PAYMENT OF MEMBERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 123, 26 May 1877, Page 4

PAYMENT OF MEMBERS.

(Australasian, May 6.) ' There are many subjects on which the public mind in tbis country is at the present time divided. Free trade and protection, progressive land taxation, and equitable land taxation, Stir Jamea M'Culloch and Mr Barry, limited Sunday beer ancl absolute prohibition, bave each their several supporters. But there is one question upon which the country seetna to be absolutely unanimous. No constituency,

no single public meeting, so far as we , have observed, has expressed even the slightest desire to continue the system of payment of members. On the contrary, no avowal from candidates is so popular as a declaration of hostility to this.great corner-stone of democracy. Theexperiment has been fairly tried, and, like other experiments of tbe kind, has been found lamentably wanting. Sir James M'Culloch argues against it simply from the Treasurer's point of view. He sees no reason to expend upwards of £30,000 a year when the ; work can be done for nothing. Mr ; Service takes a different and a more : valid objection. He contends tbat the system directly leads to a lowering. of ; the standard of our national representation. Some yeats ago the average . character and ability bf our Assembly were undoubtedly beyond what they now are. The Assembly then contained men who, as Mr Service says, could "elevate the tcneof democratic feeling, and command respect for democratic I principles. But oi late year and j notably since the principle of payment ', of members was established, the progress of deterioration has been rapid. At present, in the forcible words oi Mr Ser- . vice," democracy is handicapped almost ' out of the running by the ignorance ; the feebleness, and the truoulence of j some of its apostles." Our experience thus emphatically set forth, fully conj firms the arguments whioh have been . always urged against this system. Mr [ Lorimer, an able political wrjter, long since contended " that by creating a pecuniary, inducement to persons of, the lowest class to devote themselves to public affairs, the calling of the demagogue would be formally inaugurated. Nothing is to be more deprecated than . making it the private interest of a number of aotive persons to urge the form of government in the direction of its natural perversion. The indications which either a multitude or an individual can give, when left merely to their owh weaknesses, afford but a faint idea of what those weaknesses would be when played upon by a thousand flatterers. If there were 658 plaoes of certain, however moderate, emolument to be gained by persuading the multitude that ignorance is as good as knowledge, aod better, it is terrible odds that they would believe and act upon the lesson." It would seem as if those words were prophetic of Mr Mirarns and the Gaunson Brothers. In a similar spirit Mr Mill observes that the greater latitude of choice which the payment of members is supposed to give is an illusory advantage. The salary which a country can offer to a member of Parliament is quite insufficient to attract to the public service the leading men in the professions or in the great branches of industry. Its tendency is to produce a class of trading politicane; and the trade of politics is, from the nature of the case, precarious and demoralising. It means a number of persons who are, and who expect to be, . members, engaged in an incessant bidding for, popular support, "by promising all things,' honest or dishonest, possible or impossible, and rivalling each other in pandering tothe . meanest feelings and most ignorant prejudices of the vulgarest part of the j crowd." Such an institution, Mr Mill goes on to observe, would be "a perpetual blister applied to the most peccant I parts of human nature. It amounts to offering 658 [or, in this country, 116] prizes fer the most successful flatterer, | the most adroit misleader. of a body of his. fellow-countrymen. Under no despotism has there been such an organised Bystem of tillage, for raising a rich crop of vicious oourtiership." We presume that the doom of his mischievous experiment has been finally . pronounced. The act under which members receive payment expires with the ensuing session. There is : little probability that it will be renewed. If it ibe continued for a further period, it will be a singular instance of a' very email f but compact minority forcing their views s upon a reluctant though unorganised [majority. It'isgreatly to the credit of ;tbe people of .this .country that tbey ihave so quickly recognised the ' evil jwhieh this system is working. Their ■opinions have already bean expressed .with sufficient clearnesav But if the ;ballot-box should tell a different tale, jand the interests of the elected should jprevail over. the interests of the electors, the matter will pass ( into a further stage. jit must then be made on all future occasions a test question, and an agitation Imust bs commenced for the sole purpose of getting rid of this incubus. At present, many members will doubtless

be returned, in spite of their advocacy of payment of members, for party reasons only. But the pressure of public opinion will, even in these circumstances and upon this question, have its influence; We shall have no more payment of members, and we shall gradually return to a more wholesome state of public feeling, and , to a higher tone in our representative institutions.