POLITICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1559, 24 September 1881, Page 26

POLITICAL NOTES.

" t ' ' ' , By Oolonus, ,r "' ' .Considering the manner in which the present session of Parliament is being extended, and the immense amount of time whioh is v .being consumed in talk, it is a oonsolatory „' reflection that our representatives are paid by the lump, and whatever the consequende '.' maybe in the waste, of that time which is ~ required for the due consideration of ' useful („mea«ures,.the loquacity of members of the „ House of Representatives does not involve any extra expense to the country as regards •" the t honorarium. Tke capaolty to talk for T, an indefinite time is a wonderful and extraV ordinary gift of the hnman animal. It does ] not appear, however;, to be very uncommon, ■ nor, as far as lam aware, is it a very useful ... qualification. If some of these very lengthy , speeohes were melted down I wonder what ! would be the worth of the residuum in many . .oases. The amount' of talk done, on what seems to have been considered equivalent t to a. vote of; confidence debate—the Crown ' s and Native Land Eating Bill — where a great '' many members, seem. to, have considered It. ! necessary for them, to. cnt in,, and air their ', opinions on things In general^ seems tome, j 5 , as I read 'Hansard,' to be something • enormous J but when we add) to, that the ' Btonewalllng palaver,, the amount of talking done seems , something absolutely, awful to' contemplate.' Id there no' means of checking this extraordinary loquacity of members, and obliging them to confine their remarks within decent limits, jtfttHout'lnterferlßg too muoh wlthjhe liberty ,bf speech? Ido not altogether see why to talk ad libitum and monopolise time should be considered as a right, any infringement of which Is to be deeped dangerous to national liberty ; and if our representatives were foroed to condense. their remarkaf within a oertaih period, I , question whether the country would not '. rather gain than lobb thereby. How would lv it do to limit the time for any speeoh ? (Give the Speaker a hand-bell, and let him keep ', his watoh before him, or his eye on v the .'clock, and ring the bell as soon as time was >np.. T ; h.e effect of suddenly oheoklng a mem- , ber in the midst of an eloquent oration or a sounding period might be rather! embarras- ,■ sing to him, and, occasionally,' a trifle ludi- '. orous, ; but the, remedy, if severe, might be benefiolal. Anyhow, I .think the attempt ■ should be made to oheck the exoesslve volubility of our members, the present amount ef speaking done being apparently f 'ni'er'e''bf' a curse 1 than ableislng. . I observe it is asserted that Mr Seddon's constituents • gave him an ovation j' simply beoause he had made the longest speech of arijP member durj- : |ng a certalniseßslon. 'I«do:not question Mr tiSeddon's deserving 1 an- ovation, but' that & j constituency, shonld-stultify Itselfcby reward^1 Ing its jmemberfor a, lengthy speech alone, 1; seems to exhibit srich a deplorable want' of ; sease, that it seems Ito be a serious question whether whlch'Would do the i, likoiof thatought.not to be promptly dlsenv iranohlsed. ., Surely anyonenbut a dunder>J head, would have more ,regardr>for quality it than quantity in ia speech. As to this stone- • walling ibuslness, it seems tamer to be most / ofienslve— as an endeavour to- interfere with . ,tbft right; of — and .the practice is j utterly, inexcusable, as it Is preposterous to j. Suppose. for a mbmentthat a minority,' and. • , apparently a small minority,, can force the • , majority to give way. .Ifv-thqimajority can- ,^ not.be affeoted by fair reason and^argument>, ';■. it isinot likely to sucoumb'to hostile and \ vexations annoyance. ■■■ ■ ■ ' 'I 0 . The of the people on the : ,,bwiß of population tseems right enough, t modified bo far that no section of the population shall be altogether unrepresented, I :; itrongly- objeot, however, to i plural voting, ,< and, am utterly unable to comprehend upon ■ what principle plural voting can be considered permissible. Surely/ it is human , beings who are to be represented, rather than , property; .or even if property is to be : represented, why should land be,conaldered the only Bort of property entitling a man to r mere than one -vote? <1 idoinot, , however, "see H that we want any of the t plutocratic element in bur form of Government, which, \ as regards a mild recognition of imperial '.authority, should be a pure democraoy. , '"' I believe some people are alarmed beoause under the proposed Act some constituencies will have only one member, and then they say the 'minority will be unrepresented. This idea of the necessity of the representation of minorities seems to me to be alto- ■-'■ gether a fallaoy. What we want to ascertain and find out, by a system of representation, is the wjll ,of the majority of the nation, tand having ascertained that, we have no concern whatever with the will of the minority. In all mundane affairs, where men act together in companies, except in such oases and so < far as men relinquish their individual wills '"'to the wlll'of one or more of their number, ■' the sole and only practicable mode of pro- ' cedure, is that the majority shall control •' and direct the action of the whole company. We must also consider each individual' constituency as part and portion of the whole electorate, and not as a distinct entity ; and c if the views of the minority of a constituency '/ are not represented by the member or mem- > bers returned for such constituency, they are „ probably represented by members returned • for some other constituency, and that being - so it oannot be said the minority in any cont stituency is unrepresented in the Parliament :■ of the nation.

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