“LIBERTY AT STAKE.”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 63, 14 February 1939, Page 8

“LIBERTY AT STAKE.”

PROFESSOR ALGIE’S REJOINDER

Per Press Association

AUCKLAND, Feb. 14

“Liberty is at stake,” said Professor R. M. Algie, the organiser of the New Zealand Freedom Association, describing the refusal of the Government to grant an originating summons to test the validity of the Import Control Regulations as a parallel with the methods of European dictators.

“For a Government which will thus ride roughshod over long-established principles of justice to call itself democratic is simply'a shocking misuse of language, and an insult to the intelligence of the New ' Zealand public,” Professor Algie declared. “It is the liberty of the man in the street which is at stake in the long run. The law says that any citizen who wishes to test the meaning or validity of any Statute, by-law, will, or deed can do so simply by placing the matter before the Courts for their decision. If, then, the Government were sure of the legality of its actions regarding import control what could it desire more than that its legislation should receive the approval and support, oi the decision of the only tribunal in the country that is. entirely independent and wholly free from prejudice, political feelings, and influence? If, on the other hand, the Government has reason to doubt the legality and justice of its own actions, and to dread exposure, what could be more disastrous lor it than to lose its ease in the Courts? “Why is the Government afraid to face the issue? If this recent attempt to legislate arbitrarily by Order-in-Council and to refuse ordinary access to Courts goes unchallenged and undefeated, we must resign ourselves to the consequences. We must in this event be prepared to see the diminution and perhaps the destruction, of the 'authority of Parliament over all matters of State economic policy, and for the future must be prepared to witness the advent- of important and far-reaching changes merely by the introduction overnight of autocratic Orders-in-Conncil. This would inevitably lead to the substitution of legislation by decree for that based upon free and unfettered debate by the chosen representatives of the people in Parliament.”