The Globe. MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1875.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 472, 20 December 1875, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1875.

There is one proposal which has been brought prominently bpfore the electors of Christchurch, which deserves serious consideration at the hands of our representatives during the coming session. We refer to the questions of Triennial Parliaments. One of the great objections raised against the placing of all legislation for the colony in the hands of one central body, is the difficulty of influencing our representatives, and of making them feel their responsibility to the people. It has therefore been urged that it would be wrong and impolitic to destroy those institutions whose working is immediately under the popular eye, and which therefore more truly represent the voice of the people. Of course the answer to such an argument is easily found. It has been proved that provincial institutions, however th9y may foster local public opinion, are hurtful to the growth of a healthy national spirit, that they have been ruinous to the finances of the colony, and are entirely unnecessary now that our means of communication have been so greatly extended. For these reasons they ought to be swept away, and if public opinion is not sufficiently brought to bear upon the members of the House which remains, steps must be taken to create it. Triennial Parliaments would largely assist in this direction. If our representatives were conscious that every third year they would have to appear before their constituents to give an account of their stewardship, they would be more careful than they are apt to be, to study conscientiously every question which comes before them in the House. They would hesitate before they acted from selfish or crooked motives, if they knew that in a short time hence, their reasons would be closely scrutinized by an unsympathetic constituency. The effect of such a change would be equally beneficial upon the electors of the colony. If every three years, they had rival candidates seeking their suffrages, they could not fail to acquire an increased taste for, and interest in, politics. This increased interest would bring out many candidates which under the present system are never heard of. And thus not only would the change we advocate, tend to educate the electors themselves into an increased acquaintance with public affaire, but a better class of candidates would be brought forward. Provincialism had just the opposite effect. It brought out candidates enough, but their chances of return were in proportion to the narrowness of their views. The small extent of the electoral districts and the petty interests at stake, had a dwarfing effect upon all who had to do with them. Under the new order of things, the result will be very different. With local affairs managed by local bodies under the immediate eye of those interested, the chances are that they will be better administered than under provincialism, while on the other hand a more lofty and statesmanlike tone will be given to the deliberations of the Assembly charged with the management of the affairs of the united colony.