THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1901.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 171, 4 July 1901, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1901.

AiiTDST the excitement engendered by the Royal visit, the. opening of Parliament on Monday | has been ecarcely heeded..- r i his may be due* to a great extent, to the fact that Parliament consists ] virtually of one, party, for the: Liberals under Mr Seddon completely overshadow .all others. This wo cannot contemplate without some measure of disquietude, for, excellent as- most of the Government ideas have been, it will not do to allow them to embody in a Bill the unopposed caprice of a moment and' thereby entail serious consequences on the colony. An incident which occurred on Tuesday exemplifies the danger. An Imprest Supply Bill for £570,000 was introduced by. Goyernnr-*a, message. Seddon said that the immediate passage of the Bill was necessary, owing to the fact that the time had elapsed by two days in which the Government Could make unauthorised payments* Captain Russell protested against a Bill of this nature being passed before the Address-in-Reply was carried. To do so was a violation of con--stitutional practice and principle. The financial year, endwd on March 31st, and the proper course would have been to call Parliament together af an earlier date, say at the end of , May. To pass this Bill now would be a bad precedent, and the House would do wrong in allowing it* Sach a course as was now proposed was without precedent, and he hoped the House would agree that there was no necessity for passing such a Bill and that the Government was to blame for putting the

House into such a position. Mr Seddon moved to suspend Standing, Order No. 414, in order to permit the Government fra proceed with the Imprest Supply Bill. This was an abnormal condition of affairs, and hid to be dealt with as such. A short, early session for the purpose of making a provision of this kind would have been inconvenient and expensive, and he considered the House should pass the ■ Billy which was merely for the payment of current expenditure. The present course was not without a precedent,, and he claimed that the Grown could ask for supply at any time. Mr Speaker would have been the first to call attention to any invasion of the privileges of the House. If the House had met in May ; there would have been no Financial Statement, but merely the Governor’s speech and the Imprest Supply Bill. Mr Herries said that they recognised that the Bill would have to be passed,- but the Opposition desired to protest against the continual evasion of the standing orders* Mr J. Allen “urged that even if it had been inconvenient for members to attend in May,- that should not have been allowed to stand in the : way of their doing their duty to the colony. Sir J. G. Ward contended that the course now ,proposed to be taken was not against the spirit of. the standing orders. On a division, Mr Seddon’s motion for the suspension of the standing order was agreed to by 39 to 12. In this instance, we do not think that serious harm has been done, : but it shows what could happen at any time. The need- for a strong Opposition was neVer greater than at present,, but members evidently see that it-is futile .to struggle against the Premier’s strong personality, and 'many measures ' are; placed .and will bo placed on the Statute Book without adequate consideration. Social questions arc admittedly, the most difficult of all to deal with, and without a thorough knowledge, of social and 'political economy,, of cause and of effect, the inevitable result of wholesale legislation will Ibe. chaos. Even now there Is visible a shadow of the future. Everywhere is heard the cry. that the cost of living is going -op. In Dunedin the other. 4ay the Goal Merchants*' Association nor ; tified that coal would be risen';!® per ton. The mine-owners having? to pay increased wages, nhd being put ts some .expense in insuring themselves against their liability, in case of accident; increase the price of ccai to merchants* .The latter at once pass on the increased cost to the consumers who is compelledto pay for it,fptho otnnot do without fuel. This isonly one instance of what the nextyeacor two will bring forth. Wages have increased inp very direction, and thisgiyes anexeose to many

industries to pat on' an increase doable that warranted. This course followed in every case means that a 25 per cent, increase of wages’ will mean- 5C per cent. ■ extra expense*, a clear loss of 25 per cent, to the worker. This 4 will also hold good in the case of the retailer, and of the larger merchants, right back to the inanufaeturer* so that the country will be but little benefited-. The increase in tho necessaries of life ’will fall heavily on our farming population j while even should the wheat rise, Bour and bread will rise too> and the last state will be worse than the first. Could we find the ready money the storm ; might lie more easily weathered, but long credit exists to such an alarming extent throughout the colony that it is only by superhuman efforts many, businesses are made to pay at present* For these the future presents no very attractive picture. .Under such circa mst anCes,t he only hope of meeting a period of depression lies in allowing our present Acte to prove themselves before we embark on more intricate paths. The issue is in the hands of one man, let us hope he will realise it to the full, and study well before he acts.

This Hoff. W. Hall-Jones, Minister of Public Works, is at the present moment more prominently before the public than at ftny other time iniish political career, if we except the occasion, o! the Commission into the. “ Marine Scandal.” An article in our last issue gave the Whole of the circumstances, and stated that Mr Hall-Jones” committee were anxiously awaiting a reply as to whether the Minister had actually resigned or. not. He replied that 1m was “ mystified,” but gave no answer to the question t His committee is still waiting, while presumably the Minister is using the waters at Rotorua in blissful ignorance of the storm h& actions is raising in the outer,world. Whether Mr Hall-Jones is joking, and refers to the " mist ” arising from the hot water baths, or whether, as > Christchurch paper suggests, he has a familiar spirit, who despatches unauthorised tele* grams, is still a mystery. The Minister has hod ample time since Friday to reply. If he were really “ mystified ” he could surely have asked for an explanation, whichwould have been speedily forthcoming, and the dignity of the Minister would have been preserved. As it is, his reply has made him the most laughed at , politician in. the country*