GERMAN REFORMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17934, 30 October 1918, Page 6

GERMAN REFORMS.

The features of the German Reform Bill quoted by the Berlin Socialist newspaper " Vorwaorts" will mark, to the German Conservatives at least, an enormous stride towards the diminution of the 'absolute power enjoyed by the Kings of Prussia in the control of vital affairs of the German people, but if the newspaper's summary of the measure enumerates all of its principles, it leaves a great deal of the necessary reformation undone. The fact that the Reichstag and the Bundesrat are to receive the power to declare war does not mean necessarily that the German Emperor is deprived of the power to declare war in the event of an 'attack on the Empire's territory. The limitation put upon the Emperor in this respect by the Reform Bill really does nothing more than etxend to the Lower House the restrictive rights now poseessed by the Bundesrat or Federal Council, but if it leaves the old loophole to enable the Government to make an offensive war appear defensive, no real reform will have been achieved. The secret of the military party's control over the Reichstag under the Imperial Constitution is to be found in the Bundesrat. This Federal Council, consisting of sixty-ono members appointed by the Governments of the various States of the Empire, lias extraordinary powers, enabling it to reduce the Reichstag to impotence. For instance, no Bill can be introduced in the Reichstag without the consent of the Federal Council. The. (Reichstag may, of course, suggest laws, but it cannot proceed to the discussion of any legislative moasure unless the Federal Counoil has agreed, and when the Council is considering matters in relation to the army, the navy or the Customs, the Imperial Chancellor, as president of the Council, may veto any proposal brought forward. The Council is a nominated body, and though in has sixty-one members, only twentysix of them can vote, 6ince the total votes of each State can be cast by only one delegate. It is plain, therefore, that tho nominees of the Governments of the various States, in whose appointment the people have no voice, not only have the power of delaying legislation but may block it absolutely. Th<j fact that the Chancellor can remain in power only with the consent.of tho Reichstag should givo tho popular Chamber a greater influence over the acta of the Government, and should give that body a power it has never before possessed, that of vetoing, through the Chancellor, the acta of the nominated body. It is necessary to remember, however, that Prussia possesses an absolute majority in the membership of the Reichstag, returning 236 members out of tho total of 397, and that the experience of this war has been that tho Prussian Socialist waß as ready to vote for war and support war as tho Prussian Conservative. In the reformation of the German Constitution these facts must not be ignored. The Federal Council must be shorn of its enormous powers. The assumption by the Chancellor of responsibility for the Emperor's acts is an important step in the restriction of the Emperor's powers, but the faults in the Gorman Constitution go,much deeper than the points mentioned by " Vorwaerts," and it seems that the reformation of the State Constitutions, as well as their voting power in the Reichstag, will be necessary if Germany is to givo the people a real voice in the affairs of tho Empire. At this stage, at any rate, it ia not difficult to understand the Allied doubts regarding the sincerity of the "democratic reforms." It is too vital a matter to permit of risks being taken. Tho German people must be cured of their belief in war, and then they must be given oompjieto control, no half. measures will do, of their own affairs. And these things will not be accomplished by tho mere passing of the measure mentioned by the> Berlin newspaper.