THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1913. THE "OUTS" AND THE "INS."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 5 September 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1913. THE "OUTS" AND THE "INS."

The proceedings in the Jfew Zealand Parliament of late have been of such a disgraceful character that people in the country are wondering whether it is really worth while .paying £50,000 or £60,000 a year to maintain an institution which devotes most of its time to party wrangle and bickering. It seems as though the sole objective of the majority of our legislators is the occupation of the Treasury benches. The "ins" fight always, whether right or wrong, to retain their position, while the "outs" clamour desperately, and without scruple, to secure th 9 reins of office. The whole business is most humiliating, when viewed from the standpoint of national progress and development. Is it possible that everything the Government may do, or propose, is fundamentally wrong ? We arc compelled to this conclusion if we admit that the Opposition is justified in its criticism and its votes. On the other hand, oan it be assumed that the Government is al.vays right because it has' a majority in Parliament at its back which answers to the crack of the party whip ? When we read the debates in the House and peruse the division lists, we are amazed at the exhibitions that are made in the name of democratic government. Can this country expect to prosper when its affairs are controlled by men who place personal and party considerations before those of the national wel-. farep Have our representatives in Parliament no ideal above party? Have they no sense of individual responsibility? Can they not rise above the petty considerations of self? Is there no better occupation for men claiming the distinction of being "legislators" than to blacken and besmirch the characters of those who are opposed to them in politics? Can we claim that our Parliamentary institutions are other than travesties when exhibitions of spite, petulance, recrimination, vindictiyeness »nd into]-

eranoe takes the place of legislation "of the people, for th© people, by the people?" The present Parliament has now been in session for ten weeks, or thereabouts, and nearly the whole of that time has been devoted to bitter recrimination and party strife, to squabbles over trifling administrative incidents, to ebullitions of vanity, to exuberance in verbosity, and to a wanton disregard for the true and beat interests of the oountry. If this is what party government produces; if this is what we may expect from our Parliamentary institution, then all we can say. is that the name "Legislature" is a mockery and a reproach upon civilisation. It is worse. It is a sacrifice of manhood to the base and degr-tding influence of self. It is no vindication of the attitude of those who occupy seats in Parliament, and bring sbame and disgrace upon themselves by subordinating all considerations to those of party, that similar conduct has been permitted in the past. We are presuming to be more intelligent every year. We are laying tha foundation of a nation which we hope to be manly and virile. We are demanding the fullest recognition as an unit of that great Empire upon which the sun never sets. At. times we are wont to be proud of our national accomplishments. And yet we have not been able to cultivate a sufficient pride in our legislative institutions to enaible us to produce a Parliament with a soul above the parish pump or an aspiration beyond that of place and the emoluments of office. We may talk as w.e will about our progressive and humanitarian legislation, and about the freedom of our people and their institutions. But when we remember that those who are entrusted with the making of our laws are mere puppets; when we realise that they are bound hand and foot by the shackles of party; when we consider that lust for office and greed for power are the essence of our so-called Legislature, we blush for the very name of freedom* Why, there is not what may be termed a ' 'free' 'man in the whole of the eighty whom we have sent to the House of Representatives. There is not one who votes always as he thinks, or thinks always as he votes. There is not a man amongst the lot of them who dares to do the right, because it is right. They axe all, more or less., humbugging themselves, and humbugging the people. Can we expect, in such circumstances, that our laws shall be righteous or our rational •life pure? Hag the time not arrived when the dictates of oommon-sense and the force of public opinion, chastened by a knowledge of what is right and wrong shall demand that the first reform shall be the liberation of our Parliamentary institution from a slavish adhesion to party ?