Patea & Waverley Press FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 1932 OVER-GOVERNED.

Patea Mail, Volume LIII, 11 March 1932, Page 2

Patea & Waverley Press FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 1932 OVER-GOVERNED.

PROFESSOR R. M. ALGIE, who holds the chaii* of law at the Auckland University College, has recently returned from a trip abroad, and at a meeting of the Auckland Creditmcn’s Club he gave his impressions of the Government of New Zealand, as com-pared-with that of other countries which he visited. Summed up, he states that in the Dominion legislation in its present form has lost its hold on the people and might be described as obsolete. “The relatively brief history of our Dominion may be characterised by a steady and prodigious increase in Governmental functions, and by the equally steady centralisation of these functions in what has become a lumbering and overweighted bureaucracy,” said the professor. “This tendency has resulted in a lack of individual interest in local responsibilities, and a willingness on the part of citizens to leave such affairs in the hands of central authorities. The problem of the burden of Government is no longer a_ purely academic one. It is a vital matter, reaching to the very heart of our State life. We know, when we face squarely up to the facts, that our present extravagant total of public expenditure is simply and solely the price we have paid for our democracy;' No serious attempt has ever been made to convince public opinion that in a country like this lavish political expenditure in the interests of a part of the community can be met only at the expense of some other section of the people.” What New Zealand, as a young country, needed most, with its producers seriously handicapped, was a policy of rigid economy, with a consequential development of capital assets. “What have we achieved!” he asked. “We have a bureaucracy which, _in number, stands at a very high level when compared with other countries. And avc have a multiplicity of Departments, boards, commissions, committees, and the like, all of which cost huge sums by way of annual expenditure, and all of which interfere to a greater or lesser extent with the much-needed development of business, and with the free play of individual effort. Democracy is on its trial. If avc cannot make our pplitical institutions really responsive to the Avishes of the people; if avc cannot produce a people capable of thinking and. voting on broad national principles; if out .people cannot disregard entirely those electioneering promises Avhich Avill provide benefits prejudicial to the general Avelfare of the community; if Ave cannot make our bureaucracy less expensive, less Avhsteful, - and more -■■tillable on the grounds of real necessity—then our democracy must undoubtedly perish under the ruthless economic pressure of the age.” Professor Algie compared the numerical representation of other countries Avith that of the Dominion. First, he pointed out, that Avhile in countries Avith a population vastly greater the number of Cabinet Ministers Avas from seven (SAvitzerland) to 15 (Czechoslovakia), in Ngav Zealand the number had been as high as 15, and uoav 10. Looking at the matter in another Avay, he calculated the number of members in the Upper Houses of various countries per 1,000,000 of population. Germany had one member, Czechoslovakia had 10, Australia 6, Sweden 24, and Ngav Zealand 26. The rate of remuneration to members of Parliament in the Dominion Avas as high as that of most countries he had Ausitcd. He also dealt Avith the various _ espects of local body administration, and shoAved by means of figures lioav high Avas the public debt in Ncav Zealand per capita, as compared _ Avith the figure for other countries. It evidenced just another proof of the statement that the Dominion Avas overgoverned. The remarks of the learned professor arc Avell Avorth taking to heart by every elector, Avho should see to it that an effort is ipade to haA*e the country more economically governed in the future.