WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1928, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

METHODS OF ELECTION. THE REFORM VIEW. (Special to “Guardian”.) WELLINGTON- June 28.

The, “ Dominion ” this morning holds tip to New Zealand electors the party chaos existing in France at the moment ns an example of what may befall them if they persist in sending the adherents of more than two parties to the Douse of Representatives. “Those people who arc playing with the idea of forming different groups to represent sectional interests in the New Zealand Parliament,” it says, V will do well to first consider how this policy works out in practice. An examination will convince them that the Dominion as a whole would suffer, and the sectional interests which they desire t > serve would hear their due burden ol the injury which would naturally flow from the evils- of unstable government inherent to the multi-party system.” This is the sort of sophistry with which every movement for electoral reform is confronted. The party that happens to la* in office insists that the system that has put it there is the best Flint can be devised and so government by minorities persists. LAND AND TAXATION.

The “ Evening Post ” which traditionally is •• ag’in ” the Government, and remains unhampered by pnrtiep. addresses itself quite frankly to Ml Cdates and bis colleague on the eve ol the opening of Parliament. “ hand settlement and the reform ol luxation,’ it says, “arc two urgent problems with which it is liighU desirable in the interests of the country and ol its own reputation, that the Ooveriinient should grapple. With land settlement it lias so far done very little, and there is foundation tor the taunt that it seems to be waiting in patience and hope for something to turn up. \\ ith the problem of taxation we fear that it must he confessed that the principal step taxon by the Government in the course of last session was in the wrong direction. The great obligations under which the country has been laid by the .Minister of Finance were appreciably reduced by a readjustment of taxation which gave relief to nobody and imposed an additional burden upon an already heavily loaded class.” Nor are these the most scathing things the evening journal has to say ol file Government- anil its sins at omission. DRIFTING.

At the moment it is the Minister of Finance that has fallen short of the expectation of this candid critic. “The Finance Minister,” it declares, “ has also in practice rejected the recommendation of the Tax Commission for the modification of the company tax. yet without proposing any equitable alternative for removing the grave injustice of the present system. It is probably finance that offers the Government the most obvious opportunity for curing much of the unpopularity from which it is suffering, but- both here and elsewhere it is imperative that the Government should develop a clear and positive policy of its own and remove the impression that it relies too much on the chapter of accidents and the demerits of its opponents.” Ii has been whispered abroad Clint the 1 lon. AY. f). Stewart has a modest reduction in the company income tax under consideration, hut so far he has made no .statement on the sithjecl himself. Tun aru n iushop’s strtcitrfs. Archbishop Averill’s trank attempt to “shake Now Zealand out of its complacent self-satisfaction” still is a subject of animated discussion here. No one is denying the right of His Grace to denounce the evils he knows to exist ; but there is a general feeling among observant people that when he proceeds to declare that the Dominion ■' leads the world in lunacy, suicides, prison population ” and other undesirable distinctions lie far exceeds the limits of fair criticism. In the case of “prison population,” for instance, it is quite unfair to imply that New Zealand has a larger proportion of crime, involving imprisonment, than has the .Mother Country. The truth is that Enghriul has a much better system of dealing with offenders than the Dominion has and does not pack them off to gaol when there is any other more humane and effective way of dealing with them. Other charges 'are capable of a similar explanation and it is maintained that the Archbishop’s strictures should have been cast upon the politicians rather than upon the mass of the people.