The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, JAN. 31, 1893.

Waikato Times, Volume XL, Issue 3214, 31 January 1893, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, JAN. 31, 1893.

Equal and exact justice to all men, 01 whatsoever state or persuasion, religion or political.

Recent events with regard to the Legislative Council must have caused very serious anxiety to all who have given the subject their serious consideration.. The promised despatch from the Colonial Office has not yet been published, in the meantime there is no possibility of confuting the claim put forth by the Ministry that the Governor is bound to act upon the advice of his Executive as to the making of appointments. As we have before pointed out, we believe tint the publieation of the despatch will very materially modify the position, Whether so or not, the action taken by the Ministry on the question and the appointments they have made, compel the consideration of the position. Secondary chambers are recognised by most statesmen as a necessary check upon the popular assembly when it happens to have been elected in times of popular excitement, when passion rather than reason is apt to prompt the voting. It is fuily recognised that the Upper Chamber does not possess the power to prevent the will of the people being eventually given effect to. In fact, that to attempt to do so would be unconstitutional, and justify the J creation of sufficient members to ensure the carrying of the popular measures. When the power of Appointment was granted to the Governors of this colony, it was presumed that men would be appointed who had proved themsolves of ability and integrity, and were possessed of the political experience, without which the usefulness of the first two qualities must be considerably curtailed. The gentlemen who have been recently appointed may be able and honest men, but nobody can claim for them that tbey have the experience or training which should appertain to a Councillor. We are not prepared to claim that the principle we have laid down has been always acted upon in the past, but the exceptions only go to prove that Governors and their advisers have not always been wise or loyal to the spirit of tho constitution. In making tho recent appointments there has been no attempt to disguise the fact, that men were selected, not because of their special fitness, but for the' reason that they belonged to a certain class, or were leading spirits in certain organisations, and Hbov6.all because they were of the " right colour," the last being the only legitimate reason put forward. We do not urge for one moment that the fact of their belonging to a particular class or organisation should have stood in the way of their promotion, but we do maintain that their relations in these respects ..were not sufficient reason in themwives, and that their appointment oil those grounds only is m injustice to all other classes. The principle with regard to the exercise of the prerogative of. appointment by the Governor, which Ministers claim ha»,ibeen e«t*bliihed, taken in con.

junction with the recent appointments, can only bring reasonable men to the one conclusion, and that, that the appointments to the Council must bo wide by the direct vote of the peoplo; otherwise the Council must become and remain an excresonce, which many of the present party in power claim that it has been in the pp.st. We note that tho National Association has taken this view of the position, and has published a serins of resolutions suggesting the mode of election. They are as follows I. That the Legislative Council should be elective. 2. That candidates should be forty years of age and upwards j should have resided in the colony at least five years; and not have been guilty of any felony. 3. Tlwt the term of office should be nine years, one-third of the members of the Chamber retiring every three years, 4. That the number should be, as nearly as possible, one-half that of the Lower House, 5. That the electoral districts Rhould be extended accordingly, so that each district elect one member every three years, 6, That every payer, of direct tixes, or of local rates, should be entitled to vote for candidates for the Legislative Council. 7. That the Legislative Council should have power to propose, or concur in amendments of (but not originate) money bills. The first two resolutions do not call for comment, unless it be that the term of five years' residence is too short. Possibly nine years' tenure of membership is long enough to ensure that the members should act on their own judgment, and not be reduced to the ignoble position, of bein" mere delegates, to which short-lived Parliaments lure already reduced many able but not over-scrupulous men. The ballot-' box constantly dangling before the eyes of a man must in a degree lessen his independence, and almost in the exact ratio his usefulness. As to the number of members, possibly half that of the Lower House is sufficient. With regard to the electoral districts, they should he made as large as possible. In our opinion the amalgamation of only two of the present districts would not b<j sufficient to secure the return of men on c °l° n ' a ' S r °unds ( and keep local considerations in the background. On details, we are not prepared to decide, but roughly we think that the constituency should not be smaller than one of the present provincial districts; eaoh elector, of course, having as many votes as there are candidates to be elected, as have the city electors at the present time. It may be objected that this would make the cost of election beyond the feach of all but rich men with leisure time. To meet this objection, it might be enacted that canvassing should only be by circular and advertisements through tho newspapers It is hardly likely that any man wculd aspire to membership whose past public career was not tolerably well known to the whole constituency, and the return of mpmbers would hang more closely upon this knowledge than upon opinions and pledges put forth for election purposes, The proposal that every man. who pays direct taxes, whether general or local, should satisfy the most democratic. It would be preposterous that the men with no guarantee to offer of their interest in the welfare of the country should be placed on an equality in this case with those who have. Their votes for members of the Assembly places qnito as much power in their hands as is either just or politic. We are not prepared to commit ourselves to tho proposal with regard to Money Rilfo till we hav« given the subject much greater cons'deration than we have yet done. A very grave political principle is involved, and in attempting to remedy the evil which is with us we might raise up others much more difficult to surmount, We commend this question to the earnest consideration of our readers. There is danger if the present system is continued that the Council will be reduced to the position of a simple recording body, with no power to resist the will of the Ministry of the day, and a plausible excuse ho thus provided for the pirty who haw made it so to extinguish it altogether—ft result which, in our opinion, could only prove disastrous to the colony.