners without .even the small provision that he was proposing to make for them. The threat carried weight, because the Minister had power to put it into effect, and the Bill went through unamended. Where does ! the authority of Parliament come in?