The Globe. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1460, 21 October 1878, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1878.

In Committee of the Legislative Council on Friday night an amendment was agreed to in the Disqualification Act the effect of which, if it should subsequently receive the assent of the House, will be either to change materially the personnel of Parliamont, or to prevent mauy who are now taking an active part in local public affairs as members of the Education, Harbor, or Waste Lands Boards, from continuing to do so. By this Bill civil servants are properly debarred from becoming members of the House. The interpretation clause, however, exempted from this disability members of any Waste Lands Board, Education Board, Harbor Board, River Board, Senate or Council of any University, and members of a Royal Commission. In Committee, on the motion of Mr. Buckley, the exemption of members of all the Boards enumerated was cancelled, leaving only members of a University Senate and Royal Commissioners. Colonel Whitmore protested against the amendment, pointing out that there were not so many educated persons available, and if they told such persons they wcro cut off from taking part in the affairs of Parliament it would narrow the selection of men to act on the Boards. There is no complete roll of all the members of tho Boards enumerated to be had in the colony. But as applied to Canterbury alone six members certainly, and we think eight, would have to choose between resigning their seats in the House or consenting to abandon thenpresent useful activity in some important local matters. In one instance at least, that of Taranaki, all the members for the district are members of one or other of the Boards named, and in all, except Westland, some of the members discharge tho double set of functions. It becomos, therefore, ovident that the change mado by the Council would have tho effect of a radical revolution either upon the constitution of the Boards or the parliamentary representation of tho country. That tho House of Representatives will Jigreo to the amendment is highly improbable, and it is equally unlikely that the Council will insist upon it after conference with tho other Chamber. Nevertheless the opinion of the Legislative Council, as just expressed, is one which should not be lightly put aside as absurd on tho face of it. There is no doubt that considerable public inconvenience, and in one case at least a near approach to a great public scandal, has arisen from tho absence of many members of theso Boards in Wellington during eeyeral mouths of tho year. Where the Boards are elective it is evident that a considerable proportion of their constituencies aro for three months entirely unrepresented, a state of things which is

clearly undesirable, provided that any method of avoiding it, which did not involve a greater evil, conld ho pointed out. The whole question is this —Can tho country afford to place before its public men tho alternative of taking part either in such local affairs as are administered by those Boards, or in Parliamentary lifo, but not in both ? At present it may be said generally that the same men occupy both spheres of utility, and fulfil tho double dutios indiffarontly well. But will either business be bettor done by insisting that each shall be discharged by a separate set of men? Colonel Whitmore thinks not. He appears to hold that tho colony has not yet sufficient men to fill satisfactorily tho gaps which would bo created either in the Boards or in Parliament if the amondmont of the Council should bocoino law. Wo do not think that tho requisite ability is tho possession of so very few as to render the argument of much importance. In a country whore a Whitmoro and a Fisher are to be found in the position of Cabinet Ministers, no man need be diffident of his powers—no ono need think himself too huniblo or too little gifted to take the reins of government, provided ho can got hold of them.

Another and, it seems to us, a sounder argument against the change, though it was not advanced by tho Colonial Secretary, is, that while tho systems which tho Boards have to administer are still in their infancy and aro being constantly modified at tho hands of Parliament, it is highly desirable to have present in the House a number of those who most thoroughly understand tho systems, and have had tho best opportunities of gauging their excellencies and demerits. To take the case of the Boards of Education, who can doubt that the presence in Parliament of many members of the Boards, even though the latter are left half filled during tho sossion, is on the whole beneficial ? Although it may be truly said that in the matter of education all are, and, for at least a century hence, will continue mere theorists; yet it must be admitted that members of the Boards, who have personally and closely observed the shortcomings of tho established system, aro likely to be a shade less theoretical and more practical than their fellow representatives who have only second or third hand knowledge of the matter. Consequently until the system has assumed a form which there is reason to supposo will be pormanent, in other words until it is giving tolerable satisfaction to the public—which as yet it certainly does not—it is highly dosirable that those who best understand it should be present in Parliament to advise as to tho successive modifications which will inevitably bo necessary. Those modifications, tho stops towards perfection, aro suro to bo halting and laughable enough in any case, but that is no reason for making them yet more absurd, for rendering them perhaps backward instead of forward steps, by excluding the best wisdom, poor as it is, that the colony has from any part in directing the movement. A similar argument will apply, though with much diminished force, to the administration of matters connected with the harbors of the colony, to river conservation, drainage, and so forth. At the same time it is highly probable that when all these things shall have settled down into secure and well-ordered systems, the evil of having many members of the Boards of Administration absent during three or four months annually may greatly outweigh any good derived from their presence in Parliament. Then the time will have arrived for introducing the change proposed by the Council. But at present, while admitting that considerable inconvenience arises in some cases from the same men taking upon themselves the two sets of duties, wo are clearly of opinion that on the whole the advantages more than counterbalance the evils. As to the purity of Parliament, which forms the nominal object which the Disqualification Act aims to secure, there is no reason for believing it is affected one way or the other by the point in dobate.