THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1899.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 15, 4 July 1899, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1899.

Half of the best intellects in the country exert all their energies in trying to pass laws for its good — the other half employs itbelf in superhuman efforts to prevent these laws being made. The Ministry which is in office is incessantly working to pass legislation agreeable to the wishes of the country — the gentlemen of the Opposition, on the other hand, who will form the next Ministry, are unceasingly exercising their ingenuity to spoil and bring to naught the work of their opponents, be it good, bad, or indifferent. On the face of it this seems unnatural and absurd ; yet it is the way in which Government is carried on in almost every civilized country in the world, with one exception. Switzerland alone of all the nations has a different system. We may well ask ourselves, how is this ? It certainly does seem a most absurd and irrational thing on the face of it, that Parliaments should not simply elect the best men they contain to be Ministers, and let them bring down whatever measures they think proper or beneficial for the country, and let these proposals be discussed simply on their merits, without any question of Party, of Government or Opposition. And yet, strange as it may appear, that plan was tried in England— tried indeed for some hundreds of years— tried iiaally by William 111., one of the very ablest of English Sovereigns and by him finally abandoned. It would not woik. Do what he would, William could not get Tory Ministers' measures passed when the majority of the Commons was Whig, and vice vei-sa. However, our purpose at present is not to discuss the merits or demerits of Party Government. We merely purpose to say a few words about the one country which is not governed under the Party system. Under the Swisa constitution the supi erne authority of the Confederation is vested in the Federal Assembly, which consists of two Chambers, namely the National Council, and the Council of the States. The National Council is composed of the elected representatives of the Swiss people, at the rate of about one member for every 20,000 inhabitants. It is the popular House, like our House of Representatives. The Council of the States consists of 44 deputies, chosen by the 22 cantons into which Switzerland is divided. Besides the bodies we have mentieued, there is a peculiar body known as the Federal Council. This Federal Council, and the institution known as the Referendum, are the peculiar features of the Swiss constitution. This

Federal Council consists of seven Members, the President of the Swiss Confederation being chairman. To these gentlemen is entrusted the chief executive power in the country. Each member presides over a special department of the State, such as Education, Finance, Foreign Affaiih&c, just as our Ministers do. But, in many respects, their position differs widely from that occupied by Ministers under our system. First, there is no Premier. The chairman, the President of the Republic, is elected by the Federal Assembly, from the Members of the Council for one year only, and he cannot be re -erected for more than one year in succession. He leceives a slightly larger salary than his colleagues, but has no control over them. Pie is merely the chairman and doe? not, except from the influence of personal character, exeici.se as much authority over the councillors as does the chairman of a company over his Board of Directors. Again, the Federal Council is elected by the Federal assembly for a fixed term of three years. Members of the council have a right to speak in cither chamber and take part in the debates but they have no right to vote. When the three years are up, the same councillors are nearly always re-elected. This council' is puictically a board of experienced ' men appointed by the assembly to carry on the business of the nation, and it is appointed, generally speaking, on business pi inciples. Each member looks after his own department and it is jievor considered necessary that the members of the council should agree on all topics of impoitanco like an English cabinet. , Councillors propose to the assembly legislation on the various subjects of which they have charge, but no councillor, let alone the whole council is expected to Ptnnd or fall by the decision of the legislature on the question, as would be the case with British Ministers. In fact the members of the Council often oppose each, other in debate. There seems to be no collision between the Federal Assembly and the Council. If any measure proposed by any member of the Council is rejected by both Chambers, or by one, the Council simply accepts the situation. It asks for no vote of confidence nor does anything ensue in the shape of what we would call a Ministerial crisis. The Council has no power of dissolving the' chambers, so that wlien the Council's 3neasures are rejected there is no danger of a dissolution or fresh elections. Tne Council conducts the whole Federal Administration, and apparently drafts every Bill that is submitted to the legislature. It is the common practice for the

chambers to pass a resolution in favour of some legislative change, and then for the Council to preI pare a Bill in accordance with the resolution. The Council conducts the whole foreign policy of the State, and generally speaking the whole" system, as far as' Switzerland is concerned, seems ro be succesbiul. But the question whether it would be suitable to other countries still remains, and perhaps we may have something to ray later, on the relative merits of the two modes of government, so f«ip as New Zealand is concerned. Major Steward has again introduced the Elective Executive Bill, and Professor Goidwiu Smirh has been writing most ably in defence of the system, those facts have brought the subject again under notice, and a good deal of their argument is based on the political methods of Switzerland.