ADVANCE DEMOCRACY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21772, 11 October 1932, Page 12

ADVANCE DEMOCRACY

TO THE EDITOR. Sir— ln my last letter (signed “Candidas’”) I tried to show that the peipple, owing to continually changing conditions, had through the ages repeatedly changed their form of government. We at present have the decaying stage of the party system of Government with its continual discord, hate, and compromise of what is right. Injustice to the weak and suttering cannot be any influential section’s concern because the big parties have their hands full with the continual fight which is waged by one party against the other. Through this warfare the whole community must suffer—especially the wage earners. Every section of the community considers that it is groaning under injustices. What is right must continually be compromised under the party system. It has all the bad points of democracy combined with many of the bad points of autocracy. What say have the people in the election of the only important official in the Government —the Prime Minister? A few thousands vote for him as a representative. He is elected by the

strongest party. And then, instead of being allowed to select, as his Ministers the best men available in the country, he is forced to pick his Ministers from ms few followers. It is obvious that, owing to the conditions under which they are elected, the vast majority can be only of very medium quality. How common ifl the saying that, however upright a man may be before election, he generally is forced to appear to become the reverse when elected? Under the party system of compromise—and, remember, principles have to be compromised not only between parties but, what is much worse, withim the party itself—his principles, and the principles of his electors, are of no avail. The result'is the people as a whole have to suffer; and Truth has to hide her face in shame. Look at the millions of pounds of bribe money which are tied to' the backs of the people, well over half of which has been of ho benefit to the people. . Under the party system this is unavoidable. The Coalition Government has for the moment paused in this madness for which the parties comprising the Coalition are entirely to be credited, blit' listen to the Opposition! It does not see why the accepted manner of playing the game of party government should suddenly be acknowledged to be wrong by. the parties in power. Quite sincerely, according to the unavoidable consequences of the party system, the Opposition is offering bribes no more ridiculous than those offered to the electors by the other parties during former years. To say that the electors have learnt a lesson and will not in future vote for the party offering the most money is absurd. It must always remain so under the party system of Government, Let us for a moment very briefly take the unemployment question. It is generally admitted that the way it is being handled is doing a very great deal of harm not only to the unfortunate unemployed but to the country as a whole. All the schemes except one are on the wrong lines. The only scheme which is on the right lines is the share-milking / scheme. If only the obvious moral was drawn from this comparison the whole of our difficulties could be solved. The sharemilking scheme is a success because it. is of benefit indirectly to every section of the community and directly of benefit to the share-milker and the farmer. If farmers and the. unemployed can see that a scheme is of mutual, advantage there is no necessity to boost it. The small farm scheme is useless because in the vast majority of cases it cannot be of mutual advantage to the unemployed and the farmer, unless in exceptional cases some big mistake has been made as to the real value of the land. Adopt the principles of the share-milking scheme to all our farming activities and industrial activities as well, and very soon it will be found that there are not enough people in the Dominion to carry on the work which will become available. The plough can very quickly double the quantity of our exports. It is true .that if this happened instead of receiving, say, another £30,000,000, we should only receive, perhaps, another £20,000,000, but this addition would put New Zealand right and also allow the poor in England to obtain cheaper food. To achieve this result would be possible provided (1) the existing political “ fogs and mists ” were blown away; (2) effort and enterprise were allowed their reward; (3) expert advice were made available to farmers as to the proper lines on which production could be increased, especially as regards intensive cultivation and intensive farming—as, for example, poultry products other than eggs, for which under proper guidance there is an enormous scope. This scheme, if, properly applied, would be of very great benefit to all sections of the community including mortgagees. But no Government under the party system could curry it to success for many reasons. The five-day week for. the wage-earner could become a possibility in a short while, even under the present prices obtainable for , our exports. It is only necessary for the country to adopt principles instead of politics, The step which democracy, should take to put matters right is to abolish the party system of government and to vote under a more secret system for only one. man—the Prime Minister —or, better still, call him the Servant. This elected Servant would then bb solely responsible and could appoint as his Ministers the best persons suitable for the various posts. He would have an organisation which would, be in continual touch with all the sections, of the community. Labour representatives would be a very important group among his Ministers. His would be the responsibility to see that all injustices and complaints received proper consideration, even if the section suffering under an injustice were only a very small one numerically. The Servant, in order to do his work properly, would remain in the background. Justice and proper reward for initiative and effort would become the

watch words of, the. country. I am cor. vinced that well over nine-tenths of the people of this country wuld aqcept these watch words provided they coull see that they :*ere really .intended tabt come the basis of everything and nol, as under the party and away to-morrow. ■■ Exeept for. Baj, three representatives of' the wage-i and three from, the employers, the House of Representatives should be abonsnec. These six remaining representatives wnW debate any question amomf , the “ B e™ and would be a “safety, group over the Servant, for .the. Sei* vant would be forced to wairaifthey all decided that this was advisahle m the interests of the country. . The Servant would also have to resign if group could get the Governor-General to agree with them. So the _people would be well protected. The Servant would hold office for, five years and theu could submit himself for election again if he so desired. A system like this would be of the, very advantage to the working man and to all ot her ee tions of the community., for everyow. would be pulling together instead of as ac present all in opposite directions, airing of grievances and the debating oE matters electing the welfare o th. various sections of the people would vbs encouraged. The use of radio m tbe service of the people could be made much more effective. It would not be necessary to alter the Constitution; in fact, outwardly nothing would appear, to have been altered, except that goodwill., O.ustic.ji, and effort would have replaced mJUstiM,. hate, and a general feeling of hopeless ness. Having obtained universal suf* frace. democracy must realise that wita the privilege of the vote goes responsibility. She must vote, not for but for principles. This means that aa individual cannot vote for more than one person. At present a member of Partisment secures the consciences of, say, 10.000 voters, and immediately. ■he is elected he is forced to compromise. A compromise is against the principles o Christianity. Either a. thing is right or it is wrong. Christianity cannotgoto politics. Politics must come toi Lbristi anity. In a letter it is impossible more than to touch on just the outlines qf this suggestion, especially as effecting tne doubling of our exports.—l am, etc., 8 C. S. J. Berkeley, Captain. Hyde, October 1. ' ; r