THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1899.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 19, 11 July 1899, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1899.

Those who object to an Elective Executive and uphold party Government say that the latter system is practically unavoidable, and, that* liks liquor, it is its abuse and notnits xise that gives rise to complaint. Party, Government has only existed in England from about 1700 A.D.— that is to say for about £00 years. It was at that time practically forced upon the country, because it was found impossible to- govern otherwise. The king was William 111, and do what he would he could not get on in the old way. Formerly, the king had appointed his ministers as pleased himself, picking out whom he considered the best men in Parliament — whichis the ideal of the Elective Executive. But it would not do. One result of the Revolution of IGBB was that from that time forward the king was to reign but not to goverh. Henceforth Parliament was to be supreme. 'If Parliament was to be supreme, then the majority 1 in Parliament must practically direct the government. At first this was not recognised, and William" did his very best, and he was , an extremely able man, to govern in the old way, that is to say, appointing as ministers whom he chose, and selecting them from both Whigs and Tories. It was -no good. When the Whigs, were in a majority, the Tory- ministers could get nothing done and vice versa\ The king, therefore, was com- 1 pelled by the 'existing facts to begin the system of forming the ! ministry entirely from the party most powerful at i&§ time* W*hat

first necessitated Party Govern-* ment then was the change of practical' sovereignty from the king to the parliament, and Party Government was the only way in which that desirable change could at the time have been carried o it. It really transferred the appointment of ministers and! the effective control of government from the Crown to the House of Commons. So that Party Government ' made, at 'all events, a very honourable entry into our history. One great merit of the is that it enables the representatives of the. people to absolutely control the Government at almost every moment of time. When, m order to bring to utter grief the strongest Government that- ever sat on the benches, all that members have to do is to walk across the floor of the House, it may fairly be said that the people have the ministry under their absolute control. It ;is argued that this gives the system an enormous advantage over the Elective Executive, which is appointed f6r a fixed period, and, whatever it does, during that period it cannot be removed. Absolute security of tenure of office nearly always results in the holders becoming more sluggish, careless, inactive, and inert than they would otherwise be. j Again, it is asked, with a cabinet half Liberal and half Conservative, what progress could be expected ? What sort of kind legislation would we have from a ministry containing John McKenzie and Captain Russell ? Or how would Mr Scobie Mackenzie and Mr W. P, Reeves agree as to, labour legislation ? Or how would Mr O'Regan, who wants the whole of taxation put on land, get on with Mr Rolleston, who utterly repudiates anything of the kind ? and what about liqour legislation with, say, Mr Tommy Taylor and Mr H. D. Bell 'in the cabinet ? Of course, it is undeniable that there are objectionable features here in New Zealand connected with our system — eternal struggling ftfr possession of the Treasury benches, vile personal abuse of each other by men i in politics, even libel and slander, waste of time and public money, in short, a yariety of very disagreeable things. But, it is answered, these are owing t to the abuse >of the system. ' Greed and envy and spite and lying are the failings of the men w&o are sent to 'Parliament. PaYty Government has no more to, do with the existance of these things than it has to do. with members being tall or short, thin. or stout. In the British House of Commons these things are not seen. There are no eternal want of confidence motions being 1 - debated there. Since - tbte present British Government has been fn office — some years now— we believe that there has not

been more than one such motion moved. "Why, therefore, 1 it is asked, can we not have partygovernment properly conducted, seeing that under it ws have such guarantees of eternal vigilance and watchfulness of the < actions of ministers, and always such complete control of the Government, because that the instant the expressed opinions of ' the majority of members are against it resignation must immediately follow ?