The Wairarapa Daily TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1889. The Meeting of Parliament.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3204, 14 May 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1889. The Meeting of Parliament.

For some reason that has never been satisfactorily explained the Parliament of Hew Zealand never meets until about three months of the new financial year have passed. The Appropriation Act of a session is always passed so that it will cover

expenses to the 81st March in the year following the session, which is the end of the financial year, and whatever money is spent after that is really spent illegally, though the Auditor-General pisses the accounts as they come before liim, probably from sheer force of habit. 'This year Parliament is not to meet till the 20th of June, which is very nearly three months after the end of the financial year, and another month will probably be allowed to elapse before an interim Act is passed. There is something very lax in this way of dealing with publio funds, The Government itself in all its dealings starts with tho hard and fast assumption that all men are rogues, and that they mnst be cautiously dealt with, Tho people of the solony should insist that their Ministers should not be looked upon as saints, and that they, should be treated the same as ordinary mortals. We dpnot mean to insinuate that our public men arc dishonest; but while Parliament has to pass the money that is required for public use it would be just as well that it passed it for the whole year in place ofjfor six months, There is no valid reason at all why Ministers should be allowed to carry on publio business for three months ormore without having authority to spend a single a sixpence. It is simply a bad habit that has been acquired, and which should bo got rid of at once. There is no reason why Parliament should not meet in time to pass the supplies required at the beginning of the financial year, nor would there be anything improper in supplies being granted for three months beyond the end of the financial year if it were not convenient to call Parliament together before mid-winter. Either course would, at any rate, he perfectly constitutional, and would not constantly remind us that the proverbial coach and four can be driven through every Act of Parlipent.