PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1410, 10 April 1912, Page 6

PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

Sir, —The essence of Parliamentary government is that. the Royal prerogative of administration, shall bo in the hands of men who belong to a party which commands for the timo a. clear working mojority in the representative Chamber of tho Legislature. The- only guarantee for this which wo have, in a self-govern-ing colony is in tho instructions of tho Secretary of State to tho Governor, which directs him to choose his Ministers from the party which lias such a majority in the House of Representatives. In this respect tho constitutional aspect of things does not appear to mo to bo satisfactory. What are tho facts? After a general election the party in office only succeeded in gaining an evenly-balanced Houso with the help of two members who violated their pledges to their constituents. Then the Speaker, by giving them his casting vote, saves them from technical defeat. This not being satisfactory, a scratch Ministry with a leader is got together from the sariio party; whereupon the old Prime Minister resigns. Then the new team, who have not met Parliament, start off to the Governor, who has them all duly sworn into office, to stay thero till Parliament meets, forsooth, in June. And this is Parliamentary government in Jfew Zealand! In thus acting, tho Governor, in view of his instructions, must be presuming that these men have, or would have, a majority in the House. Where is tho warrant for this presumption? All that has preceded appears to raiso just the opposite presumption. And in exercising such a discretion, the Governor, wo infer, considers he is fulfilling his instructions. A large number of electors, of whom tho writer is one, do not believe that a Governor has any such dis cretion, and that his plain duty in ths circumstances was at onco to call Parlia ment together. Thus, for some three months a Ministry unknown to Parliament is to administer at its own sweet will tlie most vital affairs of the country, to handle enormous sums of money, ' to make in the Public Service great appointments, the , High Commissioner among them, oarrying with them great salaries, and all this without the control, direct or indirect, of Parliament. Truly responsible government in New Zealand is a peculiar thing. How is the Governor to know if a Ministry has the Tequisite majority until it meets the House? And if the Governor, by his peculiar action, claims that ho is fulfilling his instructions, he is claiming a discretion which is apparently new to the practice of Parliamentary government in New Zealand. Assuredly if this claim be admitted it will be a most dangerous precedent, and' it is difficult to see where the limit will bo. Hoping that this most serious and dangerous state of things will not be allowed to remain as it is.—l am, CONSTITUTIONAL.