THE FEDERATION- REFERENDUM

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4299, 7 March 1901, Page 4

THE FEDERATION- REFERENDUM

Democracy being the government of the people by the people for the people, tho principle of the referendum commends itself to the democracy, for the simple reason that it enables tho whole of the people to bring its weight to bear on any given public question. Therefore, tho Government is to be congratulated on its determination to take a referendum vote on the question of joining the Australian Commonwealth. Tho matter is of course not in the same position as it was in Australia when the question of setting up the Commonwealth was referred to popular referendum. That, however, is a question of detail, which involves the taking of further steps in a certain event, and need not ho cussed at the present stage. Tho broad fact is sufficient that we are getting the mind of tho people adequately expressed. That at least is the intention of tho Government. It may he, however, ag well to point opt in this connection that tho form of tho question to bo nut, as announced, is not os definite as it might be. ‘‘Are you in fa-vour-of federation with Australia t” is

general enough to mislead people of a too literal turn of mind (especially if inclined to be over-conscientious) into imagining that they are asked to vote in favour of the general question of federating with their neighbours across the Tasman Sea. Certainly, the phrase does include any and every form of federation. The necessity of the moment is to get an answer to the particular question of the advisability or otherwise of federating with Australia under the Commonwealth Act. That is the concrete question before the Royal Commission. It should be also the concrete question before the peopleujnder the referendum, for which the census taking affords an ideally practical opportunity. It is hardly necessary to insult our people by assuming that they are totally ignorant of this question. They have had it before them for some ten years, during the last three of which their intelligence has been considerably exer- | cised upon it. A small proportion of those who have given evidence before the Royal Commission have, it is true, admitted that they have not read the Commonwealth Act. But can it be seriously contended that a sufficient grasp of the question of joining the Commonwealth requires a nice comprehension of all the technicalities of the

Commonwealth Act? Auy attempt to in-i|uiri« Mich a comprehension would throw tho average mind into hopeless < onl u ion. There are certain broad nola! . which must be understood, ant. I lea-. tim public have had threshed out MiOico ntly well and often to enable them to form an opinion upon them intelligent enough for stinking a decisive balance. Tbe chief newspapers have pnlilislied excellent si mini aides of the (Ammon wealth Act : (bey are publishing in condensed form tbe evidence taken |,y tho I’oyal Commission; and beiore tlie eonsus-ref orcmhim day they v-nil have given tho evidence taken in Australia, on tho suoject. Lastly, there is a month before us for discussion ami tho publication of further information. The Mow /calami public, moreover, is more alive to its political duties Ilian tho Australian. At every general election tho abstentions from voting are less than 10 per cent., as against •!<) or ."0 in tho Australian colonic..,. On the coming occasion the electors will be reached in their houses, and may be depended upon to better the Australian record of n 00 per cent, referendum vote. Their superior voting percentages aro a guarantee that our public mind will act in this great crisis with intelligent deliberation. To have missed the rare opportunity of 11m census enumeration would have been a serious mistake. Tho rolereii(luiu cannot ho attended, of course, with all tho safeguards we expect at the polls. Hut safeguards will not he wauling. For instance, it will bo impossible for any ouo to vote in two places. If some simple precaution were imposed on (be collectors, by which the number of voting papers from each bouse eimhl be compared with the number of its adult inmates, there would bo reallv nothing more to bo desired. B11f: these mailers, notwithstanding, the uiiiquo opportunity for tho referendum cannot ho missed. Tho people have a rigid, in bo consulted, and they will be ready to give an intelligent answer. Under Iho circumstances, the coming referendum must bo regarded as tho Ithuriol spear, tbo touch of which distinguishes between tbo democracy that is trues ami the democracy that is spurious.