The Evening Star FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1912.

Evening Star, Issue 14962, 23 August 1912, Page 4

The Evening Star FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1912.

Wi: extend our congratulations to the Hon. H. O. Bell or '.he Elective Of delivery c: AVedn-s-

Nominative? da> r.i'tenw.n jf bis first important speech in the Legislative Chamber. It was an able and a statet'natilikt effort in a high phiie. Its theme was '.V Bill which proposes to amend the Constitution of New Zealand so fur as to make the Upper Horse elective on a popular basis. Needless to say, the proposal Is one ot vital consequence. A great principle is iu issue, and we trust that the courage of Legislative Councillors will rise to the occasion. There is much talk of the probable rejection of the Bill, and the sruech of the Minister who is in charge of it seems to have been specially designed to avert

this threatened calamity. The | forcefulness of his reasoning will be difficult to evade. The rejection of the Bill on the motion for its second rea-ding would justify the strongest criticism that has ever been levelled against the present method of appointment. The Council will j stand convicted either of ineptitude or | pusillanimity. If the fundamental and j sacred principle of Democracy is not dis- j regarded, and the members of the Council are not unnerved by the fear that their chances of continuance in office are less when dependent on the popular will than when resting on the favor of Ministries, the Bill must emerge safely from the division which will b-d challenged when the mocion for second reading is put. Any other action on the part of the Council would not merely be indefensible, but reprehensible in the highest degree. There w:-uld be something smacking of arrogance in any deliberate flouting of public opinion. Outside its own Chamber there are tew protagonists of any standing of the nominative system. All political parties have for many years past been on common ground as to the need of displacing such a system. What differences there have been have had reference only to the method to be adopted. Fexv and far between, indeed, were the candidates at the recent General Election who had words of approval for the Upper House as at present constituted. The great body of declared opinion has been in favor of some form of election. In view of this fact, the public would be right in resenting any disposition to disregard the almost uniform expression of their wish. As we have already pointed out, the member for Avon is exercising a sinister influence over certain Legislative Councillors. We hesitate, however, to believe that the influence of this sell-styled Leader of the Opposition, who has this week 80 glibly and unconcernedly renounced his leasehold proclivities, could, in any material way, count. His talk about constitutional practice dictating the course that should be taken by the Council is balderdash. If the mind of the country were unknown, an insistence on an appeal to the electors before passing such an important Bill would be right and proper; but the mind neither of the people nor of the political parties manifests any dubiety. The Hon. Mr Bell rightly put the issue when he said that the passing of the second read- \ ing of the Bill would merely endorse its leading principle. The details of the method whereby that principle is to be given effect to is purely a matter for consideration at the commi'tee stage. Election on the basis of Proportional Representation is ihe only scientific and democratic foundation upon which to erect a Legislative Chamber; there is nothing in 'he speeches delivered so far that has in the slightest degree impugned the validity of that position; and consequently the second reading of the Bill should pass. As to the details of the Bill, we ourselves are by no means in agreement with its sponsors. For instance, there are clauses in it providing for the filling of any casual vacancies in the Council by election—not of the people, but of the Council itself. Again, section 28 provides that "if at any '"election the number of candidates

; ' for any electoral division " dees not equal the number to bo elected the Council shall bv ballot elect any men it pleases to make r.p the doficieii-oy. These provisions represent distinct encroachments upon the central principle of the Bill. If from death or other cause .1 vacancy occurs, it should he filled as such vacancies are at present filled in many public bodies—viz., by the candidate at the previous election who obtained the highest number of votes among those defeated If there is a deficiency of candidates in any electoral district, there should be no attempt to meet it by the clumsy and undemocratic expedient offered by this Bill. When a constituency is not sufficiently concerned to secure for itself full representation by the nomination of an adequate number of candidates, it does not deserve such representation. The Council ought to be purely and wholly elected by popular franchise. The time, however, for urging considerations of this kind is when the Bill has reached its committee 6tage. We are afraid that the Government have not taken the wiser course in submitting the Bill in the first instance to the Upper House. So injudicious does this appear to us that we have difficulty in avoiding the misgiving that it ha* been dono in order to precipitate defeat. Indeed, there are not wanting indications that the Ministry are anxiously eager to make appointments to the Council of some aentlemen who have been of immense service to their party. We quite expect that many such appointments will be gazetted pretty promptly if the Bill should unfortunately be rejected. The ostensible ground for recommending the Governor

to make fresh appointments will be that' of bringing the constitutional pressure to bear on Councillors which the Imperial Government have on different occasions threatened to apply to the House of Lords to bend it to the popular will. So long as all other resources have been exhausted, such an expedient is no doubt justifiable. But the question raised by the Hon. Mr Beehan is a pertinent one. Why was not the Bill for the Reform of the Legislative Council submitted to the House of Representatives first? The members of that House are the accredited representatives of public opinion. Its acceptance there would have given it the endorsement of the popular will, which could not have been lightly ignored by the Upper House. The .answer of the Hon. Mr Bell is by no n-eans satisfactory. Apparently something in the nature of courtesy constrained the Government to introduce the Bill in the Chamber that is to bo reformed. But a false delicacy of this kind is no sufficient reason for jeopardising the success of the most important reform to be submitted to Parliament this session. The Bill, being a policy measure, wouid certainly have commanded the support of the whole Ministerial party. In addition, it would assuredly have secured the approval as to its main object of a number of the Opposition. It is not easy to resist the conclusion either that the Hon. Mr Massey has erred in a' point of strategy or that he is designedly (though covertly) courting defeat by taking the line of greatest resistance.

We have been led to writs in the above strain on account of the unmistakable siens of the opposition which tho Bill will encounter during its passage through the Council. We desire to give timely warnin:: to Councillors to avoid arousing public resentment by the subordination of the highest interests of State to petty or personal considerations. The electoia of New I'-aland have a right to expect that the Bill will pass its second reading.