The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1896.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 190, 13 August 1896, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1896.

For tl'.e caries that lacks assistanca, For tho ■wrong that needs resistance, fur tiie future in the distance. And tlifl good that t^o can ao.

Th:e true significance of the Premier's Bill to amend the constitution lies not so much in the actual proposals embodied in the measure as in the fact that it has been thought advisable to intiioduce amending legislation of any kina\ at all. The common tendency in a matter of such fundamental irn-. portance as the constitution is to allow things to remain as they are, and it is evidence of a very great change in the mental attitude of the people when they display such a readiness to entertain Mr Seddon's proposals as they do at this moment The opponents of the Government may, ot course, endeavour to throw ridicule or discredit on the Bill which has come before the House, and we ■ are not going to discuss the precise value of the provisions it contains; but. the curious reception which has been ; accorded to the measure is the point which is of chief consequence. The electors recognise the need for Parliamentary reform. They see pretty plainly that there is room for improvement not in one but in many directions, and although it may not be equally clear to them how improvement is best to be effected they are willing to turn their attention to the problem and to have it brought into the forefront amoiug those political questions on which they are called to decide. Not only here but all over the world a great twofold change is coming over- representative institutions, and it may be very well studied in our New Zealand. On the one hand there is a tendency to augment the direct influence of the electors in legislative affairs and to ensure the carrying out of the expressed wish of the majority in the country whatever may be its strength in the Legislature. More and more the people are being brought' into closer \ touch with the Government of the (country. This is not merely being cVine 'by the uewspapers, though th ese are answerable in a very large de vjee for the political education of the public, but gradual alterations are taking place in the actual machinery of p ar l,'>arnent which makes the voice of the t lectorates more distinctly heard in the vi*y.Chambers. Put shortly, our Governments are becoming more democratic every day. The change is suich a gradual one, and we are so intimately involved in it, that it hardly excites oar notice. It is only when we compare the present condition of things with .that which prevailed twenty years ago that we appreciate how much things have altered. Alonk' w>ln this ever increasing application of popular force and control to the machinery of government, there is another, and at first sight opposite, tendency. Power is passing from .the Parliament itself into the hands of ithe Cabinet. In great questions the inability of a great body of representatives to act at opce surely |and speedily is never denied now-a-

days, and in the British Parliament it will be seen that in the event of a crisis it is not the House but the Cabinet that decides and acts. In I'hese days ot quick movement, a delay might be fata), and at best the result would only be unsatisfactory, Cabinet alone possess the requisite knowledge to deal effectually with the matter, arid the whole House recognises it. We are speaking at present of the House of Commons, where the supremacy of the Cabinet is a feature that has caused some surprise to those who were inclined to regard it as incompatible with democratic ideals. I« our House of Representatives, where the influences of the age have produced a similar change, members do not seem to recognise the inevitableness of it. They cannot understand the growing authority of. Cabinet, and describe a ministry as autocratic which does not consult them on every little business. What may be called the Conservative section of the House is especially loud in its denunciation of Mr Scddon as an autocrat, and in and out of Parliament the Opposition orators are never weary of trying to convince the people that there never was a government that took so much into its own hands. We hear that the power of the House is gone, and that the representatives might just as weil stay at home for any good they may be able to effect in Wellington, and that oever in the history of parliamentary institutions was there such a usurpation of power on the part of a ministry, or such an ignoring of the people's representatives. To expose the complete fallacy of these representations one has only to refer to the British House of Commons. The Opposition, which is never tired of * holding up that Assembly as the pattern of perfection in Parliamentary Government, would certainly not object to our taking it as our model. Yet the lengths to which Cabinet power has grown there would hardly fit in with the assertion that-the Seddon Ministry is the most autocratic on earth. * A recent writer on tbis subject has said : •« We do nob in truth exagcernto when we say that the Cabinet, if only it has a fair minority, governs the country, baxea the country and legislates for the country very much at it 3 own discretion, Ib cannot, of course, do anything violenbly opposed to popular sentiment, and ib is ob!ij;od in preparing its proposals of any kind, to take thab sentimonb into account, but ib possesses all tbe initiative, a complete power of veto, and whenever it i* determined, which, of course, ip often is not^ beiu» as a rule only too anxious for ' liyht from below," an effective working power of arranging details. In truth Hlio sovereignty'ie as in the hands 'of tho Cabinet while it remains in office as ', ib ever was in tho hands of any king not 'avowedly a tyrant." The supremacy of Cabinet is fully appreciated in the House of Commons, but it has hot yet come to be understood here. Although we recognise rhat the growth of Cabinet authority is an inevitable outcome of the circumstances of the times, and that Ministers must decide many things without consulting Parliament, yet the tendency is one that should be resisted, and members, should always maintain an attitude of friendly, though not factious criticism even towards Cabinets which in the main give expression to their views. No doubt the policy of a Government possessing even a majority so strong numerically as the Seddon Ministry, is largely moulded by its supporters. In the case of the tariff last session, and of other measures which the Cabinet has introduced, this influence has been very marked, and the bonds of party allegiance ought never to become so lightly drawn as to deprive representatives of their freedom of action to such an extent as would elevate the authority of the Cabinet above the authority of Parliament.