The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1911. THE PEOPLE'S VAGARIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 150, 21 December 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1911. THE PEOPLE'S VAGARIES.

Xo occasion is so well calculated to exhibit the vagaries of the people "as the occasion of ait election. In every country at intervals public opinion veers with startling suddenness, and a nation which has been governed by a Liberal Government may. at an election —and particularly a British election—turn its servants out in favor of an opposition crowd, or vice versa. It is likely that real ability is not a great consideration in the choosing of a member of Parliament, but as it must be presumed that a member who is selected mirrors the intelligence of his constituents, in blaming the people you are merely fighting the whirlwind. In New Zealand, the people are believed by themselves to be the most intelligent community in the world, and any politician will toll you that this is because free, secular and compulsory education is served out to all. The fact that education does not create intelligence but may foster it doesn't matter as far as the politician's argument i

concerned. 3lanv constituencies in Xew Zealand, where, of course, the people have been freely, compulsorily and secularly educated, have returned men to Parliament with but the merest skeleton of that valuable asset, an education, so that, if the public of Xew Zealand is, as it is claimed, the best educated and most intelligent public, its action in sending many remarkably dull and uneducated men. liotli Government and Opposition supporters, to the House is surely not an indication of its own mental equipment. It Las very often been said that the quality of the men in the Xew I

Zealand Parliament is not of the highest available kind, because the men of brighter intellect and 1 better education do not sue for the people's favor, but it is distinctly noticeable that where men of particularly high attainment have offered their' services they have been rejected with great decision. The most enrious example of this was shown last week at Parnell, where Sir John Findlay, one of the most brilliant men in, the last Parliament, if not the most brilliant, was rejected. In Parnell there could have been no real thought as to the ability of the man, his achievements or his political usefulness. Sir John Findlay also could ndt win an election in Wellington, although intellectually he was head and shoulders above the other candidates opposing him. The rejection jn many places of normally intelligent and decently educated men is an indication of the point that a presumably highly educated community is not influenced by any consideration of mental 'fitness in a candidate. Another curious phase is the extraordinary loyalty of specific eonstitutencies to a man with no obvious qualifications for his, position. In several places in' New Zealand men of unpleasant habits have been able election after election to get back to'the House, the presumption, of course, being that many people regard the Parliament as a refuge which it is their special privilege to fill. It is obvious that in the present state of affairs the candidate for Parliamentary honors has no need to specialise in any way before offering hjmself. for service to his country. The careful student, who is au fait with the science of government, jvho understands great questions, who. knows the history of his country and of the Empire, may be no match for the man who has not even the skeleton of knowledge on which to hang an .education. We incline to the belief that in this democratic country any sigh of cul : ture is regarded in some quarters as a disqualification in a candidate. Unfortunately, the man who understands the small decencies of life, and lias rubbed shoulders with the great immortals through 'their books, is .sometimes regarded as an enemy to the democracy ' because his, knowledge is better and his manners distinct from those of the' rank and file. Rudeness is sometimes taken ■ for a virtue in other countries, and ignorance often believes itself" to be .a display of democracy. Curiously, the' choosing of a member of Parliament is not carried,oat in the same way usually adopted in choosing leaders in other activities. 'For instance, there is remarkable oneness generally in the selection of the foreman of a jury, and.it ii. not a sine qua non thjit he shall be the most ignorant of the dozen. Chairman are very often chosen .for their intelligence or their known qualities of excellence., Parliamentarians apparently are often chosen for no reason that can be assigned, and candidates who outclass them in mental equipment are rejected with equal unreason.