POLITICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8477, 3 July 1907, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

(From Our Parliamentary Correspondent.) SUGGESTED SUBSTITUTION FOR VICE-REGAL SPEECH. WELLINGTON, July 2nd. , The Address-in-Reply debate will probably extend over a much longer period than it did last session. Last year it was phenomenally short. There were special reasons then why it should be so. A new Ministry had taken ,possession . of the Treasury Benches, and members were eager to see how they would acquit themselves. Then the session started late in the year and in view of the opening of the Exhibition a long session was not considered desirable. These reasons do not recur this session, and there appears to be a general opinion that the discussion on th 3 Governor's will be somewhat protracted. Except for its omissions, and its vagueness on the principal policy questions, there is really nothing to discuss; and if Hansard we.re not in existence it is possible that the Address-in-Reply would be allowed to pass almost without comment. There is a feeling among not a few members of the House that the annual "Speech from the Throne" might be emitted with great advantage. It is looked upon by these members as a farce and a provocation to the waste of valuable time. It would be much better, it is thought, if, instead of the colourless Speech by the Governor, the Premier were to present a plain statement of what the Government really intend to attempt during the session, and to leave all discussion thereupon until the Bills embodying the Ministerial proposals were submitted to the House. The business of the session could then be started right away. This, of course, might not suit Ministers who naturally wish to see "how the cat jumps" at the outset; but after all. the electors are more interested in good Government —or should be—than in political fakes to keep a particular party in power.

MUCH TO BE DESIRED. There is also a desire in the House —and out of it—that important Ministerial Bills ought to be placed before the electors in ample time for their consideration before being submitted to the arbitrament of the Legislature. This is especially the case with such measures as those dealing with the revolutionising of any settled policy—such as that involved in the land question. The Land Bill brought down last.session was, through circumstances over which the Government had no control, submitted to the country during the recess; but that Bill has been split' up into three since then, and has evidently been materially altered, so that beyond the Ministerial utterances with. regard to provisions the triology of land measures contain, the public are entirely in the dark as to what may be proposed. From a party political point of view this fissiparism may be considered tactically smart but it is open to objection from a public standpoint.

INTERFERENCE WITH ELECTIONS.

It is possible that the question of Ministerial interference with Parliamentary elections will form the subject of a discussion in the House during some period of the session. The action of Mr Carroll in the recent by-election at New Plymouth is resented in some quarters, where it is held that it is highly improper, not to say indecent, for Ministers to attempt to influence an election. Mr Carroll's action is, of course, only the latest phase of a practice which % has been growing in proportions for many years. There is no doubt in the minds of some members that many electors have been swayed from giving effect to their own convictions by the efforts of Ministers, who have used every means in their power to secure the return of their own nominees; and it is felt that it would be juster and better for the electors if they .were left absolutely untram- : melled in their choice of their representatives. Much might be written on this subject, and the. question, if ' it does come up on the floor of th e House, will doubtless produce some-eye-openers.

CLOSER SETTLEMENT NEAR MASTERTON.

The acquisition, or rather nonacquisition—of land for closer settlement in /the neighborhood of Masterton is a subject which is shortly to be brought prominently beforethe House. Mr, Hogg states that he has been receiving bitter complaints from some of his constituents about the neglect of the Government to secure land for closer settlement near Masterton. It is pointed out that in otherparts of the Wairarapa land has been bought, and also taken compulsorily for settlement purposes, but in spite of petitions from landless workers, andreasonable offers from owners of large properties, the Land Purchase Board has failed to get an acre of land in the Masterton district. Mr Hogg speaks strongly on the subject because he considers whatever tieLands for Settlemsnt Act may have done for other parts of the colony it might as well never have been passed so far as Masterton is concerned. This session he proposes to speak out very freely in regard to the manner in which some members have been treated, and large sums of money spent in the acquisition of estates while in his own district, where there is a great demand for land, and recently over 500 applications were made for a small, rough section, no land whatever has been, taken by the Government.

NATIVE LANDS. The large area of native land in Masterton and Wairarapa is likely to receive a good deal of attention, and an effort will probably be made to make the Lands for Settlement Act apply to native as well as European land, so that the native land now going practically to waste may be turned to good account.