GOVERNMENT.

Franklin Times, Volume 14, Issue 200, 9 November 1925, Page 5

GOVERNMENT.

j (Written Specially for the Times)

(By “Idris.”)

Ever since the earliest dawn of eivi-

lisation, the various communities of men have been striving to attain good government. That their ideal has never been reached may be ascribed more to their faulty judgment than to any failure of the purity of their intentions. Probably really good government will never be reached, any more than the best possible game of chess will ever he played, but that should not discourage us, for the pursuit of both objects is good training" for the mind—and the temper. Aristotle, in his great treatise on government, which has been the basis of so many similar treatises for the last couple of thousand years, lays it down that the highest art of government is to secure liberty, order, security, and at the same time to let the people as far as possible forget* that they are being governed at all. He does not by any means intend to ’mnly that the people are to be allow-

i; t 0 rl ° .i«st as they please, but that i r bv w, are I to be kept in the proper path •Su, >u s ,lttle interference and harass- ! mvni -W‘ !!] f ; h ai !$ orities as may be ' >,' lh W e proper ordering : 0 f society: * wise , ancl comfortable ; docß-ine. ' si.TTiy, nW one that every man will freely subscribe ;.°* But in practice? ho\v widely we depart from .this idd&U With wild (Enthusiasm and at enormous expense we' : elect Governments, whose sole mis- : sion in life appears to be to interfere with and harrass the unfortunte governed: and to lay upon their shoulders huge burdens of debt, ‘ incurred irr carrying out wild and uiiremuiierative .schemes that .no board of directors would sanction for a moment. We are ready to fight with one another to secure the return of one particular party Ihousrh fully recognising in our inward hearts that that party is just as Ignorant, as wasteful, and as insincere, as any alternative party that is offering itself. And with apparent- unconcern we watch the standard of our legislators going down and down, genera’- 1 tion after generation, until the educated, cultivated, and statesmanlike politician is becoming as rare as the white crane. Unmoved apparently, we watch the successive Governments building up a huge bureaucracy of public officials to carry out at huge expense and with amazing inefficiency, public services many of which we would be far better without. With hardly a comment we stand by and ' watch our chosen ones loading up the Statute Book with a host of repressive and oppressive measures, most of them entirely unnecessary, and many of them totally unregarded. Ethics Violated.

In taxation matters we see the ethics of good government flagrantly violated. The prosperity and well-being of a country demands that its citizens shall be allowed the fullest possible use and benefit of the fruits of their industry that is compatible with the bare needs of the State. The individual can make far better use of his money for the benefit of the community generally than the Government, does or can. Left in the owner’s hands the surplus above living expenses is spent in promoting industry and improving land, either directly by the owner or by means of loans to others. Every unnecessary shilling extorted by the State is by so much a check to the prosperity of the community.’ For this reason a surplus in the public account, though usually a source of chuckling satisfaction to the Minister for Finance, is really a disgrace to him, for it represents just so much dragged from the pockets it should have remained in. The Reform Party has now a superb opportunity to live up to its name. Heaven kno&s there is enough to reform, beginning with itseff. Even its most besotted admirer has not yet ventured to call it the Reformed Party —but let us hope that some day he may be honestly able to. Let it learn to curb its wasteful extravagance, and thereby diminish the dragging weight of taxation we have to ckrry. Let it assume a due sense of responsibility and cease to shelve debatable questions by remitting them to expensive and unconvincing commissions. Above all. let it see to the efficiency of the public services by weeding out the in-' capable supernumeraries that now hinder their activities.. Every Minister must know that no private firm could escape insolvency if it was run on the same leisurely lines as a publio Department is. One of the election cries of the party was “More business in ‘Government.” Now is the opportunity. to carry it into effect.