OUR RULERS

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11412, 8 January 1923, Page 4

OUR RULERS

OVER-GOVERNMENT AND MISGOVERNMENT TOO MANY LAWS. (By “Quack,” in the Auckland! "Star.”) It is impossible to contemplate our over-burdened Statute. Book without wondering how a young country can have willingly woven such a web Of forbiddings as is there displayed; woven, One supposes, to control the wild wishes of little more than a million, mostly normal, humans, who inhabit the land. At the same time one remembers that Moses considered ten commandments sufficient to restrain a people recently released from a. long and irksome bondage, and ready therefore to be guilty of almost any excess. Democratic government upon a representative basis is successful only wUen adopted by a placid, slow, unexcitable rice, quietly indifferent to anything but direct assault upon personal liberty, with a firm, conviction that all laws are made for the "other fellow,” and intended to be set aside in special, circumstances—“ suohi as inconvenient application to oneself. The selection of a group of law-makers from the general ruck of the population is a comical system in its reckless disregard of the fitness or otherwise of candidates for power and authority. The profession of politics calls for greater wisdom, so one would think, than any other, yet ability to address a meeting in a loud voice is held to be a sufficient qualification. A young lawyer, doctor, sohoolmaeter, even a young constable, is examined more closely, and more thoroughly sifted | for capabilities than a parliamentary candidate, who may be taken from plough, bench, lesk or anvil or swept in from the limbo of the unoccupied, without muoh preparation or polish, stood upon a platform, praised and .discredited by opposing crowds who see, or who do not see, some germs of knowledge in one who is an absolute stranger to all maybe, and there and then, upon the man's own, unsupported .assurance, he is hoisted to a pinnacle, not only as representative of the collected wirdom-of his’constituents, but as the proposer of laws w)hichi shall have behind them the forces bf armies, and shall affect the fate, the happiness;. the future, of thousands, both now living and yet to be horn. . I have never understood why it is considered unnecessary to have a school for parliamentary candidates, why there should be.no test of general or of special knowledge, and why the temporary opinion of a temporarily interested crowd should be regarded ae a safe selective agency. If I need a man to sweep my chimney, repair my hoots, shear my sheep, or mend my watch, I am never absolutely careless and indifferent, I like to have some evidence that the man to whom I entrust my property is not entirely untrained, and more often than not I am in the happy position of . being able to rid myself of incompetent services almost immediately the incompetence is discovered; yet here am I weakly offering my support to a stranger who tells me, in a more or less aggressive manner, that- he is this, that, and ijhe 'other, and intends to do so and so, and. absolutely: without, reliable evidences' or; guarantee I let this unknown, untested, untried, fellow go,,partly at my expense,' to a place from whence he may, one day, issue commands entirely at variance with my desires. 'Does it not sound a nightmare of nonsensical indifference to iny own welfare, and that of the country in which I live and rear my family? "When in the House; M.F.'s divide, 4 If they’ve a brain and cerebellum too They ha/ve to leave that brain outside,’ And vote just as their leaders tell 'em to. ■ But then the. prospect, of a, lot. Gf dull M.P/s tin mote ptbximity, • AU' thtokiaff’for theimeelves> is-what -k No man oan think with equanimity. If this is true we might saive much expense and trouble by 1 giving our attention to the "leaders," and accepting mere voting (automatic) machines, -without the disturbance of an election, )' If a contested election always resulted in the appointment of the best man (best team a national point of view); there would be more to be said) in favour of the system, but elections are mostly remarkable for the number of good men rejected, and the doubtful quality of the embryo law makers ohosen. It must be admitted . that. three or ifofur years of political, experience and training will turn the thoughts of. any ordinary man, from) purely selfish channels towards the general welfare of his fellows, but during this period) of essential schooling ho assists in ‘tile perpetration of many loosely drawn l hills, which so display their faults when they become law, tl\at judges differ, lawyers wrangle, and nany innocent persons suffer. A House composed of equal) numbers of men of rigid legal mind, and idealiste—visionaries—•might produce progressive statutes seldom needing reconstruction, but as it is, this original Act is soon over sprinkled by a heavy peppering of amendments, which sometimes amount collectively to a new Act smothering iho old It appears to me that the first duty of a newly elected House should be the repeal and revision of all out of date statutes, the destruction of all obsolete legal machinery, and a general tnd concerted attempt to simplify and codify, condense and cleanse, the mountaii 1 of parliamentary material white, is ever being piled up by successive generations of talkers and inventors of experimental legislation. The new olofch upon the old, garment is always a mistake, and a Parliamentary waste basket, and scrap heap, and destructor. should be part of the outfit of our Legislature. It is amusing to note the bewilderment of most men when suddenly confronted by the question, "What precisely do you mean —?" and then the addition of a word selected from those they had a moment previously used'. Even a dictionary sometimes gives so many alternative meanings to a word that it becomes a quioksand of doubt and confusion of thought, yet it is of words our laws are compounded, and the men who roll out reckless streams of verbiage are expected to express in unmiteakable terms,, in words beyond; argument, the lows upon which our social in-*” tegrity is based and our personal relationships adjusted. If some of the grand old men of Hebrew days could return to earth and visit our House, and eiti bebide our. judges, magistrates, and justices, would they, do you think, admire the "progress" of whioh we so lightly boast? Compared with a new, eountfy Uke ours, with thousands of years of human experience and wisdom to. start from and guide us. there should be no territory in the world so well and simply governed, so prosperous, apd so advanced.

The lore of country is but lore of man: To smooth his path thro’ life, and give thy strength To solve his problems and assuage bis grief.