H. BODLEY’S NOMINATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6678, 28 November 1908, Page 11

H. BODLEY’S NOMINATION.

LEGISLATURE ACT. (To Ibe Editor "N.Z. Times.”) Sir,—“What about your promised exposition ?** “That’s all right, but hurry no num'rt cattle, or you may have cattle of your own some day.” Of course it is well known how 1 nominated queerly, went through a semi-silent campaign and tiio goal 1 got. The apparent unfitness of the movement emanated either from myself or from the public, and between these two you are now a.-ked to judge, hirst of all take a bird's-eyo view of the campaign, and compare the volume of words with tho intrinsic result, and you will be compelled to admit that a logocracy only and not a Parliament of sense could result. Vet wo are still despondently informed that tho “Great Problem Remains Unsolved,” political unrest and vacuity .supervening where the .sunshine of prosperity promises rest and content. What is the solution and in what way does my nomination act as a pointer to it? Truth and honour must guide the electoral vote before Parliament can be expected to possess the inherency of national bona tides. Set the test of common wit as tho passport to Parliament, and in its judde of achievement it will think all men fools, and act accordingly and, as yearly results teach us, its work will give no satisfaction to those who set it up. In the late election the dirtiest trickery and snake-in-the-graes canvassing have been resorted to, and public connivance has justified its use. The public at large, therefore, will have no one to blame but itself if the next three years throw no further light on the political darkness of our ever accrescent Dominion of selfdeception. The remedy for. all this was to be found in the Act under which the election was supposed to be conducted. I say “.supposed” advisedly, because in no particular were its provisions observed in any of the constituencies, mid very few of those contesting knew of its existence at all. No print or publication by candidates directly or indirectly was allowable from tho 14th in,d. to the 17th, or 21st, to 24th. No conveyance calculated to influence voting was legal on polling day, and canvassing was heavily punishable, all of which were spat in the face of. Now, what made the Legislature Act such a double-dealing fraudP’ Tlie preponderance of lawyers in the work of its compilation. The first vital reform in Parliament will have to bo the recognition of the difference between leges facientes. and leges adrninistnmtes, and the axiom that those two babies must not be mixed; which is to say that no reform can be looked for till lawyers preponderate less in the House of Representatives, and the vague spirit of this feeling obsesses the whole country. Now I am prepared to challenge the assumption'that the Legislature Act is really tire dead-letter it is made to appear, except for the purpose of squeezing undesirables into Parliament, but X have not the leaping powers of the first hurdle, viz., .£IOO to <£looo which it may cost, and which was evidently intended as the effectual bar to testing its legality. In short, I have secured a tost case, but giving it effect must be a public movement and not a private one. In the meantime, while this matter is being considered ray nomination will not fall useless to the ground. Calculated on a gold basis alone my 131 votes will be found to work out at over 30 ounces to the ton of rock.—l am, etc., HENRY BODLEY. Wellington, Nov. 26, 1908.