The Southland Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1653, 25 October 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1872.

The constitution of the Legislative Council is a subject Tfhich has from time to time been brought before the notice of the public ; and discussions, characterised by more op less ability and knowledge of j I the question, have been held repeatedly j within the last few years, even within the J sacred precincts of the Chamber itself, j To say that the opinions expressed on j such occasions have not been um?ovm)y in approval of the present status of that important part of our Parliamentary machinery, would excite no surprise. It would be too much to expect that any institution of purely human origin, such as, with all deference to the august and venerable assembly of which we speak, we must admit it to be, should be entirely free from imperfection. Even if it were generally admitted to be the best thing of the kind which, in the existing circumstances of the Colony, we could reasonably expect to possess, and if it were possible to point to a long list of benefits which it had conferred upon the State, in the shape of useful laws, or wise amendments of the legislation of the House of Representatives, some theorists would still be found who would have something better to propose. But it happens that "something very nearly the reverse of this has actually been the case. Whenever the subject has been mooted, whether in the Council itself or out of it, the constitution of the second Chamber has almost uniformly been condemned as unsatisfactory, and susceptible of great improvement. ¥c are not aware that on any such occasion even the most, enthusiastic admirers of th,e Constitution Act, or the most conservative of our politicians, have ever attempted to defend the constitution of the Upper House, by what would be the most convincing argument of all, if it could be even plausibly maintained, a historical account of the services which that body has rendered to the State. That it has not rendered any such, or in other words, that it has been of no use at all, we should be the last to maintain. But it cannot be denied that the advantages which it may have conferred upon the country, however great they may in reality have been, have not been so conspicuous as to have been very generally recognised, and the feeling is certainly pretty universally prevalent that sooner or later this part of our political system will have to undergo very considerable modification. The manner in which the members are appointed, nominally by the Crown, but in reality by the Ministers for the time in power, strikes every one at firat sight as the weakest point in the fabric. The leading idea in the theory of a second Chamber in the Legislature is that by its stability, wisdom, moderation, and free'lom from the political passions of the hour, it should act as a wholesome check upon hasty or dangerous legislation. It is hardly necessary to poiut out to the most unobservant student of colonial polities, that no such requisites are necessarily, or even probably, secured in a House so appointed. In event of the Upper House refusing to pass a measure, nothing further ib required than to make an addition to its number?, and all opposition is at once and effectually silenced. The bare knowledge that such a danger exists goes far to paralyse its independence, and rt-nder its utility as a power for good in the State, to say the least, extremely questionable. One remedy for this evil, which has been discussed in the Council itself, is to place a limit upon the number of members. There can be no question that such a provision would meet this particular objection, and that the Upper House, under such a constitution, would be mdeh more independent. But this advantage might be more than neutralised by the inevitable consequence that it would also be more obstructive. A dead-lock, as it is called, between the two brauchea I of the Legislature, is an evi\ which there ' might theu be no means of preventing, unless at the sacrifice of some great public good ; and such a danger is not to be lightly courted. We hive seen one such instance, in the neighboring Colony of Victoria, not many years ago, the termination of which was due rather to what might be called a happy accident, than the natural development of affairs. The only other solution of the difficulty appears to be that the Upper House should be constituted on an electoral basis. Thiß idea wag mooted by Mr Wateeiiottse, at the beginning o f ibe present session, but his proposal was subsequently withdrawn, and we ibave been accordingly deprived of whatever additional light -might have been thrown upon the subject by the deliberate consideration of " the Lords" themselves. That an electoral Upper House would by no means secure the country from the danger of a dead-lock, or even necessarily ensure a higher average calibre for its members, is obvious enough ; and the example furnished by the Victorian Legislature is sufficient to prove that itr might not in New Zealand, as it did not there. Everything would depend on the mode of election, and the provision for an ultimate appeal to the country, if such were required. The Victorian Council, for instance, is chosen by electors possessed of a high property qualification, it cannot be dissolved, and only a small number of its members retire each year. In any contest which may arise between it and the more popular branch of the Legislature, no means of a solution are provided j and the issue simply comes to a

contest between the ideas and interests of one class of the community, as against those of auother. But these evila, we believe, as well as those of our present system, might be avoided, if the electoral basis were wide enough to include all who vote for either Chamber, and so arranged as to be as far as possible free from local and temporary influences, and to give the Upper House when elected, the character which it ou^ht to have, of the highest form of expression of the national will. Into the details of such a scheme we do not enter for the present. But we believe that no insuperable difficulty stands in the way of its being realised, and there is little doubt that the question will have to be considered by the people of New Zealand at no very distant date.