The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1889.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2659, 27 July 1889, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1889.

Equal awl exact justice to all men, Ot whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

The theatrical display now being

enacted in the political arena in Wellington is a sickening spectacle to tiio people who have to pay dearly for it. The nineiy-five men who constitute the popular chamber of the legislature of New Zealand are, by a fiction only, supposedto be worthy of the classic and dignified name of the Senate or the Loium, and of presenting in their individual and collective numbers the concen-

tration of tho wisdom and sagacity of the country. They arc, in fact, a painful exhibition of accentuated folly. Had the boon of self-govern-ment, conferred upon us by the Constitution, laid down the principle that we must choose the biggest fools for our law-makers, it could not have been more faithfully or more consistently exemplified than the present and last Parliaments have shown it to be the case.

The absence of all regard for public opinion, the wild frenzied actions in pursuit of petty ambitions, the miserable party squabbles and unscrupulous intrigues resemble more the outcomes of irresponsible minds than the deliberate, calm, nil-

prejudiced conduct of common-sense, practical men who study the interests of the country before every other consideration. Popular Government, by representatives elected direct from the body of the people, seems an impossibility now. Iho experiment has been dragging itself along for years with terrible results to us who have the misfortune to be its victims. A huge debt, a complicated system by which our affairs are hopelessly muddled and misgoverned, an odious and oppressive taxation, a Parliament of political adventurers and mountebanks in such a state of disorganisation and confusion as to bo no less than a mockery, a scandalous travesty _of the instincts of pure legislation revolting to the intelligence of the people, whose welfare is at stake. Hie abuse of the privilege of this country's parliamentary institutions has been growing worse. Lusc year, under similar circumstances and when like antics were being indulged in by a collection of vam, self inflated political aspirants who, in an evil hour, were raised to the position of members of the Assembly, the patience of the country was severely tried. It is exasperating to be compelled to witness another exhibition of last year's performances, whilst the chaoticstateof ourlawsand national affairs are becoming worse confounded. It is intolerable that

men elected for the specific purpose of restoring the affairs of the colony to perfect order by the exercise of prudent and economical government, should defeat that very object by devoting their energies to sellish ends, wasting the time and money of their country, perpetuating its difficulties and the restlessness of its

ihabitants. Useful legislation is

unattainable in consequcnce of the antics of a set of professional obstructionists, an imitation of Irish irreconcileables, who act as though the sum and substance of a member's duty is to be always against the Government, be their measures what they may. The character of the New Zealand Parliament has degenerated to this extent that its members arc distinguished for no fixed principles 01 patriotic sentiments. They shift from Government to Opposition and back from Opposition to Government, as the fancy pleases them, personal feeling, not a broad national spirit, being their guide. Now, we find it the fashion more and more every session to have recourse to stonewalling; any little coterie of political nonentities, over-rat-intr their own importance and lilted with the complacent belief

that they represent public opinion, can use the forms of the to render the work of legislation impossible, and squander the colony's money. It is within the power of a rampant minority to bring public business to a deadlock. To sweep away with one fell swoop the whole of the constituent and disordered elements of the present House would be an effectual remedy. A. dissolution would in the present condition of things be for the good of the country, provided the electors were roused to a due sense of the evils arising from tho scenes that are now being witnessed to discriminate between the true and false metal, and not again return a similar class of representatives. Let us think of such a man as Ballance, the former Minister who expended £GO,OOO of the public revenue without the sanction of Parliament, and who now in an underhand and surreptitious manner seeks to procure a secret ballot of the members, in order to piive the way to repeal the .Act reducing the numerical strength of the House. The Speaker permitted him to do this thing. Mr Ballance is the tnan who might como into office with power and opportunities to do grievous evil to New Zealand, without conscience or scruple, and in defiance of public opinion. This object, the repeal of the Act referred to, is in reality the secret influence that is at work beneath the stonewalling and wrangle over the quota, Ihe giOiU purpose is to restore the uumbei of members to ninety-five, and the agitators are endeavouring to effect their nefarious design by crooked means, the Representation Bill being

the cloak by which their actions are disguised. It was only the other day that one of the Australian colonies reduced the number of members in its Parliament, without, causing any disorder, or endangering the safety of the commonwealth. Under the peculiar circumstances of this colony, the same course decided upon here was wise and honourable, and the people should see to it that the step is not reversed merely to please renegade politicians who fear political extinction.