A NATIONAL POLICY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume 1, Issue 7, 13 February 1914, Page 6

A NATIONAL POLICY.

PARTIES AND PARTY RULE. [Specially written for The- Sun.] 111. Projects for the reform of Parliament are always 'with us, and two that transcend in importance are proportional representation and an elective Ministry. Extravagant claims are frequently made for the first, and pome of its advocates profess to regard it as a panacea for all the. undesirable features of Parliamentary government' under present conditions.

Thie view has been already expressed in th&se articles that the system, of voting for . Parliamentary representatives has less to do with the sins of politicians than the apathy, indiffer-, ence, and political incapacity of many of those whose duty it is to vote Parliament into being. However,'perfect electoral machinery is desirable for its own sake, quite apart from the probability or otherwise of its producing the results that the "proportionalists" are looking for. It is the constant effort of inventors to built fool-proof motor cars, aeroplanes, and other mechanical contrivances that operate' automatically, so why not attempt the same with the legislative mechanism that is designed to extract a strictly limited number of wise, and capable politicians from the varied mass of humanity thati makes up the half-million or so voters throughout the Dominion? It looks easy; besides, it is an engrossing task. The '' proportionalist' ■ freely indiets the old system of "first past the post 1 ' as unscientific. We are told that under it "minority" representation is inevitable. Men who have not obtained *the votes of a majority of the electors in' their respective districts may,' and sometimes do,; get into Parliament, where they assist in making . laws distasteful, . possibly, to that nia jority.The objection is more , apparent than • Teal, but there is undoubtedly a growing tendency on the part of' political ..groups; and factions .to , consider themselves Unrepresented if they do not get their man in. This is regrettable.-'; Further, it is contrary to the whole spirit , ; and conception of representative government.

BEST MAN WANTED. There is not so much difference between politicians as a rule 1 the defeat of one nlan or the success of another is vital to the interests of the district concerned. Whether he is allied to this party or that seldom impairs his usefulness or diminishes his energy as far as obtaining the expenditure of public money in his electorate is concerned, and in the present undeveloped state of large areas in the Dominion that is regarded as one of the chief qualifications of a politician. It occasionally happens that the better man fails to win. We know from experience that a'man with the attributes of a statesman may even be superseded by a palpable opportunist whose presence in the Legislature adds neither to its dignity nor capacity. But these things seldom occur, and no one with an t unbiased mind can analyse election results individually, and after carefully weighing up the qualifications of the respective candidates come to any other conclusion that this: That the best man, irrespective of party, is generally first past the post. In its rough-and-ready way the system tends to put the best men in. That in itself is a great thing, particularly as proportional representation does not concern itself with doing anything of the kind. It is a contrivance which it is hoped will reproduce within the walls of Parliament a replica in miniature of the electorate. If this is not substituting the substance for the shadow it is perilously close to it. MAJORITY representation. If) there is sufficient virtue in absolute majority representation to make it worth striving : after, the best and simplest system is that of the alternative vote as; applied to single-member constituencies. This plan was recommended by, the British Royal Commission on* Electoral ; Systems after an exhaustive enquiry into existing and pro- [ posed methods of choosing Parliament-.

ary representatives. The, voter is asked to discriminate between the candidates liy placing the figures 1, 2, 3 » . . against their names. At the first count only first votes are reckoned. If then no candidate is found to have obtained an absolute majority, the candidate with the smallest number of first votes is regarded as eliminated, and his vot-ing-papers are distributed, according to the names, if any, marked 2 on them. The papers on which no second preference is "marked are regarded as exhausted, and their number is deducted from the-'-total" ft>r the purpose of calculating the absolute majority at the second count. If still no candidate has received such a majority, as might happen where there were four or more candidates for the seat, the process is re-, peated as'often as is necessary until' -the .desired result is obtained. It .is doubtfiil if the result is worth air that trouble,' because experience of the second ballot in this country proves that the man who leads on the first ballot generally wins on the. second; if he does not his defeat is, invariably compensated for, as far as his party, is concerned," by a' similar 'fate befaljing some candidate on the other side in another part of the country. His silpporters are still represented in Parliament on questions of principle, although not by him.

• In the matter of the selection of members of Parliament to undertake departmental administration, the Elective Ministry scheme is mainly advocated by those who do not believe in party government. They are impressed unfavourably by the spectacle of rival groups of politicians struggling for place-and; power,-and suggest that if Parliament as a whole were to choose Ministers by balloting them into , office for a fixed, term there would be anend to the wrangling, unseemliness, and party warfare that occupy so much valuable time. and consume energy, which might' well be devoted to wortheir objects. PARTY BULB UNAVOIDABLE.

It is a vain hope. The history of Parliamentary government only requires, to. be studied to make, this perfectly clear, it is as natural i ;for politicians to form parties as for hounds to hunt in.a pack. .1 Every movement to effect a; polical change, even though it originates in the mind of a single individual, excites opposition. The. greater the change, involved or, to put it differently; the deeper tlie prejudices encountered—the bigger the' vested interests at stake, the more cer- 1 taiijt it is.that another set of individuals | will; regard the proposal as a declara- 1 tion of war, and take up a defensive attitude. If there is sufficient ] driving force behind the movement to make it a Apolitical question of the first rank, su<ih as Home Rule, prohibition, land nationalisation, Freetrade, the 'community is divided in twain, .and the parties thus created remain in existence long after one or other may have' secured a Parliamentary victory. Let it be supposed for a moment that Parliament enacted a law providing for elective Ministries, and then dissolved to fight an election On the liquor -question, Assume also that the proliibitionistis'won by a narrow majority, and for the first time were in a. position; to 1 take office and pass legislation abolishing licenses, or otherwise dealing With the trade they exist as a party to suppress. Parliament meets to elect a Ministry for three years. Presumably the leader of the winning side would be Prime Minister. But what chance would any member of the Opposition have of securing a portfolio? A party caucus would determine beforehand who were: to be Ministers, and that would be the end of it. A party that had been battling for a reform for perhaps> score of years would not throw away 'its prospects of giving legislative effect to ■•■ it- ? by presenting portfolios to its opponents. The election of the, Ministry .would be merely a matter of form. Party divisions would remain as sharply defined as ever, and the only difference from the present system would /be greater security of tenure as far as Ministers were concerned.' Political parties are the product of fundamental differences of opinion, and party warfare develops out of a conflict of opinions. ' . As long, as men think differently—and there can be no progress: without difference of opinion—the formafclpn of parties is inevitable, and no rearrangement of Parliamentary machinery Will do away with parties or their necessary consequence—party government. (To be continued.) til i! [Previous articles appeared on ; February--6 and 9.J ' '■ ■ '-"V ■'