Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1920. PARLIAMENTS AND THE PEOPLE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1714, 3 January 1920, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1920. PARLIAMENTS AND THE PEOPLE.

It is a good many years now since the lato' Prince Consort, grandfather of our present King, speaking of the system | of government in vogue in Britain, to i which he was then more or less strange, declared that representative government in Great Britain was on its trial. The British House of Commons then, as now, stood at the head of the world's Parliaments, and had gained for itself the name of the "Mother of Parliaments." It enjoyed, to a very "great extent, the confidence of the nation, a confidence it still retains, although away back in the sixties it was elected on a very restricted franchise, and under conditions which gave to the old "pocket boroughs" (as they were termed), of a lew score or few hundred, voters, equal rights with constituencies embracing as many thousand electors. But there are signs of an impending change in public feeling which . indicates a growing -distrust of the constitutional, form of government, less pronounced perhaps, but still existent in the several British Dominions ? and markedly present in Great Britain, the first "rift in the lute" appearing when the Irish' Sinn Fein members, elected to the. House of Commons in 1918, decided that they would not take their seats in that assemblage. But the origin of this distrust in the Parliamentary form of government is non-British. It takes its rise on the continent of Europe, and is fostered largely by agitators of foreign extraction or association. A writer in one of the English reviews points out that "it is the revolutionaries throughout the world who are preaching that Parliaments are a fraud," and that "it is grist to their mill when Ministers created under the Parliamentary system become the target of abuse." The French Revolution of 1848, he reminds us, was ushered in by the alliance of Royalists and Republicans. That revolution overthrew the Bourbons, and plunged Franco into a series of conflicts involving tremendous bloodshed (16,000 persons alone being either killed or wounded during the siege of Paris in June of that year), and tremendous financial loss. Had the British 'Constitution been of a less liberal character, or had the .several Dominions exercised their, self-governing powers on more restricted lines, one could understand the action of the revolutionary minorities that are avowedly seeking to overthrow the capitalist, or bourgeois system, which they declare is fostered and supported by parliamentary government. The alternative they offer is Syndicalr. ism in industry.and the Soviet in politics—those panaceas of direct action which are'based on no general theory or principle, arid never 'solve one dittV culty without" .creatfiig a' new one. Fortunately, so far,as,the British Dominions are concerned,,there is no disposition. o n the ; part,of the great bulk of -the people to destroy the existing civilisation (which "direct action" and the Soviet would do), on the ofi-chance ■4 securing that earthly Paradise which the revolutionaries are so ready to promise, but so ill able to secure, as .exemplified in the case of Russia, * At the same time there is an evident de-' termination on the part of the people Generally to obtain bettor living conditions, and to abate somewhat the inequalities of wealth,, and the haidahins of the industrial system, for which' they hold ,the Governments rerisible. With the widened franchise now 'obtaining:in: Britain and .each of the self-governing Dominions, the class of represeutative-elected to Parliament

is slowly but surely changing. The so-called Labour Parties have made, and. are making, substantial gains, largely at the expense of the more advanced Liberals. v That was particularly noticeable in the British elections of December, 1918.., and in the New Zealand elections last month. The Labour gains here were small, 'it is true, but in each instance where a Labour candidate gained apcat it was at the expense of the Liberal Party. The combined Labour vote indicates a very considerable turn over from the 1914 elections, but, allowing for fact that the Reform Party left fifteen seats uncontested, and that the Reform vote in the constituencies it left untouched went to the Liberal candidates, it is evident the greatest turnover of votes was from the Liberal to the Labour Party, the candidates of which werb mostly allied to the revolutionary school whose aim it is to substitute the Soviet for the existing constitutional for in of government. It would be mere affec* tation to ignore the dissatisfaction that is rampant to-day right throughout the Empire, or to attempt to minimise its extent and possible influence upon the future of parliamentary government. The primary cause of that dissatisfaction is found in the dearness of living and the prevalent feeling that traders and others are being allowed to make huge profits out of the public, who are dependent upon them for their supplies. Rightly or wrongly, the impression prevails that Governments can and should eliminate high prices, and bring things within at least a reasonable limit of the pre-war charges. Very few people stop to enqure whether it, is possible for any Government to do this, or, alternatively, whether the Government can, by raising wages all round, equalise matters somewhat, lno economic side of the business is altogether ignored, and the Government which fails to take action, or ui unable, to 'do so, without seriously dislocating the whole economic position » branded as incompetent, and assailefl ■*»*»» storm of criticism and abuse that- meiey accentuates the growing disfavpur with which Parliaments are coming to be rega ded even by British peoples who have most to lose by their abolition.

All 'theyvdo, is to take the microbes off the floor, and put thorn on the wall, whero they have 4 better iumping-off place," said a delegate, to the Teachers' Institute yesterday vwhen describing the rather casual methods .employed, iu % 0 .cleaning, of schools. ....._.,; .'. ',.;. ; Tho well known Auckland private hotel, Careen; has been* visited by a bedroom thief, who" lifted sums from £2O down to a few shillings. Several rooms were visited the spoil coming from the pockets of the" occupants. ,t The total amount taken was £3O. This is the second occasion within the last five months ,that such operations have been effected- to the satisfaction of the intruding party. : ;.. • . A thunderstorm, that was as phenomenal as it was sudden visited Mastorton yesterday morning.. About 10 o'clock, ominous-look-uig clouds rolled up,' and at 11.15 a. downpour started with unexpected suddenness. It continued .Unabated,'with a fierceness typical ;of f lit > tropics until 1L45. Within, that bnef. space 30, points of rain was registered. The .main, streets: and -footpaths in the centre of the town were.inundated, and generally much discomfort was caused to many people, Perry street and Chanel street-were specially affected by the flood water* ami in the latter street motor-cars were backed;on to the footpath in order to convey people from the municipal buildings which wero surrounded by water, to comparatively "high, ground further away, and later, when the- waters subsided, the streets and footpaths had a coating of mud As showing the restricted radius of the storm, the outskirts of the town were visit- 1 ed by very light showers only, while at. Matahiwi, (wo miles distant, and Carterton ! ten miles away, no rain 'fell at all ' |