THE MASTER'S EYE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 34, 16 September 1871, Page 11

THE MASTER'S EYE.

We are on the eve of stirring times. We are about engaging in enterprises of more than ordinary magnitude. They are full of promise, but not without risk and difficulty. It is necessary that we should have our eyes open. We are living at the commencement of a new era. At such periods the public mind is marked by more than ordinary activity. This is the case now. It is universally conceded that the policy about to be inaugnrated will be either a great blessing or a great curse to the country. It is felt on all sides that it will prove the first under wise and honest management, and the last under a reckless system of administration. The House and the country, consequently, appear alike impressed with necessity of adopting measures having for this object the attainment of the one and the avoidance of the other. Next to this important matter, and in no very remote degree connected with it, there is another which is now engaging the attention of the House and the country. Both the House and country appear to have become alive to the necessity of providing a general system of education for the colony. The latter are also, judging from the petitions Which have been presented since the

commencement of the session, anxious for a reform in the present licensing system. These are all matters of move or less moment. They do not involve party considerations, and for that very reason, at another time, they would fail to attract due notice. But the present is no ordinary period in the history of the colony, and it is felt that the policy which is about to be carried out requires to be accompanied by measures calculated to insure a much needed responsibility in it administrations, and likewise a greater improvement in the intellectual and-moral character of the people. Those which will insure the first are the most urgent and important. The question is, what are the best measures which can be devised for attaining either or all of these objects. We have a measure in our mind's eye which will aid in securing all of them ; yet it is in itself, like the best inventions and most effective machinery, of so simple a character as to fail to attract notice, and, for this reason it has been hitherto disregarded. It will cost the Government less money than any other measure of a practical nature which will be sanctioned during the session, and yet it will be either its cost, or the loss of the revenue, that will be urged for its non-adoption. No measure specially framed for the purpose, whether for securing responsible administration, promoting adult education, or diminishing the evils of the drinking system, would be so effective for any, or all of those important objects, as the one to which we allude. It would aid, at the same time in the diffusion of information, in raising the tone of the public press, in facilitating an interchange of ideas, in destroying provincial prejudices, and in preserving the unity of the colony. Undeterred by the contemptible consideration that we lay ourselves open to be charged with the same narrow and selfish motives which actuated the honest currier in the threatened city in recommending a fortification of leather, and strong in the disinterestedness of our views, we unhesitatingly assert that the measure to which we refer is no more nor less than the partial and conditional abolition of the postage on newspapers circulated within the colony. In other words, we would allow all newspapers to pass through the post free, within New Zealand, on the condition that their proprietors undertook to supply each of the chief post towns in this colony with copies gratis, a room being specially opened where there was not one already to afford opportunities for their perusal.

We shall content ourselves with the above bare indication of some of the principal benefits which would be likely to be secured by the adoption of the course recommended, and confine our remarks in the present article to the effect it would have in creating an enlightened public opinion. Itwill be necessary, at the outset, to direct particular attention to the fact, that the same system of Parliamentary Government which prevails here at the present time existed in England in the reign of George the Second. The new system of ministerial responsibility was then in operation there as here. Ministers there, as here, were liable to be dismissed from office by a hostile vote of the representative chamber. They were there, moveover, liable to be impeached, imprisoned, and beheaded. Yet, notwithstanding these risks and penalties, the votes of members of the House of Commons were openly sold to the highest bidder. This fact is so notorious that it requires no special evidence to be adduced in its support. Ministers were responsible to Parliament, but Parliament was not responsible to the people. There was in truth, and in effect, no real responsibility ; and such an amount of profligacy and corruption prevailed in both the Government and the Parliament as has never been witnessed since. It must be well worth our while to ascertain the reasons for the existence of such a state of things, and for the change which afterwards ensued. They are already within our reach. They have been clearly and emphatically set forth in the following passages from the writings of Lord Macaulay, while numerous others could be quoted, from the works of the same high authority to the same effect. " The publicity," says he, " which has of late years been given to Parliamentary proceedings has raised the standard of

morality among public men. The power of public opinion is so great that, even before the reform in the representation, a faint suspicion that a Minister had bought votes would be enough to ruin him." From which it follows that England owes this good change and astonishing improvement in her administration, not to any alteration in the laws, nor to any cunningly contrived checks and balances, but simply to the operation of two causes, which were then for the first time brought into play. These causes, according to, Macaulay, were the publicity of Parliamentary proceedings, and the powers of public opinion. At the time of Walpole, he continues, " The House of Commons was not held in awe, as in the sixteenth century, by the Throne. It was not held m awe, as in the nineteenth cen-tury,-by the opinion of the people. It mattered little in the time of Charles the First whether that House were or were not chosen by the people; it was certain to act for the people, because it would have been at the mercy of the Court but for the support of the people." But, he further on observes, " In the reign of George the Second, even those members who were returned by popular election, did not live as now, under a constant sense of responsibility. And why? The answer contains a volume of practical knowledge, though compressed within the limits of a single sentence. " The constituents, says he/ were not as now, daily apprised of the speeches of their representatives " Now the first question which suggests itself is, Is this the case with constituents here. Are they duly apprised of the votes and proceedings of their representatives. Do they not as regards this most important matter bear a closer resemblance to constituents in the reign of George the Second, when votes, be it remembered, were openly purchased, than they bear to English constituents in the reign of Quoen Victoria, who aie duly apprised of the proceedings of their representatives? In the former reign, we are told by Macaulay, Parliament had shaken off the control of the Royal prerogative ; but it had not yet fallen under the control of public opinion. A large proportion of the members had absolutely no motive to support any administration except their own interest. Who will say that our Parliament has fallen under the control of public opinion ? Does there, in fact, exist any public opinion, in the sense in which that term is used by Macaulay ? Have the large proportion of our members any motive to support any administration except their own interest ? Are we not indebted to chance, accident, or good luck, for that which is secured in England by the influence of public opinion ? Is this a healthy and desirable state of things ? Does it afford us any sufficient guarantee for future good government ? All history bears testimony to the truth that it is better for a people to be enlightened than even for its government to be honest. An honest government can be of no lasting benefit to an ignorant people. A dishonest government can only work temporary mischief; and there is no security for the permanence of an honest government except that afforded by the intelligence and public spirit of the people. The most efficient means, as we have seen, for securing good government is enlightened opinion. This can be attained only by the diffusion of knowledge, and the free circula tion of a free press. It will be found to be as necessary here, as in England, that Parliament and Ministers should live under a constant sense of responsibility. It is more than ever necessary when they have extraordinay funds to administer. Neither private persons, nor public bodies, are generally so careful with other people's cash as with their own. That which has been invested, or borrowed, is not valued so highly as that which has been honestly earned. Hence more than ordinary precautions are required to insure its wise expenditure. Laws and bars, checks and penalties, are of but little use if not enforced by opinion ; and he who keeps a vigilant eye on his cashbox need not fear that it will be stolen. Public opinion is the " master's eye." This has been found in all cases to effect wonders. It can never be safely dispensed with. In all services it is the one thing needed. That public opinion will be best created and sustained by the

establishment of reading-rooms in all the chief post towns in the colony, through the operation of some such means as those suggested in Mr Murray's recent motion for the conditional abolition of the on newspapers.