THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1893 PARLIAMNET.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2566, 10 October 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1893 PARLIAMNET.

The Parliament which has just closed marks au epoch iu the history of the colony, if not in that of the civilised world, by having enfranchised women. Sixty years ago in the lands from which we have all sprung, no man who did not own property or was a freeman could vote. In 1832 the first Reform Bill was carried, and for the first time electors were registered. Up to that time men presented themselves at the polling booth and made a personal claim to vote, and and then their qualification was examined. Since 1832 reform after re form has been carried out, till now every householder and lodger in England has a right to vote. In New Zealand the property qualification existed until 12 or 13 years ago. Indeed, it could not be said to have been completely swept away until the one man-one vote was carried about five j’ears ago, and oven now the shadow of the property qualification remains, inasmuch as that a person who owns property has the privelege of voting in virtue of a property qualification. The progress thus made during the last 60 y ars has now been crowned in New Zealand by the enfranchisement of women, and we feel sure that other colonies will soon follow our example. That is certainly the most noteworthy reform which has been carried out since the settlement of the colony, and the next is the change from the Property Tax to the L md and Income Tax and the imposition of graduated taxation. This has proved successful beyond anticipation, and we feel certain that the Property Tax will never be reimposed again. A great many of the harsh corners relating to labor have been rubbed off, notwithstanding the opposition of the Legislative Council; our land laws have been Liberalised, and dummyisra, which was rampant three years ago, is now as dead as Julius Ciesar. It is, too, the first time in the history of the last twentythree years that a New Zealand Parliament expired by effluxion of time without having raised a loan. It is asserted that Ministers have borrowed on the sly, but no one has shown us how or where. That is the weak point in the argument of those who accuse the Government of haying borrowed on the sly. If they had borrowed on the sly someone ought to have shown where and how, long ago. Two great men died during the existence of the present Parliament. We mean, of course, the Hon. John Ballance and Sir Harry Atkinson. There can be no doubt that both men overworked themselves to ’ ath in the service of the colony, and 'V'-t ‘ ames ought to be held in the their . ‘ion (jy p eo pi o 0 f Now highest Ydnsra. of the £ eateßt im . Zealand. re : -’uguration of portauce to labor was tuS , lithe co-operative system. Hitherto bw. works were let by contract to the lowest tenderer, who very frequently sublet his contract to others, and thus made a profit without any exertion of his own. The result of this was that only the best men could get employment on these contracts, that the rate of wages was low, and that sometimes the sub-contractor became insolvent and his workmen did not get thoir wages. Under this system there was no chance of second-rate men getting work at all, for the contractors would not employ them, and so they frequently swelled the unemployed ranks. Mr Seddoa was barely a month in office when he had changed all this. He ordered the engineers to make out estimates of what works would cost if let by contract, and this having been done he formed the men into gangs and let the work to them. Every man was entitled to the work. The best men formed gangs of their own, and earned 10s or 11s a day; the less capable men made up gangs too, and some only earned 4s fid a day. Thus the Government got the work done at the usual price, and the workmen pocketed the profits which hitherto went to the contractor. This is the best thing that has been done in the interests of labor, for without doubt, as its success has now been made manifest the system will yet be extended. Another good thing the present Government has done, and t vat is to establish labor bureaus. These bureaus collect information as to the state of the labor market in the various districts, and when they find a place in which men are unemployed they convey them to _ disricts iu which work can be obtained. This is another grand institution for the working men, and they ought to do all in their power to keep the present Ministry iu office. These are a few of the reforms which the present Government have carried out, and, notwithstanding the opposition of the Legislative Council, their record is the best by far we have experienced yet in New Zealand. The Council, however, has thrown out some of the best and most Liberal of their measures, ami only for that their record would have been much better than it is. Now this is the first time we have had a really Liberal Government backed up by a strong Liberal majority iu office.. Sir George Grey hold office for about two years, but he had not a substantial majority at his back. The Rtout-Vogel Government were kept in office by such men ag Mr Scobie Mackenzie, Mr T-

McKenzie, and Mr Menteath, to keep Sir Harry Atkinson out of it, but the Liberals were greatly in the minority in Parliament. The present Parliament, therefore, is the only real Liberal one we have had in New Zealand, and it appears to us that the work it has done, notwithstanding the action of the Legislative Council entitles it to our gratitude. It is now practically dead, and we greatly fear we shall not look upon its like again for some time to come.

