Morning journal and courier., 1894-05-05
A BOLD COUNTRY.

Little is known about New Zealand in this part of the world, but that country is the scene of the boldest and most progress sive experiments in legislation and govern ment that are being made on the face of the earth. A report from Consul Conolly at Auckland tells about some of them. He says that in 1890 the people showed their displessure at the manner in which the af fairs of the country had bssn conducted by defeating the government which, with slight changes, had ruled the country through the borrowing period, and also through the era of unexampled depression. The power of labor was now felt for the first time in the history of New Zealand politics, owing to the abolition of plural voting aud property qualification. An era of land and labor legislation was inau9ur ated which, for boldness of conception, practical exs cution and broad and enlight- ened progret siveness, has not been equalled by any country in modern times. The consul makes references to only few of the acts against what he terms interruptions pro-
  ies which inflicted irrepsrable loss. One | of these made the directors and promoters of such undertakings collectively and indi. vidually liable to the shareholders. and ef- fsctually stopped the formation of worth less institutions, which had hitherto flour. ished at the expense of the people. Another the Employers Liability act, afforded pro teotion to labor, both as to wages and re sponsibility in case of injury. The Fscto. ries act did away with poorly lighted and uucleanly kept workrooms, provided gov ernment inspectors to enforce It's ralee and prescribed that persons of certain aeel should not work more than four and a hal hours without an interval for a meal, ani had similar provisions. Other 1eeis lation has been accomplished, ant though many of the laws have been char acterized as aocialistic and revolutionary they are all said to be working admirabl, and giving general satisfaction. Ther has been no attempt to tear down estab lished interests, but to elevate the condi ton of the masses by placing withi, their reach education and msteris prosperity. The State is looked to t. do almost everything. It is expected to form roads and build bridges fl the country, to find remunerative occupa ton for ths unemployed, as we'll ss t support asylums. hospitals and chsritsbl institutions for the aged, poor and tn helpless and infrm members of society It owns and operates the railroads of tn colony, the postofiees and telegraph an
 telephone lines, out of which there is mad . considerable annual profit that goes t swell the general revenue, thereby r,
 lieving taxation to that extent. The,
 is also . government life insurane
 department which enters into spirite
 competition for business with both loc
 and foreign companies. There Is also
 government savings bank. which, with Il
 insurance department, yields a handson
 profit every year. The public works q
 conducted on the cooperative pfincipi
 under government direction, and the sy
 tam has given great satisfaction.
 It will be curious it the making over
 the world has really begun in New Z.alan \ It is certain that what may be progress z Aourishing there jast now.
 |