The Press. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1895. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9289, 14 December 1895, Page 6

The Press. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1895. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.

The list of the new appointments to the Legislative Council appears in another column. The Government, it will be seen, have selected Messrs. Arkwright, of Eangitikei; R. H. Reeves, of Inangahua; George Jones, of Oamaru ; and W. C. Smith, of Hawke's Bay. The first thing that strikes one in connection with these appointments is that they have obviously been made, not because the Council needs strengthening, not with a view to serving the interests of the country, but simply and solely to pander to the exigencies of party. So many loud-voiced clamourers had to be silenced, so many hungry mouths had.,to be .filled, and a call to the Upper House afforded the simplest, if not-the cheapest, method of securing these ends.

That there was no real need to add to the number of Councillors just now will, we think, be admitted. There were forty-two members, without counting the Hon. Sir Patrick Buckley, who is leaving the Chamber for the ''Supreme Court Bench, and without the present additions; and considering the size of the 1; Lower House this number ought to have been sufficient. That the interests <of the colony have not been considered is apparent from the nature of the appointments, which have obviously been bestowed as a reward forparty services. We frankly admit that to Mr. Arkwright's presence in the Upper House no objection can be taken. In point of ability, experience and personal character he is fully qualified to adorn his new position. If, however, he had not deserted the principles in which he was bred, and which he professed to a mature period of his life, if he had not started a paper in the Government interest, and stood for the House as their nominee, we are afraid he might have remained in the colony for fifty years, and even if he had been ten times as able and experienced as he is Mr. Seddon would never have thought of calling him to the Upper House. As for the Other three they are mere party hacks and henchmen. Mr. George Jones, of Oamaru, is the best of the bunch. Personally he is a good fellow, he is an excellent hand with the fiddle, and he is a capable journalist, with a facile, if somewhat flippant, peri. His best friends, however, cannot say he is a success as a legislator or at all likely to add any weight or influence to the deliberations of the Council. He got into the Lower HouSe on the strength of having been committed to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms for a breach of privilege in his capacity as a journalist. His most notable performances as a legislator took place in the whips' room, and were executed with the aid of his violin. We also have a dim recollection of his having once or twice enlivened the tedium of debate with a song, but in this we uaay be mistaken. Mr. Jones has left no record in the journals of the House, however, of any practical contribution to statesmanship that entitles him to further Parliamentary honours. Mr. W. C. Smith is added to the Council, Mr. Seddon tells us, as a representative of commerce. We hope commerce will feel flattered. Bearing in mind the famous affair of the Umntaproa Block, in which Mr. Smith was concerned wiili Mr. Cadman, we wonder he is not described as representative of the landed interest— as a "social pest," in short, like his friend, the Hon. W. P. Reeves, of Mokau. Mr. Smith was very useful to the Ministry as Whip, and has always been a very consistent, not to say an obsequious, supporter. He now has his. reward. Lastly, we come to Mr. R. H. Reeves, of Inangahua —rollicking " Dick " Reeves, of happy-go-lucky memory. Mr. Reeves'si chief idea of statesmanship when he was in the Lower House was to secure plenty of roads and bridges for his constituents—in which he was generally successful. His second was to get a heavy import duty placed on coal, in which lie fortunately failed. Neither of'these subjects is likely to afford much field fear bis genius in the Upper House, and his chief personal characteristic—a very- loud voice— will, we fear, be regarded as a serious drawback in the placid atmosphere to which he is to be translated. That the Legislative Council should be used merely as a means of bestowing place and pension on subservient follOwers'of the Ministry of the day, is a shocking degradation from its true functions. We do not pretend to say,

that any previous Government has > always acted up to the highest ideal in making similar appointments, but we do unhesitatingly assert that no pre. vious Ministry has so unscrupulously " carried out the " spoils to the victors'' theory in this, as in other respects, as the present Administrators have done. The principle which ought to guide the selection of an Upper House has been laid down by John Stuart Mill in words that cannot be too fre' quently quoted. The deficient oies of a democratic assembly which represents the general public, he tells us, are the deficiencies of the public itself, want of special knowledge and training. The appro, priate corrective is to associate with it a body of which special training and knowledge should bethecharacterfst-ics. If one House represents popular feel-' ing, the other should represent personal merit tested and guaranteed by actual public service and fortified by practical experience. If one is the people's Chamber, he adds, the other should be the Chamber of statesmen a Council composed of all living public men who have passed through irn. porfcaut political offices or employ, ment.

Tested by such a high standard need we say how paltry must appaar the appointments just made by the Government, with the - possible exception of. Mr. Arkwright ? Is there any man who seriously regards Mr. W. C. Smith, Mr. R. H. Reeves, or even Mr. George Jones as a statesman—as one who would play the part of a man of light and leading in what should ba an assemblage of some of the best talent of the nation ? Mr. Seddon, if he only knew it, has missed a great opportunity. If he could for once have stepped outside the intrigues of party into a loftier aud purer atmosphere, he would have won the regard and confidence of the public to an extent that perhaps he little dreams of. Apparently he did sound Sir George Grey on the subject of accepting a seat in the Upper House. Much as we dislike Sir George's politics we need hardly say that we should have regarded him as adding distinction to the Chamber, and we should have heartily applauded the choice. We are only sorry that circumstances seem likely to preclude us from ever seeing him there. Our Wellington correspondent has suggested that the appointment of Sir John Hall and Mr. Rolleston would have been a politic as well as a gracefull act on the part of the Premier. In this view we cordially agree. The eminent services rendered by both these gentlemen to the State will, we doubt not, be frankly admitted even by their political opponents, and we believe they come' fully within the scope of John Stuart Mill's definition which wa have quoted above. Mr. Seddon is in some respects a man of broad views and generous impulses, although much cramped and warped in Others. If in making these appointments he had for once forsaken the muddy ruts of party expediency and taken a comprehensive, patriotic and statesmanlike view of his duty, no one can tell the immense amount of good he would have done. He would certainly have strengthened himself in the confidence of the people to an extraordinary extent. Probably he will never realise the opportunity he has missed.