THE PREMIER. Parliament has been prorogued to the 9th of November next. That means that the writs will not be issued until then, and people can register their names in the meantime. We wish, however, to impress upon people the desirability of registering at once. As the law stands at present, if a claim for enrolment is sent to the registrar, and he has any doubt about it, he takes fifteen days to make inquiries, and he need not register the name during that itime. That means that if a claim went in on the sixth or seventh of November, and the writs were issued on the ninth, the name would not be registered, as no name can be registered after the writs are issued. It therefore behoves people to register at onee, or else they may be left out in the cold. And now we desire to direct attention to the honourable manner in which the Premier has acted throughout. It was said all along that he was not sincere as regards the enfranchisement of women, but his actions have given the lie direct to that assertion. Sincere or otherwise, no man living could have worked more honestly or more honourably for the franchise than he has done. He has had many opportunities of destroying it if he had any desire to do so, but he has not taken advantage of any of them, in fact, he has made many sacrifices in order to secure this boon for women, and it is simply dishonest to accuse him of insincerity, when all his actions belie such an accusation. When the Governor had signed the Electoral Bill, it was even then said that he would dissolve Parliament so that women would not have time to register, but ha has not done so, he has given them the utmost limit the law allows to register, and hero again his actions prove his honesty and sincerity. The question for the people now is, Are we to judge Mr Seddon by what his political enemies tell us, or by the standard of his own actions 'I If we are to be led by what his enemies say he is a thorough humbug; if we are to judge him by his own actions we must accept him as an honest, upright man, who has carried out all his pledges honorably. Any honest man or woman will judge him by his actions, and will treat with contempt the slanderous attempts which have been made to discredit him with the public. But apart from this the Premier has proved himself not only a thorough Liberal, but a man of great ability. Fault is found with him because of the Liquor Bill, but we hold that he has done more for temperance than any man who has ever entered public life. _lt is well known that we do not agree with some of the provisions of the bill; but it is the direct veto with the break on ; the principle is there, and all that is required now is to remove the restrictions. Let r,be people send to Parliament representatives ready to remove these, and we undertake to say the Premier will assist them. In addition to this the Premier has enfranchised women, and given them a vote to say whether they shall have public houses or not. Is not this more than twenty Direct Veto Bills, if only ratepayers could vote ? For these reasons we hold that the present Government is entitled to the support of all temperance men, because, as a first instalment, they have done more for temperance than all the Governments which preceded them put together. VVe say more than this, and it is that if the Government dots not secure a majority at the General Election there will not be the slightest hope for temperance or anything else of a Liberal nature for many years. In another article we have given a resume of the work of the Government, but in this we wish to deal specially with the Premier, because he is being shamefully misrepresented and slandered. We know nothing of him further than as a public man ; we cannot enumerate him among our personal friends, and we are not bound to him by any tie whatsoever. But we think that he is a man of great ability, untiring energy, immense force of character, and indomitable vigor. There cannot be the slightest doubt but that only for his stubborn vigorousness, and his pluck, courage, and perseverance, a great many of the measures which have been placed on the statute book this session would have perished in the slaughter of the innocents, for the Opposition had set their hearts on allowing nothing to be done. Mr Seddon seeing , 7 the House at railroad pace, and this, , night and day till kept * “ waU which had he broke down the an(i been set up. As for his pluck they are immeasurable. He came to Christchurch and gave to working men the most thorough snubbing they ever got, while at the same time he did for them what no other man has ever done, by inaugurating the co-operative system of labour. Ho went to Auckland and gave a “dressing down” to the Liberal Association there, and declined to accept their programme. Is there another man who would have the courage of thus snubbing the classes from whom it may be said he derived his authority 1 Not one, and yet such is the known sincerity, and thoroughness of Mr Seddon such is the influence which his common sense, and his undoubted devotion to the interests of the people exercises over those with whom he comes in contact that even the men he has snubbed cannot turn against him. We have penned this article because wo think that he is being unscrupulously vilified, slandered, and misrepresented, and that he richly deserves better treatment.