THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1909. THE PREMIER AND PARLIAMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3210, 9 June 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1909. THE PREMIER AND PARLIAMENT.

By a majority of fifteen, the Premier has succeeded in gaining his latest object, viz., the prorogation of Parliament, while he journeys to London to attend the Naval Conference. Not long ago the Premier publicly stated that there was a great deal of im portant business to bring before Parliament at the next session, and a list of proposed legislation was named —a programme .sj extensive and embodying such debatable matter was submitted—that no matter how long the session might last, speaking generally, the outlined work would not have been finished. That was bsfore the days of Dreadnoughts. Now all is changed. The Premier has offered the Motherland a Dreadnought, and he is determined not to be left out in the cold while the Naval Conference is in progress. That is why we are told that the Premier does "not know of any ordinary I minor matters that require the immediate consideration of Parliament." For our own part we .cannot see huw the Dreadnought offer can possibly effect the importance and gravity of the political situation in New Zealand, unless it be that the cost of the contribution renders the situation all the more serious by calling for greater administrative skill and more caution and progress than has been displayed in the past. There are a large number of unemployed] in the country, and that number will be increased before the winter is over, but with the return of spring—and I Sir Joseph Ward —better times are looked for, and, perhaps, it is a diplomatic action on the part of the Premier to secure the prorogation of Parliament until times are better: It was, of course, perfectly open for Sir Joseph Ward to attend the Conference if he wished to do so. He is Minister of Defence, and as such he is invited to the Conference, but it seems .to us that there was only one ground on which he could properly ask .Parliament to adjourn, and that was if he could show that the Conference was of

such importance as to demand the presence of the head of the Government. Had it been made unmistakably clear that matters of the very gravest importance to the Empire as a whole were to be discussed, and that it was only proper and advisable that the political head of New Zealand, a component part of the Empire, should be present, so much so that it was proper to adjourn Parliamentary business in this country until the Conference was over, then Sir Joseph Ward would have been justified in making his proposal, as it is, it is beyond doubt that the Premier has been "piling it on," and we do not think the people of New Zealand will learn with any pleasure of the adjournment of Parliament. The Premier has signally failed to prove his case. Neither the Premier of Canada, nor of the Australian Commonwealth, will be present at the Conference, and it appears that of all the self-governing colonies New Zealand alone will be represented by its Premier. Sir Joseph Ward has gained his way, but we are inclined to the opinion that he will yet have to pay the piper.