The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1885. CONSTITUTION-MONGERING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2019, 18 June 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1885. CONSTITUTION-MONGERING.

It is all old saying tbat the people who are the happiest are those whose laws are not subject to frequent changes, We will not go so far as to say that the people of this colony have been made miserable by legislation, because so long as they are allowed to eat their bread anil butter in peace, it would be impossible to make thetn so; but it nmst certainly be admitted that there is not a fundamental principle laid down in our laws that is not subject to frequent attempts to change it, It appears to have become quite a' recognized thing that every new Ministry that tubs office must be prepared to propose radical amendments in some of the laws which closely effect the Constitution, and if they are unsucceslul, their days of office arg numbered. It is not so long ugo that the samo feeling was rampant in Victoria, where a great deal of harm was About the only principle that was adhered to throughout was that of protection, South Australia is still agitated in a similar way, and New South Wales is m almost the same State of uncertainty as to what any coming session may bring. "We believe, however, that there is not one of these colonies in which the fever has run so high as ill New Zealand. The land laws of the Colony are a favorite topic, the native lands another, and local government a third,. On looking thrbiigh the Statutes it will be found that no less than five Couutieis Acts are at present in force, the first of them having bebti passed in 1876. There are seven District Court Acts, dating from 1858; four District Railways Acts, dating from 1877; three Animals Protection' Acts, dating from 1880; six Land Transfer Acts, dating from 1870; ten Native Lands Acts, dating from 1873; four Property Assessment Acts, dating from 1879; and five Public Health Acts, the first of which was passed in 1876, There are many other instances which we could quote, but we think the above will be sufficient to show that the Statute Book is tremendously overloaded, although a Commission has beeu sitting for some years for die purpose of consolidating the Acts as much as possible. "We think the fault of all this lies entirely with the Legislature, for it would be absurd to say that the people have a craving for over-legislation. If we go back to the time when a Constitution was granted lo the Colony, there wore naturally many subjects that demanded legislation; and it seems as if'the spirit which then caused our legislators to act for the general good, has continued

to agitate them over ninci*, but without guiding, them in the least. Apd thus we find our system of local government, of providing churitable aid, of settling Crown Lands, taxation,' and many .others, are subjectto continual clilnges, which ciin only cause irritation and a goneral feeling of insecurity, Unfortiinately' the only remedy which suggests itself lies 1 entirely with the Legislature itself; but until it takes a pattern from that of the United Kingdom, which does not strive year after year to alter the mode of taxation, the the form of local Government, or the many other important. features of British law, it will continue to do as much lWm as good 'by its meddling,