The Bruce Herald. " Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, JULY 1 1890.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 2179, 1 July 1890, Page 2

The Bruce Herald. " Nemo me impune lacesset." TOKOMAIRIRO, JULY 1 1890.

The frequency with which the name of Mr W. S. Oaixe has been mentioned in recent telegraphed reports of Parliamentary proceedings at Home may be taken to signify that he is likely to occupy a prominent position in British politics. He is a man in the prime of life, residing at Ulverstone, in Lancashire. Barrow-in-Furness, for which town ho is a member, is situated nine miles further north, and has a population of some fifty or sixty thousand. Mr Came is a stanch teetotaler, aud recently when tho subject of compensation to license holders was being discussed, he announced his intention of resigning his seat and seeking re-electiou as an independent Liberal rather thau support the Government programme. From this action, and from a good many other items of Parliamentary news which have recently been telegraphed from Home it will be seen that the licensing question is assuming proportions which threaten to dwarf most others. Mr Came has hitherto been a supporter of the present Government, but seems diaposed to throw them overboard on this question. From his point of view, the subject is one of the extremest importance. Whether one agrees with him or not, it is impossible to do other than admire the conduct of a man who will rather forego an almost certain prospect of political advancement than sacrifice his principles. Would that we had a few politicians in New Zealand with sued stamina. And Mr Came is not only a member of Parliament but a strong upholder of the interests of labor. The working men have no better friend than he. But his advocacy of their cause has always been judicious And now that he has pronounced so decidedly against the compensation questiou, and announced his intention of resigning and seeking re-electiou as an Independent Liberal, it is in tended to try every effort to make his candidature unsuccessful. A local faction will run a man against him, and other parties are resolved to dn their best to prevent his return. The moral of all this seems to be that no matter how excellent a member of Parliament is, or how good his record, if ho does not happen to meet the views of a local faction heaven and earth will be moved to thrust him out of his seat. Can the electors expect to get a representative without a mind or a conscience — a man who will simply echo their wishes ? What aome of them appear to want is a mere delegate, who will voice the opinions of the more blatant among them. Eepresentative government, we take it, is, or should be, something far grander than this. To a certain extent the wishes of a member's constituents should be attended to by him, but if he is competent to fill the position to which by their votes they elevate him, he is also competent to arrive at independent conclusions on the subjects brought forward for discussion, and his vote on such, questions ought not to be afterwards questioned, unless he prove himself false to any special pledge he may have made at the hustings. Even in such a case as that, it; may often happen that he can satisfactorily explain his conduct.

Mr John M'Kenzib, it is stated, intends to spring a mine under the Ministry by making proposals in the direction of confining the operations of banking institutions to the terms of their charters, so as to preclude them from engaging in the barter of land and mortgage investments. This is o very serious and difficult question to deal with. It is said that a majority of Ministers, including the Premier, favor the scheme. Certaiuly, if the banks are actiug illegally, as they must be if their proceedings are not consonant with their charters, something ahould be done. But, if the Banks are doing business iv such a way it seems to us quite unnecessary for Parliament to interfere, the ordinary processes of law ought to be sufficient. However, the subject will uo doubt be brought up in Parliament, and we Bhall be surprised if anything d ifinite comes of its discusßion. "It is better to bear the ills we have, than fly to others that we know not of." Better a long way to incur indebtedness to the banking institutions than to get into the grasp of the private money lenders. The bankers may strip a man of his garmeats but the money lenders ekia Mm. Shyloek is dead, but his des-

cend;intß survive and flourish, and not only get their pounds of flesh but many ounces of blood into the bar* gain.

The School Committees Election Bill, which the Toko. High School Committee considered and expressed approva. of on Friday, is a very simple, seusible, and useful measure. Its si-ope is not only the abcilikion o^^^.^^ cumulative vote, but it also ainfl^B^* place the whole process of the election of committees more in accordance with the methods obtaining in connection with other corporations, and with the principles of commonsense. The first operative clause defines the meaning of the world " househo der" as follows— Every adult male or female person who as owner, lessee, or tenant resides within the school district ; the parent or guardian having the custody of a child attending school; and on the golclfields every resident, not an alien, holding a miner's right. No paid servant of the Department, or of any Board or Committee is to be allowed to vote, and dwellers in tents or other temporary structures are excluded. The absurd plan of accepting nominations at the householders' meeting is proposed to be abolished, and nominations are to be made in writing as is done in the case of all other electious, each nomination to be signed by a proposer and seconder, and be displayed on the schoolhouse door. The vexed ' question of whether the number of nominees not being in excess of the number to be elected the Chairman may declare them elected without taking a ballot is settled in the affirmative. If the number is less than seven but three or over they are empowered at their first meeting to complete the statutory number. One provision is made which may entail some trouble, but will certainly prevent ineligible persons from voting. The Chairman at each election will have to open the ballot-box, and make a list of the names of the persons who have voted, in order that the scrutineers may satisfy themselves that they are householders within the meaning of the Act. With this exception the process is similar to that in other elections. It will be seen that the most important feature of the bill is the abolition of the cumulative vote, and the definition of j the term householder. It is good enough as far as it goes, but if ifc went a little further and conformed the ineLhod of election to that of all other bodies, doing away with the unnecessary meetings of householders altogether it woutd be much better.

Tue Western Australian Constitution Bill is exciting keen debate 4h tJj|M| tlouse of Commons. It was debatß^^ at length on Friday, but only the first clause, which we suppose is nothing but the tit c of the Act, was passed. It will be at least a fortnight before any further progress is made. The chief difficulty in the way of im mediately granting to Western Australia that free and responsible government so long enjoyed by all the other colonies lies in the facts that the extent of territory is enormous in proportion to the present population, and that it is about the last possession of the British Crown in these latitudes which has not benn banded over to the colonists themselves to take care of and do the best they can with. Supposing the Home Government to decide upon a scheme of colonisation on its own account, which recent discussions disclose it is not improbable it may do, there would not be a 6quare foot of available territory at the Antipodes were Western Australia relinquished. But that is not the only thing which weighs with statesmen opposed to the proposal. The population of the colony at the last census was about 25,000. How sparse y it is populated will be imagined when we state that there is only one fire-hundredth part of a soul to the square mile. The estimated area of the country is not far short of a million square miles. It is by far the largest of the Australian colonies and about eight times the size of the United States — which with fifty-eight millions of people are nob considered to be more than sparsely populated. It is the nearest portion of Australia to England ; is enormously rich in resources which have as yet hardly begun to be developed. The climate is admitted by all who know to be one of the finest and most salubrious in the world, and the mortality since its first settlement has not exceeded one per cent, of the population. In fact, in reading up some particulars of this vast country for the purposes of this article, we were astounded to find that situate as it is between 15 and 35 degrees only south of the equator the climate should be so compuratively moderate, and that it should grow so many of the leading productions of the temperate zones to perfection.. It would be ten thousand pities were suL'h a country handed over in its entirety to a local government. They would not know what to do with fjt would be utterly incapable of d^^^y veloping its resources. . Big land companies, carried on with foreign capital, would undoubtedly be formed, and the evils complained of in the other colonies would exist in intensified force. The Western Australians may probably have a right to selfgovernment, but as yet they have spread themselves over only a fraction of the country. Judging from the map we should say that not more/

than a fiftieth part is settled. They might be granted control over the southern third of the colony, but certainly at present should have no more. The remainder should in the meantime be left with the British Government to deal with as it may deem best.