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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8930, 20 December 1887, Page 4

The movement afoot among certain members of the House of Representatives for simplifying the form of government, and altering in some respects tha relations between the Executive and Parliament, will enlist a good deal of sympathy in the country. The proposals are, of course, in an embryonic condition, and it is unnecessary to say that very prolonged discussion of them will be requisite before they are allowed to eventuate in such an important constitutional change as appears to be intended; but there is unquestionably in them the germ of an idea, that may ultimately develop into a very valuable modification of the present cumbrous and inconvenient system. The principal object contemplated has been stated by our Wellington correspondent to be '' that the Government measures should be subject to amendment, at pleasure of the House, without involving any question of confidence in the Ad-, ministration." That this would strike at the root of what has proved a grave evil in the progress of public business in Parliament, can hardly be questioned; and though it might lead to a certain want of continuity in the policy of the Government, it would at least lead to measures being considered on their merits, without the question being obscured by considerations of a possible change in the Executive Government. In looking back at the history of Parliament since the foundation of the colony, we cannot but be struck with the waste of time and labour that has been caused by the perpetually recurring struggles of the "ins" and "outs," and with the fact that not only have many proposals of great value to the country been withheld from discussion by the representatives of the country for fear of the consequences that might result to the Administration introducing them, but equally valuable measures have been either forced on Parliament or ruthlessly sacrificed in obedience to the exigencies of party. That j this is an evil to be removed if possible there will be few to question, and if the existence of Administrations could cease to be a burning question—in fact the burning question—ot politics, it would be a distinct gain to the country. Indeed, it seems an irrational thing that the existence of a Ministry should be made to depend on its ability to force a Parliament consisting of so many men of many minds to accept its measures. Such a Ministry being as it were a select committee, may in its wisdom hare conceived of such a measure as one calculated to be beneficial to the country, and if on its further and more exhaustive discussion by the whole body of representatives it should be found to have delects, it seems very hard that the official existence of those who had merely ventured on introducing it should be dependent on its adoption. We read of a custom in connection with legislation in a more primitive condition in olden times, according to which a man introducing a new law came into the publi assembly with a halter on his neck and if he proved unsuccessful in securing its acceptance he was forthwith hanged. We cannot say that we have very much improved on the principle in mpdern times, for though Ministers do not appear in their places with baiters round their necks, it is recognised that their corporate existence is in precisely similar fashion dependent on their success in forcing their policy on the convictions of the Assembly. This is the irrational and inconvenient principle against which certain members in the House of Representatives have taken up arms, and however we may criticise the means proposed for < its accomplishment, there will be few to question that the object is good. The methods proposed are entirely empirical, and as such will no doubt be subjected to a good deal of rough treatment in discussion. It is suggested that the Ministry should be elected by ballot, and that it should be subject to removal by a vote of the Legislature. This would, of course, place the executive in the position not of leaders of the Legislature, but of being the mere instruments for carrying out its behests, and would be a revolution of the most startling kind. Whether the colony is prepared for so radical a change as this is more than doubtful, and until there is something substituted for Ministerial responsibility to give steadiness to the course of the ship of State, we fear the innovators will not carry with them the confidence of the people of the colony. Of course, under the system of legislation and administration in the United States, that element of steadiness is given in the elected President and in the responsibility to him of his ministers whom he has personally selected. Between that clear and defined system and our own, which has been the outcome of ages of modification and change, there is a wide range of choice ; and over that debateable territory there is abundant room for warm discussion, and while we are very far from thinking that those moving in the matter at Wellington have yet disoovered the solution of the difficulty, they have initiated a discussion that is fraught with the deepest interest to colonists, who are almost universally weary of the un« satisfactory results that have come of our costly and cumbrous and inconvenient system.

Should this take the form of a demand for the withdrawal of the forces which Russia has concentrated under the twofold pretence of a mobilisation experiment and a precautionary movement, the probabilities are that it will be met with a refusal, and that then the Austrian troops will be put in motion. In that case the situation, as can easily be foreseen, will be rendered more acute. But the most significant item of information in that which comes from Berlin. A conference of a military character has been held by the august Emperor, and the presence thereat of the probable Regent, Prince Wilhelm, son of the Crown Prince, Field-Marshal Count "Von Moltke, General Count Von Waldersee, and General Bronsart Yon Schellendorf, Prussian Minister of War, is significant of the grave character of the deliberations. The absence of Prince Bismarck may be accounted for by the state of his health, for which complete rest has been strictly i enjoined by his medical advisers. What ' was determined on at this conference is not stated ; bat the fact of the aged Emperor's well-known aversion to war is evidence of the importance attached to the occasion, while the message from London, stating that the German Reichstag is unanimously in favour of a Bill for increasing the forces by half a million, supplies an index to the view of the situation taken by the Conference, and to the decision arrived at. That decision, if correctly reported, meauß the calling out to the extent mentioned of the army of reserve, the effect of which would be to rai3e the active army to the effective strength of upwards of a million. When a step of such consequence as this is taken, it is an unmistakeable indication that the position of affairs is regarded as serious; and that startling events are apprehended. It shows that the expectations of a prolonged peace which recently were so loudly expressed have suddenly become clouded, and have, indeed, been supplanted by anticipations of a gigantic conflict. The formation by France of an ironclad squadron, to be stationed in the English Channel, taken in conjunction witn the concentration of her troops on the frontier, is another piece of information that adds to the general perplexity and gravity of the situation. France, like Russia, is just now in that restless mood which makes war a safety-valve for an escape from internal revolution ; and if, as there is reason to believe, these two Powers are acting in concert, the stationing of a French fleet in the English Channel will be intended to act a3 a check on Great Britain, and to prevent tier, if possible, from actively abetting the triple alliance. One conclusion the general aspect of political affairs in Europe at the present time irresistably leads up to. That is, that all attempts to patch up a friendly arrangement between Germany anil Russia have ended in failure, and that the feeling now dominant on the Continent is that, as war is ultimately inevitable, the responsibilities and hazards of plunging into it without further delay are preferable to the irritation and exhaustion arising from a state of suspense.