A NEW SCHEME OF GOVERNMENT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 656, 5 November 1909, Page 3

A NEW SCHEME OF GOVERNMENT.

•dmi**' i notice that nn ..Elective Executive JjilKis being -brought before Parliament this session. I am. unaware of its'provisions, but presume that it. aims at" making the Cabinet a non-party body, which, of course,.would be .a'very good thing, and would tend to give every measure a ■ chance •' of' being_ judged on its merits, tetead, of from a party standpoint. .•O.uthnod below is a 6cheme which would prove workable, 1.-tmst, and /at; the saine . time remove some-of-the evils .resulting from political oontrol of thej various'' Departments. Some similar scheme has been advocated in Great Britain, but has not met with .much support. AVhy should ' not S:Nevv Zealand, which, has made so-many political-experiments, nir»:e: this, which is likely* to-lie-more effectual and beneficial than all the others?. ; ; ' The two. Houses should, at the commencement of the session,- sit -in.' congress, under the presidency- of the Speaker of- the LegislaCouncil,!, with-- the speaker of the. House of Representatives as vice-chairman, and should elect, committees to administer each public department, ■ at the - same 'time nominating - the various .Ministers,.(who would be merely, the chairmen of-these administrative committees), and nominating-ono of the' Ministers so. soleeted as Prime Minister. Thus thtfre nould probably be. a Cabinet containing representatives of all parties. 'Ministers -should speak in', both Houses,, but ,o'nly vote in. that- of which they were actually: members. . The administrative committees should meet on Mondays and Tuesdays, and report' to the: tiro. Houses' in congress on ■ Wednesdays,-.whero their decisions would be either , ratified or 'altered. For the rest of the week the two "Houses should sit separately for legislative duties,-as. at present. Every member of tho _two Houses must be on, at least, one administrative committee,. the committees to meet even when Parliament is not in session, and to have.no more,than a. month's vacation in the year. - Each oommittee atid its chairman to be olected annually.. The Finance Committee to receive from each committcei orice a year the estimates of receipts.and expenditure from the various and to arrange the',Budget for presentation to the House on these estimates.. " '■ " The scheme here outlined is one which. is actually worked by the, London County Council, a body which' has mor? varied and larger, administrative duties than, many colonial• governments. It. has the merit,: too, of removing the Railway and other. Departments fron\.personal control of Ministers, without adapting the commissioner system, to ■ which members of the present Ministry seem to have very strong objections. '_■">• . With regard to legislation, the order in which the various measures should- be brought before Parliament should be decided by ballot; Ministerial measures to have tivo chances at the - ballot to one chaiice of private members' measures. Each measure should be disposed' of before the next'one is introduced into the same branch. of the. Legislature.—l am, etc., ; E. S. MACDONALD.