THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1892. CONSERVATIVE IDEAS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2421, 5 November 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1892. CONSERVATIVE IDEAS.

Party Government has its drawbacks, but it is the only system possible under the British constitution. A little reflection will also convince anyone that it is the best. There is nothing like pitting rival factions against each other. “ When rogues fall out honest men get their own.” Politicians are always falling out; they never agree, and consequently they are everlastingly watching each other and pointing out each other’s faults, weaknesses, and follies. The consequence is, of course, that neither side can go very far wrong without the other side making it known, and hence the reason that there is not much corruption anywhere under the British constitution. In America, where party Government does not exist, corruption has run riot, but under the British constitution very little of it has ever been known. But there is a better reason still for believing that party Government is the most progressive of all systems. Let anyone read McCarthy’s History of Our Own Times and he will see how the rivalry between parties has hastened reform. It stands to reason that this must be so. Each party bids for popularity, and necessarily there is rivalry as to who will bid the highest. The Liberals are always the highest bidders; they always initiate, but seldom carry out the reforms. The Liberals work up public opinion till it is ripe for reform, and then the Tories come in and carry it out. In this way the two parties, in being thus pitted against each other, force each other onward on the highway of progress, whereas, if this rivalry did not exist, and there was no discussion, things would come to a standstill. We notice that some Conservatives are now favourable to the abolition of party Government. The Otago Daily Times, for instance, thinks it very desirable that a change should • be effected. The secret of this is that the Conservatives see that their days are numbered, and that to keep pace with the times they must adopt progressive measures. To avoid having to do this, they want to abolish party Government. Another Conservative notion which is being agitated at present is that the Legislative Council should be elected. They want the Council elected by the propertied classes so as to check the democratic tendencies of the times. Both these ideas wear a very popular aspect, but we warn Liberals everywhere that they are very dangerous, and ought to receive no countenance. We can control the Council so long as the Government has the power of raakingfresh appointments, but if itwere elected, it could not be made amenable to the popular voice at all. Let us, for instance, suppose that the Council were elected and that no man who had not a certain amount of property had a vote. Let us suppose that before a man , could vote for electing a Legislative Councillor he would require to possess £IOO worth of land, what sort of Council would we have then *? We should simply have a Council representing wealth ; and we certainly could never expect Liberal measures to be carried by such a body. It is worthy of note that Conservatives have not until lately discovered that party Government was bad or that the Legislative Council would be i u elected. These two ideas better n xl . . , ~ i ■ their heads since the only come into an-one-vote adoption ot the one-.. system. They all see now . iat a progressive tendency has set in and they desire to check it. Let not any one be gulled by these very plausible notions; they are intended as traps. There is not the slightest intention of electing the council on the manhood suffrage principle, it would only be elected by the propertied classes. It is better for us to let it remain as it is or abolish it altogether, and replace it by a revising committee of able men, whose functions shall be limited to pointing out mistakes in ill-digested measures passed by the Lower House.