AN ELECTIVE COUNCIL.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 61, 30 July 1879, Page 2

AN ELECTIVE COUNCIL.

Pebhaps one of the best measures to come before Parliament during the Session, is the proposition to abolish the nominee system of packing the CounciUghainber. In previous issues We spoil? very strongly upon its ill effects and advocated the course now proposed to be adopted. "We urgedthat the system qfjapDPintinsr members -Oi. mo AjotTTrcrr is without precedent m Colonial legislation, is radically bad, ij,nd leaves an opening for flagrant abuses. TliGre are at the present time eighty-six members of the House of representatives, and forty-si* Legislative Councilors, but the new .Eepresenta.. tion Bill will have the effect of still increasing that number. Until very lately, Victoria, with a population of close upon a million, was satisfied with thirty Legislative Councillors, and ninety members of Assembly, the proportion of the Lower to the Upper Houge being three to one, while JNew South. Wales, with its population of 700,000— 0r almost double that of New Zealand — has only twenty-one Councillors, and seventy -two Our remarks when writing uppn'the question are so pertinent to the point, i}.nd our arguments so unanswerable that we feel we can not do better than re-iterate- them. The Cape of Good Hope-— which at the lastcensus proved to have 700,000 inhabitants— gets its work done by twent j-one Councillors and sixty- six members. of the House of Assembly. Thus it will be seen that m every instance is the excess of numbers of the Commons over Lords m proportion of three to one, whila m New South Wales it is almost four. In comparison we find that the Upper House of KewiZealand is more than half that of the second branch of the Legislature, and if the question be asked why it is so, it will be readily found m the fact that while it was a noiniee instead of an elective body, the Constitution Act makes no provision for a limit to number or nomination. -It is entirely m the hands of» the Ministry of the hour to flpod the Legislative Chamber with its partisans, and should its supporters be beaten at the poll from ..a seat m one Hous,e, the door of the other is at their service. Had the nominee system been dominant m Victoria when the deadlpck.occurred under Sir Chablbs Dar-LiNti-'s regime, no doubt a very speedy, settlement coi^ld have been .effected by swamping the Council with, adherents of the Government ; but the danger and evils resulting f ro\n .suck a course might, and no doubt would, have culminated m riot, disorder, and bloodshed., While the New Zealand Lords are created on no order or principle, to fill up no vacancy, and seemingly for no end than to strengthen the political party of the Ministry jn that Chamber, their tenure of office is for life,- and' every 'increase loads the country with an addition of £200 directly as atipnbrarium, and indirectly ymucKlarger sum; Small as has been the number of- Councillors m Victoria, and short their tenure of office, it has been deemed wise to still further reduce the list, while the tenure for which a representative shall hold office has been reduced from ten to six years. The nominee 'system is a monstrosity which should never have been allowed to creep into' the Constitution Act, its only> merit— a very ques-; tionable one at best — being its similitude to the House of Lords. But there is a very wide . difEerence between the men who are, by being raised to the Peerage at home, made- lif e-lptiglegisla-tprs, and to whom the la.tter privilege is granted m the Colonies. In the Mother Country no one enters the; House of Lords— save by heredi tary birthright — w^p.ha.s nob weU merited the hpn^pr.

either prowess m. the field, ability m the forum, contribution to literature, or some other especial service to t^ e State ; men whose deeds have raised them 1 above ti*eir fellows, and whose fame has become the property of the country, In this Colony there is no such safeguard, and m nine cases out of ten, an elevation to the "Upper House is followed by a storm of reproaches from both Press" and public. Of course there are some no table exceptions, as m the case of Mr. Thomas Hunter Uey> nolds, whose quarter of a century's servitude of the people i deserved rest and recompense ; but tKe exception is by no means the rule, and such cases are remarkable simply for their rarity. When writing upon this subject, six months ago our suggestion was, and we ventured to recommend.— ? - Equal electoral districts, that is, that all electoral districts should have an equal numb.er ox inhabitants, calculated on tho basis of the last census, who would be chosen upon the principle : of the, three-cor-nered constituencies of EnglaneL Indeed we would be inclined togo further, and adopt the cumulative principle— that is, allow each elector either to split his vote, as it is termed, between two candidates, or if he / should, prefer to do so, to give two, votes to one candidate. A. House elected on these principles would represent the people of all shades of political opinions as perfectly as possible." •: _v*