Referendum.

Manawatu Herald, 1 December 1894, Page 2

Referendum.

. . .' !f'« The beautiful idea of our government shirking their responsibilities by putting any knotty poitJfc 'to tnfc vote of the public is receiving consideration in this colony, and' therefore the remarks of "Picaroon" in the Pall MaU'QixMWSHLOfcU out of place.

Writing on the Referendum he Btates " When a measure is proposed which is too complicated or too revolutionary to pass in the usual way, it will be placed before the Ration ; and then we shall all have to throw down our tools, take a week off from the office, neglect our own business, and sit down with wet round our heads to study the or complicated measure which our legislators will not assume the responsibility of passing. I do not like the notion at all. The present system is an admirable one. We select a certain number of men because they have money, or because they make too much noise, and say to them, " Go and legislate ;'' And then we go about our daily work. In our leisure moments we laugh at their flounderinga in toreign policy and their failures in finance, and write humorous letters to the papers about them. There is some fun in that. But it will be a different thing, if, at any moment, we may be called upon to give an opinion on these matters ourselves, and be held responsible for the opinions we give. It is just as though my lawyer should turn round in the middle of a case and ask me to decide on a technical point. It is just as though my doctor should stop in the midst of an operation and ask me to finish it. We do not expect our cook to suddenly cast upon us the responsibility of cooking the dinner. Nor is it fair that legislators, when they cannot make up their minds, should Bhift their duties on to the shoulders of peaceful and hardworking folk who consider that they have made adequate arrangements to get their legislating done for them.