VII.

Evening Post, Volume LIII, Issue 113, 14 May 1897, Page 2

VII.

My Deae Son— I intend, in this letter, to expose the fallacy of the Elective Executive proposal. It is a specious proposal. It says, What should the colony have but its ablest men as members of its Executive Council ? No honest man can say that the present Ministry are other than very mediocre men. Who would trust private affairs of any moment to such men as Messrs. Seddon, M'Kenzie, Carroll, Cadnian, Walker, Thompson, and Ilall-Jones ? They are a poor lot, and if, it is said, your Representative Government can give us no better than they, Representative Government has failed. The root fallacy of this argument lies just here— that we need able administrators. It is the same fallacy as I have exposed when it said you need the ablest men for your Parliament. There is something that transcends ability or character, and that is the holding of Liberal opinions. It may be admitted at once that if the object of the Parliament were to select the most fit men who could be found to be the Executive officers of the colony, and if Parliament were to be so constituted that its members were to have a free hand in legislating, then the Elective Executive Bill should meet with support. But the aim of Liberals is to get Liberals placed in power, and suppose the ablest men in the House and the most upright were Tories, could liberals select them to administer the affairs of the colony ? As well place Protestants in charge of the Roman Catholic Church. We must get Liberals to rule us ; that is our first pressing want, and if we had an Elective Executive would we ? With an Elective Executive there would necessarily fall that most valued plank of the Liberal platform — the "spoils to the victors." And how, as I have repeatedly said, could Liberalism exist if Liberals were not to be rewarded by office and Liberal constituencies have roads, bridges, and railways for their honourable support ? No, this Elective Executive business is an insidious attempt to place the administration of the colony in able hands, eireless of the opinions of the Executive officers. In the Old Country, the two great parties of Whigs and Tories have been held together hy the vast suras spent by the rloblemen ¦belonging to both parties. And " these noblemen have had their rewards in obtaining orders and patents of nobility. Now, low are parties to be kept here without rewards or punishments ? And here, not laving rich men to furnish the necessary steam for the party machinery, it is necessary that the steam — the expenditure — should be furnished out of 'the Colonial Treasury. What will have to be considered is, Do the people of the colony really wish to see their affairs managed without party or faction fights ? I should think not. What ¦would become of Liberalism if Party were abolished ? We would have every measure in the House considered on its merits, and npt as it affects the Party ; and the selection of Government officers and the granting of votes for public works would also be considered on their merits, and Liberalism would thus be killed. I hope you will see ¦what this Utopian scheme means. Another effect would be felt in the electing of our legislators. There would not be t\\ o well-defined Parties going to the country, out the electors might be asked to consider who were the ablest candidates, and the Ministry of to-day would not guide the people by telling them for whom to vote. The little peccadilloes of some candidates would not thus be overlooked, for they would not be cloaked under a Party mantle. And what would the constituencies do if they had not the guidance of Ministers to direct them ? They would be like sheep ¦without a shepherd. At present you know there is properly no free choice. The Ministers determine for the people whom they should elect, and they proceed to cast their ballots as they are "bid. I do not require to give illustrations how the elections might have gone in many details without such guidance. You will, however, see that the Elective Executive means the selection of the best men, independent of Party, for our administrators, and the selection of the men of intellect, of ideas, and of character, who will not utter mere Party shibboleths for places in the Legislature. Under it the Liberal Government will be unable to distribute spoils to the victors, and where then would the great Liberal Party be ? You must, therefore, never consent to this revolutionary scheme. I am, &c, Robeet Thomson.