A CONSTITUTIONAL POINT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13927, 8 December 1908, Page 4

A CONSTITUTIONAL POINT.

The decision of the Victorian Governor to grant Sir Thomas Bent a dissolution is reported to have created surprise among those who formed the majority which carried the recent vote of no-confidence against him. Those in the midst of political excitement. can hardly be considered sound judges of constitutional points which affect their partisan interests; in such matters symI pathetic colonists at a distance are I probably the best judges. From New Zealand, which has every interest in maintainig the constitutional rights' of the public, and ' none in pleasing brie or other of the Victorian parties, it is very clear that the State Governor is acting well within the custom and tradition of constitutional crises. ; Sir Thomas Bent has twice been accorded a supporting majority by the Victorian electors, and . makes out a.reasonable case when he claims that they have not had an opportunity to say whether they have decided to withdraw the confidence explicitly expressed in him in 1903, and again in 1906. As for the Governor, a Premier who has been his chief adviser for years advises him to dissolve Parliament immediately,'instead of waiting for a few months longer. For a Governor to refuse, under the circumstances, would be to invite criticism, but who can criticise a Governor who authorises an appeal to the people when circumstances make it extremely * doubtful • what the people wish to do? It is quite possible that we are gradually drifting towards the American system of fixed elections, but it is preposterous to assume that, we have reached that stage, and extremely unwise to presume that it will bo well for us if we do. ;■ ''.' ,'v ' : y'""-:'■