Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1911. PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10256, 7 June 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1911. PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION.

During the past fifteen or twenty years it has been the proud boast of politicians of New Zealand -that, in the matter of progressive legislation, I this country has led the world. There can be no question that, in recent years, .the quantity of legislation placed upon the Statute Book of the Dominion lias been abnormal. With the creation of Department after Department, however, the mst of administration has enormously increased, and the power of bestowing patronage has developed to- almost alarming proportions. The individuality of the people has A>ean slowly but surely destroyed, until to-day everybody feels that he is more or less dependent upon the State. What the elfect O'f centralization of power and authority will be upon the future few can divine. If history counts for anything, however, it may result in national decay. Remarkable though it may appear, the policy at present adopted in New Zealand was in vogue in France in the fourteenth century. Henry Thomas Ruckle, in his "History of Civilisation in England," gives an interesting description of the legislative spirit which obtained in France many years ago. He says: "In France, everything its referred to one common centre, in which all civil functions are absorbed. Alll improvements of any importance, all schemes of bettering even the material condition of the people, must receive the sanction of government; the local authorities not being considered equal to such arduous tasks. In order that inferior magistrates may not abuse their power, no power is conferred upon them. The exercise of independent jurisdiction is almost unknown. Everything that is done must ibe done at headquarters. The Government is believed to see everything, know everything, and provide for everything. To enforce this monstrous monopoly, there has -been contrived a machinery well worthy of the design. The entire -country is covered by an immense array of officials, who, dn the regularity of their hierarchy, and in the order of their descending series,

form an admirable emblem of that feudal principle, wsiidh, ceasing to be territorial, has now become personal. In fact, the whole business of the State is conducted on the supposition that no man either knoivs hits own interest or is fit to take care .of himself. So paternal are the feelings of government, so eager for the welfare of its subjects, that it has drawn within its jurisdiction the most rare, as well as the most ordinary, actions of life. In order that the French may not make imprudent wills, it has limited' the right of bequest; and, for fear that they should bequeath their property wrongly, it prevents them from bequeathing the greater part of it at all." Could a finer pen portrait have been given of New Zealand as it is to-day? Proceeding, Buckle refers to systems which, tend to bring the administration of justice into disrepute, systems which turn the magistrates Tito advocates and the Judges into partizans. Fortunately we have "■ ot quite arrived at that istage in N ±\v Zealand, though recent events harfpointed somewhat in that direction. In the early history of France, however, they had many other characteristics similar to our own, for Buckle says: "The government's prying eye follows the butcher to the shambles, and the baker to the oven. By its paternal hand, meat is examined lest it should be bad, and bread is weighed lest it should be light. In short, without multiplying instances, it is enough to say .that in France, as in every country -where the protective principle is active, the government has established a monopoly of the worst kind ; a monopoly which comes home to the business and bosoms of inen, follows them to their daily avocations, troubles them with its petty meddling spirit, and, what is worse than all, diminishes their responsibility to themselves, tlnis depriving them of the only real education that most minds receive— the constant necessity of providing for future contingencies, and the habit

of grappling with the difficulties of life." The result of all this, according to Buckle, is that the French people have been found unfit to exercise political power. Even -when they have possesesd it, they have never been able to combine .permanence with liberty. They have had free governments, which have not been stable. They have had stable governments, which have not been free. The conditions which obtained in France centuries ago, obtain in New Zealand to-day. And yet we claim to be leading the world. We claim to be laying the foundations of a free, and independent and lib-erty-loving nation of people, while upon this very foundation the greatFrench nation tottered to its fall. Is it not time that we returned to the traditional habits of the British race —those ha.bits of self-discipline, selfreliance and self-government which have made our nation great? It :s not time that we paused to reflect upon the possibility of our "progressive legislation" leading us back to the Dark Ages, from whence it apparently originated ? We do riot desire a Revolution to. restore t-o the people that liberty, and power, and independence of action which has been abrogated by the State. We want men and women to seriously consider the position, that they might return to those atssociations which make for individual responsibility and Jess dependence upon the Government of the day.