The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 1883. THE CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1467, 27 August 1883, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 1883. THE CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

About tho end of this week thecurtuin is supposed to full mi ihe Parliamentary Session of 1883 Honorable legislative Councillors, and equally honorable Membeis oi the House of Representatives will draw the balance of their easily earned Parliamentary wageß, and depart to their homes. The session has been an nnmemorable one, and " insigniGcance" has been its characteristic, An average lot of legislative patching has beon go: through,'and a fair crop of legislative cobbling is the result. The country is fairly satisfied. It expected but little from the Session and therefore it is not disappointed, We are fairly prosperous, and while in this happy slate we tolerate a.good deal,. Our prosperity, however, is scarcely due to good government. It is uot too much to say that the Frozen Meat Enterprise has done more for the immediate prosperity of the colony than the Whitaker Cabinet, We owe to the ministers now in power the inestimable blessings of mauhood suffrage alid triennial parliaments,' and before their lamp goes out they promise us an elective Upper House. These things are grand things, but the fruit .they bear is very weak and tasteless. Our reformed House of Representatives is certainly a poor weak body, and its. delegates, the Ministers are nil, with the exception ol John Bryce, light weights, There is a Constitutional party in New Zealand, but it is almost as weary as Mr Monioombry can be of the Whiiaker Cabinet. We despair of a really goad strong Government from a Ministry of which Mr WiHTAKEit is the nominal and Major' Atkinson the actual leader. It is also hopeless to look for help from the Opposition party which is still more insignificant than the Ministerial side. We venture to hope that during the next Sessiop of Parliament or immediately after it, the Ministerial party will split up, This year it haa been triumphantly strong in- the House, but apparently the condition of' ito strength was that it was not to exert it. The country requires that certain grave questions such as local self-govern-ment ahould be established'on some permanent basis. Tho Ministry with i.ta : overwhelming majority is incapable ot responding to this demand. IU policy is to postpone difficulties rather than to face them, and we must be contented to wait till the country becomes thoroughly sick of milk and water Government before any change for the better can be expected. In the meanwhile country settlers should organize Associations throughout the colony for the free discussion of political questions, and force on Parliament and, through it on any Ministry which enjoys its confidence, the necessity of giving the colony some better return for its money than the session of 1883 has yielded,