THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1907. AN UNDERSIRABLE RECORD.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8989, 26 November 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1907. AN UNDERSIRABLE RECORD.

After all Parliament has put up a record, not only for duration and endurance, but for the number of Acts it has passed, and the speed with which they were put through the legislative machine. One hundred and eleven Acts have been passed in a single session, and the great bulk of them have been manufactured during the past three weeks. Seeing that quantity rather than quality of legislation is the aim of.the present Government, as it was of its predecessor, the Premier may have some reason to be proud of having established a record. Hansards, Journals and the Statute Book for 1907, together with the multitudinous papers issued for the edification of members, will pile up to an unprecedented height, and could be weighed in the bulk only by means of a steelyard or weighingmachine. The whole will in the main form a monument of waste, extravagance, and legislative incompetence; but it looks splendid, and members are actually proud of their achievement. There is of course some useful legislation in the mass, but then it is as a grain of wheat in a bushsl of chaff. In a brief review of the session the "Dominion" says on this subject:—"That the Government has achieved large results is an obvious truth—the new land legislation and the new tariff make up a heavy enough mass of work in themselves. When one turns from the question of quantity to that of quality, however, one turns from a subject for astonishment to a matter for discontent. Much of the legislation was unnecessary; much of it is simply vicious. More clearly than ever before, there is discernible in tha heterogeneous assemblage of this year's Acts a definite current of tendency, and that current sets in the direction of Social-" ism. Useful measures there are, of course, but in severa'. measures besides the Land Bills the Government has drawn tighter the bonds which, year by year, are being wound about the body of personal rights and liberties. In due course this restrictive

legislation will work its own cure : through a revolt of public opinion, but in the meantime it is a.public duty to protest against the passion of modern politicians for a heavy har - vest of legislation, in which the tares are as thick as the grain, and the reaping of the greater part of which was effected by the suffocation of the selective faculties of members." The views of our contemporary will be echoed by all thoughtful and competent critics, and ere the next general election takes place many members who now complacently view i the work of the past session will find ample reason to rue their lack of independence, and their indifference to the real needs of the country. The Wellington No-license League is irate at the fact that the City Council allows the backs of to be used for advertising alcoholic drinks, and against the evil practice. The right of the league to raise objection to such advertisements is based, on the circumstance that at the last licensing poll the vDters of No-license numbered 1,062 tmre than the voters for Continuance. Liquor advertisements are,, doubtless, objectionable to many persons, but as a general thing tram passengers do not study the printed matter on the tickets, and would not be likely to gain a thirst for any special brand of whisky they might see advertised thereon. Prohibitionists, however, seek to brush away even the faintest obstruction that may appear in the path of their movement, and possibly the tickets of the future will bear notices respecting the invigorating quality of some special brand of tea, or the stimulating virtues of raspberry vinegar and ginger-beer, which, taken in combination in soberer days, were supposed to be indirectly associated with Italy's great Liberator, and was yclept, "Garibaldi." Notifications of this kind would have a steadying effect upon the readers, and would, perhaps, discourage a taste for i stronger liquors. Speaking of the Gaming and Lotteries Act, the Premier said to a Post reporter yesterday"l think lain right in oaying that you cannot expect any section of the community to agree with all of its provisions. There are, • necessarily, people with strong views on both sides of the gambling question, but my own opinion is that the Act as passed will have a good effect, and I look forward to its being recognised by those whom it concerns in a spirit of loyalty, so as to conform to what in my judgment is the desire of the great maie ol the people of the dominion. The Act will be faithfully administered." The Premier is quite correct in what he states in his first sentence. There wiil be found a great many to disagree, and with good reason, to many of its provisions. As to the Act, being faithfully administered an attempt will doubtless be made in that direction while it is young, but there is a probability that some of its provisions will be found so distasteful that they will have to be amended next session. When, early in the session, Mr W. T. Wood, member for Pa! mors ton North, asked if the Government would place upon .the Estimates a sum of money for the widow of the late Mr John O'Meara, msmber for Pahiatua, in recognition of the valuable services the deceased member had rendered to the State, the Premier declined to do so, on the ground that it would establish an undesirable precedent. He ignored the fact that a precedent had been Irebly-es tablished, one case yoing back a quarter of a century. However, he was adamant at the time. Now we find that he has, for sdme reasop unexplained, revoked his previous refusal, and has got Parliament to pass not only a gratuity of £3OO to the late Mr O'Meara's widow, but a like sum to the widows of three «.-ther decease! members. This re-affirms a precedent which must lead to gratuities being voted in all like cases in the future. As a specimen of complacent vanity the following remarks of a member of Parliament, respecting the work of the session just closed will be of interest. The member is naturally a Ministerial supporter, and his remarks were in reply to a question put by a city reporter "I don't know," said he, "when so many important and contentious bills have been put through in a single session. The people will be surprised when they realise the enormous amount of work that has been done. And it was done quietly, without noiss or fuss, just by hanging on." One of the oldest members of the Ilouse'also exclaimed joyfully:" Absolute lv a record session, not only in length, but as to the amount of legislation!" Perhaps these joyful tidings are due to the reaction after the tension of following lightning flashes of legislation during prolonged sittings. When the citizens o 4 : Wellington took part in the celebration during the afternoon, and enjoyed the illuminations at Parliament Buildings, Government Buildings and Government House on the evening of Dominion Day probably no one thought of the cost. A sum of .£1,500 has been voted to cover the bill. Another £1,500 has been appropriate:', for the supply of commemorative medals to

the school children of the dominion. This is another, though a somewhat small example of how public money is frittered away, while settlement in the back-blocks is being retarded for want of a little expenditure upon roads and bridges. Parliament, in its dying hours, has vested in Mrs Seddon the large section in which the late Premier lies buried, and, in addition, has voted £5,000 for the purpose of covering the cost of the grave and monuments to the deceased statesman. As the interment was a State function, and the land national, seems to us that it would have been more in accordance Jjwith the fitness of things had the State retained the and undertook that the grave was cared for. Further borrowing was authorised by Parliament, yesterday, when the Minister of Finance was empowered to raise £IOO,OOO "for promoting settlement in arid country," the interest not to exceed 4| per cent. The Government's exhibition of tohungaism at Oamaru —the rainmaking experiment—cost the State £246.