The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1921. BEATING THE AIR.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1921. BEATING THE AIR.

The debate on the Address-in-Reply, which closed on Thursday night, differed little from its predecessors as being of no practical value and a waste of time. There is no greater farce than this preliminary skirmish at the opening of each session of Parliament, and the pity of it is that it involves an appreciable loss of money that could be very well avoided. Old customs are hard to jettison, and the retention of this formal and useless procedure is a decided blot on progress and a reflection on the good sense of legislators. As an exercise, beating the air and tilting at windmills may prove spectacular, but as a sample of legislature attainment it cannot be said to be worth either the time or the expense entailed. It might have been expected that the economical and industrial problems which loom so large at the present time would have brought forward sotne practical suggestions, but throughout the whole debate it would be difficult to find any well conceived and practical contributions toward solving these vital problems. Instead there were all sorts of controversial and contradictory views; no intelligent effort to probe the main and contributing causes, and no co-opera-tive desire to provide a remedy or remedies likely to be effectual. As usual, the Government was blamed for action and inaction. The leader of the new party (Mr. Statham) attributed the present slump to the non-existence of a State bank, and he charged the Government with the duty of removing unemployment; another plank in his platform being the abolition of the Upper House on the ground of economy. For that, matter, and on that score, if the debate were any criterion of the usefulness of members, he might as well have included both Houses until “an effective opposition” had been created. The leader of Extreme Labor (Mr. Holland) asserted the disturbing factor was the system of taxation, and intimated determined resistance to any reduction of wages; or cheapening labor by immigration. It would be interesting to know how Mr. Holland would explain the statement recently made by a South Taranaki farmer that last year he had a difficulty in engaging labor at £1 a day, whereas he was now inundated with requests for work at twelve shillings a day—and that he was getting forty per cent, more work done than he got last year for twenty shillings. There is only one explanation, namely, the law of supply and demand. The preposterous suggestion of Mr. D- G. Sullivan for a levy on capital is another instance of beating the air, as if the present taxation is not equal to a levy on capital. What is wanted is a real -cooperation between capital and labor to make the best of the present unfavorable conditions, and to concentrate on hard work and greater production. Now that the futile debate has closed it would be well for members of Parliament to set an example to the rest of the community and tackle their work with a due sense of its importance to the country, and to lead the way in reducing administrative expenditure. It will be. wise on their part to remember that another election will be upon them before long, and that the present session gives them an opportunity of making good or facing hostile constituents.