The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1914. PARTY GOVERNMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 269, 14 April 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1914. PARTY GOVERNMENT.

That party {juvurnment lias its vices Is udmittad on all sides. All governments have their ivuils spots, and the question that perplexes the minds of thinkers is whether any satisfactory remedy can bo foilnd. The matter is just now re- i ceiving attention in tlie English press, : particularly in ilr. Gibson Bowlers' or- j gan, the candid Quarterly Review. The ' trouble is tlut no amount of academic ; discussion will be likely to get at the ' root of tile beat principle on which the affairs of a nation should be settled. The reason why party government is so strenuously upheld is that the wave of democracy has swept away class government, meaning thereby the rule of the upper class. That is gone for ever. The great outstanding evil of party government is that it subordinates the affairs of the country to the mors sordid business of maintaining in power one or other of the parties of the day. We have only to take stock of the political conditions prevailing in Australasia to be. impressed with the truth of this assertion. When it is considered how party warfare of a political nature is carried on, it is at once apparent that the party fund plays an important part in this struggle for power. At the same it cannot be denied that this rivalry, ' if not too one-sided, acts as a spur in urging the party in power to legislate for the needs of the people and for the welfare of tiic musses as opposed to that of the few. Vet it has one great drawback that is felt in the Homeland almost if not quite a3 much as in the Dominion. Theoretically the authority of Parliament is Bupreme, but in practice it is not Parliament that rules the Country, that function being performed by the Ministry. TU"re is noquestion that the Cabinets, both in Bngland and in the I overseas dominions, have too much J power. Parliament makes laws, hut Ministers can and do treat these enactments much as they please. Take, for instance, the Nfew Zcabnd Xoxious Weeds Act, which provides certain penalties for fcreaelms of its provisions. A large number of inspectors are appointed to see that these provisions are carried out, but the all-powerful Ministers make the Act, at least so far as Californian thistle is cojKnrned, a dead letter by instructing the inspectors not to prosecute offenders. Why? Merely because of the fear that hostile votes will remove Minister* from Mieir high estate—and relegate them to the cool and unprofitable akau-.-a of opposition. Then, as to the pari;,- funds. It stands to reason that the representatives of the wealthiest clasu—the minority—have a great pull ovc.r those who represent the masses. These secret party funds are used for pm p ( si» that cause the conscientious portion of the community to blush for shame. If the actions were the result of an absolute intention to benefit the majority of the people they might be pardoned, Imt such is far from the end in view, which is undoubtedly that of securing and retaining power by cvcrj> means that ingenuity can devise mid money ean facilitate. What then is the remedy ? Mr. Bowles advocates a revival of tile fatal and discredited power of veto of the Crown. No doubt he is convinced that the Boyal veto would suit the ease, but the suggestion is too. absurd to discuss in these days. It has beeu truly said that true statesmanship consists in appropriating the results of progress and advance, as well as correcting the anomalies and mischief that arise with the lapse of time. The difficulty is to secure a political environment calculated to produce and fostet true statesmanship. Where parties are about equally divided with the probability of dissolutions becoming frequent it is impossible to develop and sustain tlie. iigh ideals of trite statesmanship. Lobbying, wire pulling, and secret party funds have done much to degrade politics and far more to extinguish the fine ideals associated with statesmanship, j The nved of the hour seems to be Hiat oi strengthening and improving Parliament, abating the power and claims of the party system, making it easier for independent men to serve their country in Parliament, and the subordination of party politics so that members of the House can truly represent the electors, be free to give their opinions ami votes, and not be in fear of party whips. This means that Parliament would have real authority and freedom. Tf the government of a country is to be actually in the hands of the people through their jrepresentatives, then those representatives should cease to be mere party machines and become imbued with at least a fragment of statesmanship. The time may come when better conditions will prevail; meanwhile it would be we'll for the people if they insisted on tlie removal of the evils that at present exist.