The Dominion FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1917. THE GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3178, 31 August 1917, Page 4

The Dominion FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1917. THE GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENT

It ] s a standing grievance with the little group of members of the .House of Representatives who make a point of baiting the National Government that under the existing conditions ,of party truce Parliament is denied an opportunity of performing its proper functions. ir ele l S about the powers that should be exercised by the representatives of the people being transferred to a sot of boards, and at the same time it is contended, by the minority referred to, that the Government has arrogated authority to which it is not entitled. The remedy, we are invited to believe, is a general election. Mr.' Veitch echoed these complaints and endorsed the demand for a general election when he spoke in tho Imprest debate on Wednesday night, tut he got a little nearer to tho heart of tho matter when he said that contempt was felt by the electors for the weakness and supineness of the present Parliament. This is harsh language, but it is undeniable that Parliament has out rather a poor figuro in the days' since the National Government was formed. In general the House of Representatives has been relegated to a secondary role. It has been even slower than the National Government to adapt itself to new conditions. Constructive criticism has not heen entirely lacking, but far too much time has been devoted to empty talk and trivialities. There has been far too much fault-finding and pin-pricking, which may afford an outlet for spleen but serves no useful and constructive purpose. It should be obvious to any sensible man that this state of affairs suggests its own remedy, and that the remedy is not a general election but an appreciation, as necessary in the case of Parliament as of the National Government, that unwonted conditions call for new methods and a new spirit. Members of Parliament have certainly had ample time to grasp the fact that .the conditions how obtaining demand a radical departure from the ways to which they were accustomed before the war, and if some of them have riot yet done so they have themselves to thank. Tho trouble with some of [ the members who complain moßt loudly seems ,to be that' they perceive only the negative aspects ancl limitations of the existing political situation. It is generally conceded that the destructive criticism and party conflict of pre-war days are now out of place. Recent departures from the rule thus implied have emphasised tho necessity of its being observed. But it is an,even more important fact t'hat existing conditions, with a National Government in office, afford unprecedented scope for really helpful and constructive criticism. There is no place for tho kind of criticism by which an Opposition, in pre-war days, used to do its best to turn the Government of the day out of office, but there is a greater need than over of criticism calculated to stimulate the Government to useful and purposeful activity and keep it on the right track. The ever-present weakness of a National Government in this country and in most other countries is that it is slow to act, and is apt to be timid when it ought to be enterprising. It is founded on a compromise, and compromise in general does not make for bold and enterprising action. The immediate justification of a National Government is that its formation eliminates the waste of time in useless bickering which is a standing feature of normal political procedure, but it is only by the right kind' of external stimulation and pressure that a political machine of this kind can bo made to work as it ought to work. It is a familiar fact that the National Government in this country has ofteu shown itself painfully lacking in initiative, and that it has done slowly and reluctantly things which it should have done promptly and readily, but Parliament, including those members who are so ready to condemn tho Government, is by no means free from blame in the matter. If members of Parliament as a body had made tho most of their opportunities in the direction of spurring on the Government and assisting to shape its measures none of them would now be complaining "that they are reduced to humiliating inactivity. What is really necessary is that private members should unite to stimulate the Government just as tho component sections of the Government have united to sharo the responsibilities of administration &fld draft measures of policy. Those members who have recently done their best to disturb the serenity of tho House of Representatives are open to reproof, not because they have sharply criticisod the Government, but because, as Sib James Allen told somo of them the other day, they liavo taken up the role of iconoclasts, whereas what iH wanted is constructive criticism. It is quite safo to say that a vast majority of tho people of the Doinin-

lon do not want a general election, and would regard it as an unpardonablo waste of time and money. "What tho country does want from the Government and Parliament is useful work, .and those members of tho House of Representatives who have not realised tho fact would bo wise to do so, and shape their course and conduct accordingly.