GOVERNMENT BY REGULATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24420, 4 October 1940, Page 6

GOVERNMENT BY REGULATION

The complaint that the principles of democratic government are being whittled away through the issue of regulations which have the force of law is not a new one in New Zealand. As the Minister of Supply observed in the course of a discussion on the matter in the Lower House, it was made frequently in the Dominion before the Socialist Party came into power. Nor is it only here that the practice of legislation by Order-in-Council has been the subject of protest. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Hewart, has prominently associated himself in Great Britain with those who have expressed concern over the growing recourse to a system of government by regulation. The system is one under which, quite clearly, the rights which Parliament should exercise in a democracy are usurped by, or surrendered to, the executive. It is to be expected that, during, the course of a-war, there should be an unusually large output of Orders-in-Council for in these circumstances the Government tends to assume more or less the powers of a dictator, and it is certainly called upon to form quick decisions on questions which arise suddenly and upon which,it is necessary to frame legislation, j But it is a somewhat arresting fact that since the outbreak of war over 400 Orders-in-Council—an average of about one a day-—have been issued in New Zealand. Some of them have been of small interest but many have strengthened the grip which the Government possesses on the life of the community, and have curtailed the liberties of individuals. Whether they be desirable or expedient or not under the special conditions of the times, they constitute a form of legislation that is repugnant to the principles of democracy. An executive is under a temptation to endeavour to cling to powers which Parliament has temporarily yielded to it or which it may have wrested from Parliament. That is a danger which the representatives of the people must be prepared to meet. Otherwise we shall go a long way to giving permanence to a dictatorship of the description that exists in the Dominion at the present time.