Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 1939. HERITAGE AT STAKE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 68, 17 February 1939, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 1939. HERITAGE AT STAKE.

By refusing to summon Parliament at the Opposition’s request to discuss the present crisis, and denying the Bureau of Importers the right to test in the Courts the validity of the regulations governing imports, the Government is apparently determined to brook no opposition to a policy that is causing extreme concern throughout the Dominion and overseas. The Minister of Finance regards the regulations as “a very commonsense, reasonable, and rational procedure to follow,” and the recent conference of manufacturers decided that they were “impracticable, unnecessary, and unjust.” The Bureau of Importers went further and on legal advice regarded the regulations as illegal. It therefore sought permission to test their validity, but the Solicitor-General has refused for the reason that a question of Government policy is involved. A point of very considerable importance arises from this decision: the right of anyone, holding that he is injured by an action deemed illegal, whether originating through the State or a private individual, to have the matter determined by the Courts. On this point the Government has constituted itself the final court of appeal and considerable disappointment is felt in consequence. Professor Algie has stated the position m saying that liberty is at stake. It is not justice to act in this manner and any Government regarding itself on sound ground would surely have acceded to a request that is after all hut the law of the land. No doubt had an action been granted and the decision been adverse to the Government, it would have called Parliament together to have the regulations validated.

The country’s present position has determined the Leader of the Opposition to awaken the public so susceptible to a sense of their responsibility. The Prime Alinister has denied that there is any drift, but the decline in export values affecting the national income, the extremely high rate of public expenditure, and the position disclosed in the Reserve Bank’s return are the answer to this view. Air Hamilton, as Leader of the Opposition, made a proper reqjnest to the Prime Minister

to convoke Parliament. It was refused, and lie is now taking the correct alternative of bringing the facts as the National Party sees them before the public. To educate opinion is a sound course anil a vigorous campaign before Parliament opens cannot be without beneficial results. It is .the electors, Afr Hamilton says, who must accept the responsibility for the present position, as it was theii majority vote which placed the Government in power. Many thousands of these were not then, and still are not, supporters of Laboui in the truest sense; they were prepared to give the Government a further opportunity, and these are the people chiefly, as well as the Nationalist Party supporters, to whom the appeal must be directed. There has been a departure from democratic government in this country and to restore it to .its proper place is vitally necessary. For a lengthy time there has been far too much governing by Order-in-Council and the present Government has continued the process to a worse extent than other 'Administrations. To restore to Parliament its authority is a paramount duty. In the meantime, with “our heritage at stake, a heritage built up over the past century, and the pride of the people,” the Opposition plan to educate public opinion is a course which must meet with a very large measure of approval.