THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1907. FAULTY LEGISLATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8550, 7 October 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1907. FAULTY LEGISLATION.

Elsewhere in this isjue'we publish an article enumerating the principal amendments .which the Masterton Fire Board suggests should be made in the Fire Brigades' Act, 1906. After ■mentioning no less than a score of proposed amendments, the writer remarks: "A number of other minor and consequential alterations are, also, suggested with a view to making the Act more workable." In connection with various Acts the Government have been accused of faulty and hasty legislation, and, so far as the Fire Brigades' Act, 1906, is concerned, it must be held that the charge of highly faulty legislation is entirely true. The particular piece of legislation, however, was by no means hastily enacted, for the measure was, practically, before the House for a number of years before it was passed, a fact which, it may, be remarked, only renders the "bungle" the more inexcusable. We do not know how much the Act in question cost the country, but it is fairly evident that the country has not received any great value in return for tho expenditure. At times, no doubt, Parliament has to pass legislation hastily, and it is easy to comprehend that where the issues involved are of a highly intricate character, measures containing flaws may be passed by the best Parliaments in the world, but surely such simple legislation as it was sought to enact by the Fire Brigades' Act should not require a score or so of amendments in order to make "the Act more workable." We are inclined to think that the words "to make the Act work" would have better described, the position, hut possibly the words "more workable" are used by the contributor referred to in a spirit of gentle sarcasm.