MINORITY RULE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 138, 7 December 1929, Page 8

MINORITY RULE

DOMINION'S PLIGHT

TARDY REFORM

(Written by S. Saunders.)

Tho uno tiling failrly certain iv connection with th(3 by-election now in progress ■in Uio Hult constituency, necessitated by the retirement of tlie j Hon. T. U. Wilford to take up the High j Cummiiisiuucrship in London, is that j the successful candidate, whichever of | the trio hi; may be, will not figure as the chosen representative of a majority nt the electors immediately concerned. I Ho in all probability will l>o :i "niin-! ority representative"—that is, he will! have made his way into Parliament by I convincing fewer than half the electors' that he is "a fit and proper person" to! promote the best interests of the con-1 stituency and ita people. The consolation that may be offered him in advance in this respect ia that his position as the chosen representative of the electors or. Jlutt will be no more anomalous than is that of the thirty-eight members already sitting in the House, and enjoying all its privileges and emoluments in spite of the fact that at the General JMoctiou last year a majority of the votes m their respective constituencies were cast against them. Of these thirtvoight minority representatives—four of them now Ministers of the Crown— live polled fewer than 40 per cent, of the votes recorded in their constituencies, and an additional sixteen fewer than 47 per cent. Further, as each of twenty-six seats was contested by no more than two candidates, it follows that only a very small proportion of the members of the House can claim to have any very definite mandate from the people of the Dominion, or even from those within their own constituencies. There is no occasion just -now to discuss in detail the vagaries of the electoral system of the Dominion, and the editor, no doubt, would look askance at any such intrusion upon his columns at this season of the year- but it is time for New Zealand to be'waking up to the fact that in this respect it is lagging behind practically all the progressive countries of the world. THE HOME COUNTRY MOVES. The need for reform in this direction both in New Zealand and in the Mother Country has been emphasised again and again by thinking people and at last the Mother Country seems to £c on the verge of placing its house in order More than a century and a half thft i, r,^ B l Urke ' lookin S Awards this goal, laid down that "the virtue the spirit, the essence of the House of Commons, consists in its being the express image of the nation" and later on added to this pronouncement the axiom that "the object of our deliberations is to promote the good purposes for which elections have been instituted, and to prevent their inconveniences.'; In our own day we have bie m 7 °,Vl ce l)ute expounding the same gospel. "We never shall be satisfied, tnd t° i ™- contmue our exertions," said Lord Bukenhead when Lord High Chancellor in the Lloyd.George Cabinet, until every election conducted in this country tor public purposes is conducted by the principles and the methods or. proportional representation. We shall pursue that ultimate purpose because we are convinced that only by the application of these principles can wo restore reality and stability to our representative institutions." Simi w Stai C"lentS mado b^ other Prominent public men in the Mother Country already have been quoted. Mr. Lloyd George's protest will bear repetition: " c nave got an anomalous, uniust and grotesque electoral system," the leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons declared, "which is a fraud and a mockery of democracy." As is ??r' a ll y kuOWn' Mr- Ll°yd George after the recent General Election at Home made the Liberal support to the Labour Party conditional upon Mr Bamsajr Mac Donald, the new Prime Minister, embarking upon a scheme of electoral reform. It was understood tnat the preliminary inquiry would IZr 1 thf Kh °le field of P«liamenta y including an examination of plural voting, second ballot, proportional representation, and the use hrfn™& S; bnt- so far no definite marifraila Cb°re! erning Pr°greSS MULTIPLICATION OF PARTIES. The- multiplication of parties in Parliament, both here and in the Mother Country, is one of the inevitable results of the widening of the franchise and the extension of political education. The three- party system is hero to stay definitely, however Mr. Harold Johnston, the Reform candidate for the Hutt soat, may strive to induce the Labour lamb to lie down with the Reform lion, and parties and governments will have to adjust themselves and their aspirations to the new conditions. The three party system which may be multiplied as the years roll on, at the moment is presenting many new and obtruse problems both m London and in Wellington. On the Continent of Europe such problems are solved by coalitions and affiances of a closer or looser nature, and they seem in most pases to serve their purpose well enough in the estimation of the peoples concerned. Discussing this subject at the Liberal Summer School at Cambridge a few months ago Mr. Ramsay Muir said of the parliamentary position in England what might be said of the parliamentary position in New Zealand. "When there is, as now," ho told his audience of eager students, "a balance of three or more parties, the Government can carry no measure for which it cannot obtain the support of at least one of the other parties, which moans a majority not only in Parliament, but also in the country. Few people have sufficiently realised that a balance of parties is the only way of ensuring that the will of the real majority prevails. And this is the essence of democracy." Though one may be disposed to differ from Mr. Muir in his definition of the component parts of democracy, it is easy to agree with him whon he says that it is essential to the working of the three party system "that one at least of the parties out of office should frankly abandon the old doctrine that' it is the first duty of the Opposition to oppose." This is equivalent to say that in tho present Parliament the New Zealand Labour Party has played the better part. READJUSTMENTS. The position of the Liberal Party in England at the present time is in some respects similar to the position of the Labour Party here. One may say as much as this without casting any reflection upon Mr. Lloyd George or Mr. H. E. Holland, and without suggesting any slur upon Sir Joseph Ward or Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald. The Home Liberal .Council recently adopted a series of first principles, so to speak, which propounded a new code of party etiquette and procedure. Three of the more important of these "Official Regulations" may be quoted:— (1) The Opposition should no longer regard the ousting of the Government as its primary end; but should do everything within its power to facilitate the conduct of public affairs without foregoing the right of free and reasonable criticism. Tho council expects 'that this public spirited policy will be pursued by the Liberal Parliamentary Party whatever party may be in office. (2) The Government ought not to resign or threaten to resign pa any

but a vital issue, and should on minor issues accept the judgment of Parliament. (<'J) A minority Government ought not to have the right to dissolution unless and until every alternative means of carrying on government without a dissolution has been tried.

Here surely aro suggestions for the readjustment of the party machine which should appeal to members of Parliament as well as to their constituents. The country is definitely and irrevocably committed to the three party system, with the prospect of four and iive party systems following with the passage; of time, and any attempt to confine political thought to only two channels would be to promote feud and discord and inefficiency to the public Hfo of tho whole Dominion. Proportional representation will come in the near or in the distant future, and meanwhile tho adoption of the tolerant spirit of tlie British Liberal Council would go far to moderate the asperity of many impetuous politicians who have not yet learnt that the duty of an Opposition is not wholly to oppose.