CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC PURSE.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8599, 28 September 1893, Page 4

CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC PURSE.

Although the Opposition failed to produce any impression upon the majority, they only did their duty on Tuesday evening in recording their emphatic protest against the uneeemlv conduct of the Government

in pressing the Public Works Estimates through the House at one sitting. The whole proceeding was simply farcical. Thousands were voted without inquiry, and without debate or explanation, the solid majority voting blindly at the command of Ministers. Most) of them knew uothiuer of the merits of the votes and did not care. It was enough for them chab they were brought down by the Government. The

remedy for this disgraceful neglect of duty on the part of members lies in the harms of the electors. Every representative who has been guilty of sacrificing the public interests for the sake of party, should be called to account when he again offers himself for re-election, The people of New Zealand must themselves insist on a complete reform in the mode of conducting the public business of the House. Sir Robert Stout pointed out what that reform should be, and it is one which we ourselves have often urged in these columns. The estimates should be brought down in the first week of the session, and submitted to a Committee of inquiry, who should report on every item. In this way members would be in a position ab least to vote on the various items with some knowledge at their command. The Minister who proposed them would have to submit to examination at the hands of an impartial Committee—a Committee which would not be directly under the influence of the party whip. Some unsavoury proposals might be exposed which necessarily escape attention under the present method. Of course Ministers would nob approve of a plan would place the House in command of its own business. It suits any Government much better to keep the House engaged for months in useless chatter, and then, when members are exhausted, to force the Estimates through in block at all-night sittings. The Ministerial power of using the public purse for political ends would be weakened, but the taxpayers would be the gainers, and in theory at least, if not in practice, we still regard Parliament as existing for the benefit of the people of the colony.