The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1889. Colonial Parliaments

Feilding Star, Volume X, Issue 128, 4 May 1889, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1889. Colonial Parliaments

A most interesting paper in the " Nineteenth Century," from which we shall make some brief extracts, gives us cause for grave reflection. The writer, in a comparison between the various Australian Parliaments, places the Victorian at the top, where he says discreditable conduct amongst its members is held to be unbecoming, and the New South Wales Parliament at the bottom, of which he says : " There are more men in it of that peculiar stamp, who, by their blackguardism, their ruffianly behaviour, their total disregard of the cou.-tesies of debate, anl the dio:ates of de c. c , have done so much to drag Parliamentary institutions into contempt and abhorrence." On the same subject a leading Australian paper says : " Very few Parliaments of the present day find but it their chief difficu ty to protect themselves against corrupt or mischievous members." Our readers will naturally say the press reports have made us acquainted with all this, but where's the remedy ? The writer we quote goes on to sa} : "If you attach remuneration to a seat in Parliament, you hold out a bait to the needy and greedy, who wish not to serve their country, but to live upon her." " One is the inevitable result of the other," and adds that New Zealand — one of the fairest countries on earth, teeming with natural wealth and blessed with its climate — has gone near to be ruined by her Parliament. We are not a nomadic digging population, in these parts, where the most talkative trickster, or a nominee of the biggest ring, may be given the opportunity to provide for himself and his friends, but we are rational and bona fide residents, who, in endeavoring to carve out homes for ourselves and a future for our offspring, should endeavor to raise our Parliament out of men for each of whom we feel respect. We don't entiiely agree with the abolition of payment of members so far as regards the expense they are of uecrfssity put to while attending Parliament, but merely point out that that is the greatest flaw in Colonial Parliaments from the stand point of the " Nineteenth Century." Our New Zealand M.H.R.B appeared to fully recognise this when they voluntarily reduced the " payment to members." A late memb r, who was an artisan, once ea'd that it was a matter of business, as he could make better wages than at his trade, and save the exertion. This is what we want to avoid, as honor and high principle must vanish when the potboiler calculates the marketable value of his vote.