The Press. MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1904.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 12015, 17 October 1904, Page 6

The Press. MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1904.

THE PARLTAiIEXTABY SCANDAL. The most important function* of a free Parliament is to control the public .txpenditure. The representatives of Th* people have to impoae -.tfae. taxation by wJvich tbo public revenue is fumiebed, and H Uicy did tbeir dutjr tliey would e» that the money was wieeiy and economically expended. The Parliament of New Zetimtvl, however, has ceased fox'some time not poly

to exttciae any control over the expenditure, but at the bidding of the present Ministry has given up its power to exercase any real end effective control. If * vote is placed on the estimates jfc is carried as a matter of course, simply because the Ministry bring tbeir majority- to bear, aad their followers dare not kick over the traces. Even if members did refuse to pass 'any particular item of expenditure, they would probably be told thai the money bad already been spent, and in any case the Public Revennee Act ac amended by tho Seddon Government-, - practically enables the Ministry to dispense with Parliamentary sanction altogether. This being so the cynic may perhaps enquire, what is the use of discussing the Estimates at all? Why not let the Government take the entire responsibility without going through the form of pretending to ask the sanction of- Parliament? The answer is thai, in default of any effective system of control by the House, Ihe "next beet thing is that doe publicity should be given to the nature of the proposed expenditure, and this can best be secured by a proper discussion of the Estimates in the House. Even the most autocratic Government is .amenable in some degree to public opinion, and there will be less jobbery and extravagance if the searchlight of public criticism is thrown on tihe Budget proposals than if they are allowed to go through practically unchallenged. But the present Ministry do not hesitate to stifle public criticism by every means in their power. Thus ifc is that we now see repeated in Wellington the scandal which every year about this time makes one wonder whether there is really any Ihnit to the endurance of the patient public of New Zealand. For weeks the Htme was encouraged to waste time over unimportant matters while the Premier was absent on the West Coast and elsewhere. Now when the Estimates are to be considered, members are kept at work for eighteen hours or more at a stretch, so> that it is utterly impossible for exhausted human nature to . discuss or even to understand the details of expenditure to which they aret asked to commit'the country. Says and weeks are spent over fruitless talk about matters of no importance, but hundreds of thousands of pounds of the people's money are voted away in a lew hours. It is a public scandal of the first 'magnitude, and there will be no improvement until the publio rouse themselves and insist on regaining the power which their own representatives have allowed to be filched away.