The Dominion. SATURDAY. MAT 15, 1909. CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC PURSE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 508, 15 May 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY. MAT 15, 1909. CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC PURSE.

We took a little space on Thursday last to make some necessary observations upon the Prime Minister's latest rashness in objecting to our criticisms of his administration. Sir Joseph, following his invariable custom, was careful not to weaken his abuse by embarking on a hopeless attempt to give a specific reply to those criticisms. He is not, however, so prudent when he is dealing with the criticisms that come from other quarters, and he did not scruplo to. say that Messrs. Massey, Jas. Allen, and W. Fraser "had been at'the business'of misrepresentation." These gontlomen may be relied upon to rebut this unfounded charge if they think it is worth while. We are not' concerned to defend them. But when they state truths which it is good for the country to know, we are concerned to defend those truths. The ample telegraphic summary of the Prime Minister's speech contained nothing to show what. are the "misrepresentations" complained of. We may take it for granted, however, that one Of them was the implication; in Mr. Fraser's statement that "it is about time that Parliament resumed control of the pubiic purse." The Chrisfcchurch organ of the ' Government replies to Mr. Fraser on this point by saying that "Parliament was given control of the public purse when the country was granted a Constitution, fifty-six years ago, and it is simply silly to talk as if the people's representatives had no means of enforcing their wishes." Really, we should not have suspected that our contemporary had so completely forgotten the lesson of the elections as to suppose that the public can any longer be misled by such transparent nonsense. The public is . not any more a goose that will swallow the old clumsy claptrap of the Ministerial press.

For many years Parliament has exercised no control over the public purse. So far as the finances of the country are concerned, there has for years been no jjuch thing as Parliamentary government in the proper sense of the term. Parliament's authority was long ago given up to the Executive. Parliament gave up half of its control by becoming a mere assembly of local delegates, in which each Ministerialist strove to obtain doles' for his district, ■ and got theni by assisting his friends to obtain doles for theirs. Instead of a national assembly acting always together for the national interest, we have had'a number of local delegates sent to Parliament for no purpose but to fight hard for big shares in the division of the spoil. • The member for A would acquiesce, in what he knew was an improper allocation for B, because the member for B was certain to do as much for A. That is why there has been such a mounting up of; wasteful expenditure on public works. Tha,t is why Mr. Millar is now. kept busy tracking down the unpayable railways. That is why Sir Joseph Ward is desperately endeavouring to effect economics in the public service. Against this great; conspiracy the few members who realised tho inevitable result of this, exploiting of the, finances of the country were unable to keep; the public purßo in Parliament's hands. The conspirators merely sat silent, and voted solid. That, the public funds/should be expended on such and such an object became no longer a question of the national interests. The appeal for any given expenditure became no longer an appeal to sound principles on the floor of the House, but an appeal to the .Prime 'Minister in a quiet corner. And when all; the Ministerialists were making this sort of appeal, and had learned the futility of making any other kind of appeal, there was obviously not much left of Parliament's control of the public purse. But oven under this system the power of the Executive was not unlimited, the subordination of Parliament was not complete. Accordingly the Government decided to complete the annexation of Parliament's authority by - passing various Public Revenues Acts.

The general intention and result of the Public Revenues Acts'oflß96, 1898, 1900, and 1906 were, as most people probably know by now, to givo the Executive ' a wide license in applying moneys voted for certain purposes, by Parliament to other purposes which might better suit the Government's convenience. Not only were [ these,, measures Misappropriation, Actas v/e may call them, but thoy 'conferred other curiouß and outrageous. powers on the Government. It is permitted to the Government, for example, to add to thei ; amount voted by Parliament for railway ; working and • maintenance a sum equal to tho excess of tho actual over the estimated.revenue fr6m the railways for the year. By : pitching the estimate low, the Government, it. will bo seen, can obtain, without Parliament being consulted, any sum it chooses to spend, on the railways over and above the : authorised amount. Another feature of the Public Roveriues Act as amended by the Liberal Administration is the specific nullification of the Auditor-General's authority. Should that officer "stick up" any payment, the dispute between him and the Government is decided; by the Attorney-General, or, in other words, by the Government it: self. Anyone can understand the statj into which a Parliament has got which has tolerated the passage and the retention of such an iniquitous destruction of Parliament's authority as these Acts contain. To speak' of Parliament having control of tho public purse is therefore absurd on tho face of it.. To speak of the Constitution, as our Christchuroll contemporary* does, is only to remind the : public of the way in which the Government has violated the spirit of the Constitution. In iuo future, we think, Parliament will be less inclined than it has been to see its functions'usurped by the Executive. The restoration "of Parliament's control of the public purse, if it cannot be effected by the weeding out of the roads-and-bridges member, will comc about through the establishment of independent Boards, which, free from political pressure, and responsible only to Parliament, shall administer the public funds. We shall then get back Parliamentary government, becauso there <vill be no inducement for individual membors to take other than a national view, of the national disbursements..