A MEMBER'S DUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 266, 9 November 1932, Page 6

A MEMBER'S DUTY.

The view, that a member owed it to his constituents to support the prayer ofi a petition which he had presented on their behalf was voiced by Mr. Jordan the other day in the House of Representatives. Mr. S. G. Smith very aptly quoted against this view Burkc's definition of the duties and responsibilities of a member of Parliament. Over a century and a half ago Burke enunciated the .principle that a member "should Jive in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituentsj but his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience must not be sacrificed to those who elected him, or to any set of men living." Burke himself lost his Pristol scat through loyalty to hie political convictions. He claimed the right not to be a mere delegate, but the reasoning and independent representative of his constituents. When proposals were made for relaxing the restrictions on the trade of Ireland with Great Britain, and for alleviating the laws against Catholics, he supported them in opposition to the wish of 'his Bristol constituents, and he lost the Bristol seat in 1780, and from that time on he represented Malton." This, was a larger question than the presentation of a petition, and the voters of Bristol took the view that their representative in Parliament ought to support the known views of those who had elected him. There is much to be eaid for this view. Burke himself opposed some of the wisea'c and most liberal measures of the younger Pitt from party feeling in spite of his advocacy of orderly freedom and a well-considered progress. The presentation of a petition, however, is merely one of the routine duties which a member performs in compliance with the wishes of tlhose persons in the electorate who have prepared and signed it. He may, or he may not, agree personally with the prayer therein contained. A Labour member might be asked .to present a petition in favour of some capitalist section of his electorate, but in doing so he would not necessarily be expected to associate himself with its contents. It is merely a. small service of a formal nature. A member of Parliament is not merely a 'delegate; he is the representative of the whole community, and he must keep in touch -with all classes and make known their grievances and wishes in the proper quarter. A member is elected .partly on political grounds and partly because the electors are willing to trust his judgment upon questions whicih. may arise for decision in Parliament. On broad party, questions he will naturally vote with his party, but every member must have some freedom of action in matters about which he has not specifically committed himself to those who elected, him. Any denial of such freedom would reduce the status of a member to that of a mere delegate. . . —W.M.