DECENTRALISED AUTHORITY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 16060, 15 October 1912, Page 9

DECENTRALISED AUTHORITY.

TO THE EDITOR. gj r) _' ( Parliamentary machinery is bad. It is necessary to decentralise parliamentary authority and give municipalities and Nationalists more power." Theso pregnant assertions arc tho deductions of that astute parliamentarian and Labour leader in the House of Commons, Ramsay MacDonald, and appeared in tho cablegrams of tho Bth inst. The enormous amount of parochial business which takes up the time of Parliament, distracting members from the moro important duties of tho great Council of the nation, becomes moro apparent the closer we observe the work of that body. What wo require is substantial and responsible local government, constituted as a wholo on the samo representative basis as tho central authority, Parliament; its powers more clearly defined; and extended; its ramifications mora concentrated, and on© for all local jurisdiction, not 'different bodies for different parts of municipal government, suoh as boards and trusts. It cannot be m-ged that municipal government would bo inferior in knowledge of its business than Parliament. Rather should we concede that it has a decided advantage of a far moro direst interest in tho results for tho authority which is most conversant with local details must necessarily be moro competent to deal with Lhem. Tho Government of the Crown consists of many departments, but Ministers do not require a Parliament apiece to keep them to their duties. Then why should there be required a separate parliament for every trust or board, instead of one municipal governing body, responsible to the central authority? It is Ramsay MacDonald's reference to giving Nationalists more power that gives this question its national and j Imperial colouring. It simply means giving local autonomy to all nations ! within the Empire, implying local rule, with no doubt lesser reservations to those already enjoying it. When the sentiment of nationality exists in any force autonomy is generally the result of its demand. When tho sentiment develops in the municipal sphere to demand local government in its entirety, tho nature and fulness of that concession will bo in accordance with the force of tho demand. There then rests I the principle which conceives the plan \ of a l -'presentativo sub-parliauient for | local affairs, and which must hence- ! forth be considered as one of tho fundamental institutions of a freo government.—l am, etc., •W. E. J. MAGUIRE. !