THE ELECTIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LII, Issue 162, 30 November 1896, Page 2

THE ELECTIONS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sin — At the present time every elector in New Zealand should be thinking very seriously about his or hen i espoAsibility in connection with tho coming elections. Can we get into our House of Representatives men who will forget self for the sake of country, who will rise above the miserable petty tricks of Party, and who, setting before them the well-being of the colony as tho end and aim of their work, will steadfastly do all they can to attain it ? In our present House everything is subordinated to Party politics ; if either side brings anything forward the other immediately looks for some bad motive underlying it, utterly careless whether the proposal is for the good of the colony or not. No doubt there is reason for this want of faith very often ; it is one of the saddest phases of society at the present time— this want of -faith in each other between man and man. Men seem to be always looking out for motives, and base ones, in other men's actions. And is not this position intensified by recent legislation, which sets class against class at every turn ? All proper feeling is being gradually crushed out by Act of Parliament, and now, instead of the relations between man and man, woman and woman, being guided and controlled by a mutual feeling of respect— by a sense of what is right and just— all is to be guided and controlled by Act of Parliament. Iwonder if this phase of recent Socialistic legislation has occurred to our elector's. Surely it goes without saying that you cannot make men good by Act of Parliament. In dealing with young people, boys and girls in schools, though of course rules must be made for their guidance and to keep them in order, still a great deal is left, and rightly left, to what we call a feeling of honour — esprit de corvs. You try to draw out the better

nature, and the teachers who bring this latter treatment to the tront and keep the rules most in the background are those who bring, out the best boys and girls. And surely grown-up boys and girls should be treated no worse ! But what is being done ? Class is being set against class. An attempt is being made to surround employer and employed— and these two classes of courseembrace nearly the whole community — with a maze of rules and regulation.", so that there is absolutely no freedom for the encouragement and growth of those virtues which alone can make a community happy and prosperous. That there is need for some rule is unfortunately true, but, as in the treatment of boys and girls, let these rules be as few as possible ; give scope for the cultivatioa of those feelings of brotherhood which should exist. Why should we not b» like the Romans in the brave days of old so well sung of by Macaulay ?—? — " Then none was for a party, Then all were for the State, Then the great man helped the poor, And the poor man loved the great." The list of Acts passed by the last six sessions of Parliament given by the Premier in his late speeoh to his own constituency is suggestive and instructive. What a mass of legislation, and almost entirely for one class — class legislation pure and simple — and by one sentence he indicated the trend of his Party's legislation. He said an Eight Hours Bill was an absolute necessity in view of the frequent efforts made to break through the custom, and then said (I quote from tile New Zealand Times, which, I suppose, correctly reports him) — " If it was a recognised custom there was no harm in.making it the law." - What an utterance for a legislator .' Is that the way to decide how laws are to be made ? It is the custom for people to go to bed at night ; there is no harm in making it the law. For heaven's sake let us do something by custom, not everything by law. The beginning and end of 'it all is that love should rule ; we have it on the Master's authority that the first great commandment is, Thou shalt love God; and the second is, Thou shalt love thy neighbour. It is no use attempting to go outside these two great commandments, and how can you foster and encourage the growtu of this love by innumerable and vexatious Acts of Parliament P Instead of the relations between master and man, mistress nnd maid, being guided by mutual love and respect, each side will get into the habit of saying, " What must I do according to the Act? — what must I not do ? — how little need I do t" — and so on. It is a terrible outlook to look forward to the time when, as must inevitably ensue if the present Socialistic legislation is persisted in, all sound foundations of social life will be swept away, every relation between the individuals who make up the State will be laid down by rigid Acts of Parliament, and the individuals themselves will be reduced as nearly as can be to mere machines — getting up in the morning, going through their day's work, and going to bed at night by Act of Parliament. A more insane method of attempting to promote the prosperity of individuals and of the State cannot be conceived. Cannot we return men to Parliament capable of better things ? I am, ie, Chas. P. Powles.