THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN VICTORIA.

Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 4265, 31 March 1879, Page 3

THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT IN VICTORIA.

[Melbourne " Argus."] Some revolutions are effected without beat of drum. A change of thb nature has occurred in tho system of government under which we live in Victoria, and it b of the first importance that the alteration, unauthorised as it b, and highly improper as it 'is,- should be pla ; nly stated and clearly recognised. Hitherto Ministers, no matter to what party they belonged, have exercised their executive authority for the benefit of all. They have regarded their -dmimstrative powers as held in trust for tho community as a whole, and upon this understanding power baa been largely conferred upon them and upon the Governor in Council. The majority haa legislated according to ita views, but in the administration of public; affairs under the law the majority and the minority have stood upon the same footing. Thb b the rule which prevaib in Great Britain and in all British colonies, and up to May 1877, it was observed here. Party government has meant government by a party for the community, which consists of many parties, but party governxcent under tho present regime means government by a party for that party. -for the party eveiytiiing bto be done,for the minority aothing. ;_3ie men and the districts ou_ride * of the dominant] section are to be injured humiliated, and, if possible, crushed. Every man, whether ccn-iatutionaibfc or ministerialist, pays hb quota to the Twwijry, aaid has a right to share m the benefits which flow from the Treasury, but to-day the public Treasury and the public service are both used |as machinery the one partgr,»n4,to I . . >,-

Ihe innov_tioh is great and alarming, and raraireg to be promptly dealt with, ~ Inwjew of tt, American history sppsara to have been written in vain. Englishmen and Americana alike deplore the prostitution of politic* in the United States, and yot m are more than drifting, we are rushing headlong, to the American results, with all the evils of the American example and all.the protests of the American press in f _11 view. In the States the party is everything, and it seizea upon everything. From the President down to the lowest postmaster there b a clearing out in favour of {the side that triumphs. Each officer pays a portion of hia salary for tbr purposes of the party campaign; the Customs the Treasury, the departments generally, are all worked in the interests of a section and not of the people. " The spoils to the victor." "Woe to the vanqubhed." In these sentences the situation is described, with the result that the party contests are conducted with an unscrupulousneea and a bitterness which it b the merit of constitutional prUciplco honestly applied to mitigate, if not altogether to remove. How unscrupulous the political practices have been may be judged of from the fact that at the last election, the party in power, finding their Presidential candidate defeated, fraudulently counted him in under cironmstances which, v disclosed at the time, when the excitement was at its height, would inevitably have led to bloodshed. America, whioh might hare had one of the best governments in the world, haa had,one of the worst, and her troubles have mainly arisen because the Executive serves its party and not the State. Party men have been allowed to apply the public authoiity and the public funds to party purposes. '■''".- And now, when there b an uprising in the [ United States against this system, and honest ' men of all parties protesting against it, theTiotorian Government b boldly adopting it. We have the minority refused that correction of a returning officer's error which they can claim as a right under the law; and refused because the correction would have seated their candidate. We see that capability and fitness for posts are no longer thought of, but every office, from that of ParHamentary librarian down to that of" an electoral registrar, b given to a pronounced partisan, who can be depended upon to serve the cause. So with the publio funds. For specific instances we have to go no further than West Bourke, and take notice of the unconditional promise of waterworks to Barry's Beef when other districts cannot even obtain a loan in aid, and observe the Lancefleld railway scandal. " What v the use of authority unless you use it ?" was the exclamation of Mr John Woods, to whose coarse cynicism we are sometimes indebted for a clear statement of the Ministerial position. On the principle thus betrayed, Mr Woods and hb colleagues are acting everywhere. The telegrams from England paid for out of the publio funds, and therefore the property, ao far as they can be published, of all contributors to these f unds,are given, not to the pnblio press, but are made use of to aubsidbe the paity journal, and though this b a small matter, it illustrates the situation. The whole ~ community contributes to the Treasury, and the Treasury v used as a party agency. We do not write with any idea of shaming Ministers into a return to honest and constitutional courses, but rather to induce the reflecting among their supporters to ask themselves if it b well that the system of government for a party should be established Jhere as against government for the whole. Ministerialists cannot expect a monopoly of the practice their leaders have seen fit to introduce. The minority here represents interests, and possesses claim < which would entitle.it to respectful treatment in most lands, and not only that, but it b strong in numbera at the ballot-box. Under our electoral arrangement*, which permit of a handful of men turning the acale in all the constituencies, it makes comparatively a poor show in Parliament; but then such a scale admits of being easily returned. A comparatively small accession to the numbers of the minority would win it many seats. After the West Bourke contest there can be little doubt on the point that it does not require much to give the now defeated party a fair amount of Parliamentary power. And Ministerialists must he conscious that what their leaders are doing at present is to embitter their opponents, to sting them into exertion, and they must realise that when the minority haa become a majority, reprisals must ensue. We should deplore such a result, we protest against its being made inevitable, and in order to avert the evil, we invite the citizens of Victoria, irrespective of their political creeds, to assist in maintaining the honest' British rule, that the Executive shall administer the public law and the publio funds, not for party purposes, but in the publio interests, and in those interests alone. All else b injustice and corruption, and must end, as injustice and corruption have always ended, in the destruction of confidence and national ruin