THE PUBLISHED DAILY. . THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1072, 4 January 1872, Page 2

THE PUBLISHED DAILY. . THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1872.

The question as to the compatibility of an Upper House boing consistent with true representative Government has been frequently raised, and the result has so often ! been arrived at that it is incompatible— that its continued existence is only a matter of time. The Upper House of a Nation or Colony is supposed to represent either what might bo called "vested interests," or else an oligarchy or beaureau- ! cracy, having for its aim a desire to check the true representative institutions nf a people. The House of Lords is an hereditary body, which holds its power by virtue of its birthright, and the only check upon its holding absolute power is that possessed by the Sovereign and tho Government of the day to create . new Peers, in order to pass any measure ; or the power possessed by the Sovereign, but rarely exercised, of vetoing its acts. This was done in the case of the Abolition of Army Purchase Bill, while discussions have arisen in the Lower House, or Houso of Commons, notably on the Ballot Bill, as to the desirability of the abolition of the House of Lords, and some of the ablest writers on political economy, including Stuart Mill, advocated this course ; for after all the House of Lords is only a shadow, as thanks to the jealous spirit with which the Lower House lias insisted on its rights and privileges from the days of the Plantagenets and Tudors, and which were materially increased during the Commonwealth, the House of Lords has lost all control over the purse of the Nation, and we have shewn, it is within the power of tlie Government and the Sovereign to nullify it acts altogether. Not only has the two Houses been thrown into collision in the Old Country, but also in the Colonies, which have adopted a3 its model tho constitution of tho Home Government in the formation of Upper and Lower Houses. The nearest approach to representative Government, in the shape of an Upper House is in Victoria, and here the two houses have been generally at variance. Tho Legislative Council, or Uppor House, as the representative of the squatocracy and tho mohied class, have continually opposed all measures either for throwing open the lands or for legislating en mining matters, or extending the franchise* while it has constantly been at war with the various Governors, including Sir Henry Barkly,. Sir Charles Darliug, and the present Governor, Viscount Canterbury. Regarding the Upper House, Mr Gavan Duffy, the Chief Secretary for Victoria, in a speech delivered at Ballarat on the 21?t ult., says relative to its exercising its power of throwing out of bill :- ;; Now, I have always desired to maintain a second Chamber as a check on hasty legislation, and I still desiro to maintain it.' But if a second ' Chamber employs its power in promoting the personal or class' interests of its members, and thwarting the public in-' teresta of tho community — if it meets, as it did last session, less than forty times, at a cost to the country of nearly £400 a sitting, merely to. spoil or to destroy the work done by the representatives of the people— l would nob like to insure its life in a democratic community. To. prolong its existence one of two things is distinctly necessary. Its actual position in the state must be clearly fixed and acknowledged, or its constitution must be so reformed as to determine this question by lav. I have not the slightest sympathy with theoretical and non-practical questions of privilege ; but just as' it is necessary for the peace of a family that the husband who does the hard work aud bears all the burden shall, in the last resort, be master in the household, so between two chambers of the legislatuie, there aiust bo constant domestic strife unless it be settled where the ultimate authority lies In England, tbe question does not admit of the slightest doubt ; yet even there one vain and turbulent peer by exaggerated ' pretensious and rash aggressions is raising the doubt whether that ancient and venerable senate can maintain its existence. A change in the constitution of the Council has long been necessary. It was originally framed with a view to the members holding their emits twice as long as the members of the Assembly/, the one for five the other for ten years ; but the duration ot tbe Assembly has been reduced by statute to three years, and by dissolution to an average of under two years, so that one Council outlives five Assemblies. This .contrast is simply intolerable. It renders the members of the Council in many instances forgetful of their promises and indifferent to their constituents. Hitherto the practice has been in case of aggravated dispute, to dissolve the Assembly, in order to ascertain the opinion of tbe people with respect to the conduct of the Council. A more farcical practice is not to be found out of • Gulliver's Travels' than putting 78 persons to the cost of L2OO or 1.300 each to ascertain if 1/? other persons (that is to say a majority of the Council) have misbehaved themsolveer. If an appeal to the people shall become necessary in any contest with the Council while 1 am responsible for the management of public affairs, the only question I will be a party to sending for their decision is this one — whether any reform, and if bo what reform, will render the continued existence of the Council compatible with the interests of the country?" Mr Duffy also alluded to the selfishness of this body in inserting amendments in various Bills • that would only benefit themselves individually. If this is the case— if it is necessary to impose, checks and veto, the actions of the highest Bouse of Legislature in the world, and also to counteract the power of the elective Legislative Council of Victoria, how much.moro necessary is it cithcr'to abolish or else alter the constitution of the nominee jJpper House of New Zealand — : an institution whiety is utterly at variance with either the spirit pt the #ge or tl c functions of an administrative b.ody. It ia monstrous that, a House composed of not celebrated for any particu^

lar ability, and who are amenable* to no. body or. power fbr their' actions, should have power to throw out, alter, orobstruct any measuro that does not meet with their particular views, Qr.shich is beyond their comprehension. We have had a specimen of tlieir obstructiveuess in the last session of Parliament, and it was only by tho exercise of a certain amount of finesse on the part of the Lower House that a dead-lock — that might have been almost interminable — was avoided. No doubt tjib Upper House, like Provincial institutions were suited to a certain phuso of New Zealand history,; but that day is past, and tho sooner the Upper House is numbered among the things of a byegone age tlife better for its welfare.