Editorial.

Southern Cross, Volume 3, Issue 51, 21 March 1896, Page 7

Editorial.

The Science (?) of Government.

In view of the approaching dissolution of Parliament and general election thereafter, it may be well to consider how best the electors may exercise the franchise to the general benefit of the colony. We do not xiow propose to advocate the cause of this or that party, or to support any particular policy, but rather to ask each of our readers to take broad and enlightened views in the exercise of the privilege entrusted to him or her, and to consider that every vote given, whether carelessly or conscientiously, may be fraught with farreaching censequences for good or ill to the community. The science of Government is not an exact s#ience, like Engineering, Architecture, Electricity, etc. An architect can draw his plans, elaborating the minutest detail with accuracy. He knows .the required strength of each beam or girder, and the exact strain it is likely to bear ; and the finished result is according to his plan—say a grand cathedral, St. Peter’s at Home, or an everlasting Pyramid on the plains of Egypt. Similarly the engineer spans a river with a bridge which is the admiration of the world. There was no chance work about the Tay bridge. Every detail was worked out beforehand, and the result is in no way diffeient to what was anticipated. The electrician constructs a dynamo-machine to light a town, and adapts it with strict accuracy to the number of lights it is to be capable to supplying. He has no doubts of the result —he knows that under certain conditions no other effect could be produced. His is an exact science. How different it is with political institutions ! Eor many thousand years the mind of man has been exercised in the endeavour to find out the best conditions under which he may live and prosper in social community with his fellows. The greatest philosophers, the most profound thinkers of every age have considered this subject preeminently worthy of their highest efforts, and how little have they achieved ! They have handed down to us experiences of a vast diversity of different systems of polity, which have all of them failed to secure “ the greatest good to the greatest number.” This ideal, though not a very elevated one, is far, very far, beyond what has been accomplished, indeed the greatest good to the smallest number has •everywhere been the result hitherto, if we are to judge by the distribution of the good things and the potentiali ties of doing good and being good. History is replete with instances of the highest and purest motives, and efforts for the amelioration of the conditions of social life, which have produced results directly opposed to what was aimed at. The early Christians, we are told, “ had all things in common,” and yet the propagation of their doctrines was very soon the means, if not the cause, of a development of priestly pomp and arrogance such as transcended anything the world had before seen. The early Roman system of government was plebeian, or, as we should ■ call it, “ ultra-democratic,” and extraordinary measures were taken to safeguard the rights of the people and to render them permanent; bub in spite of all their aspirations for liberty it developed through various stages, consulates, triumvirates, dictatorships, &c., iuto autocratic despotism. The American Declaration of Independence, wnerein all men were pro•claimed equal, did not prevent the traffic in slaves, and though the .United States went in for absolute equality, the inequalities existing there are greater than in any other English-speaking community. Their Constitution, based on Republican principles, has fostered a dominant plutocracy co-existent "with an impoverishment of the masses entirely at variance with the intentions and aspirations of its founders. In France

one system of .government after another has been established, and each has given place to another totally different, and yet each was in its turn considered essential to the well-being of the nation. In Great Britain, the most truly democratic among the great powers of Europe* and supposed to be the most stable, constant change is taking place. The absolute monarchy was once hedged round with all sorts of safeguards against encroachment on its prerogative, and though upheld and loyally supported by a powerful aristocracy and a political prelacy, step by step the wave of democracy has encroached and sapped its foundations until the Crown has been shorn of its strength and the Queen of England and the Empress of India ha* far less power than the President of the American Republic. True, we still see D.G. on the coins, but the implication of the letters has to be greatly discounted. The sovereign once claimed to reign ‘by the Grace of God ’ and not by the will of the people, but now no such Divine Right is recognized, and the Monarchy could not exist for a day were it not felt that it was as yet essential to the well-being of the nation. Seeing, then, that whatever s} 7 stem of Government has been tried, each one has been subjected to changes violent or gradual but still certain and inevitable, and that none has as yet been found that in its results has attained the ideal of its projectors, it seems to be beyond human power to propound a Constitution which shall produce social conditions which can be with any certainty prognosticated. And if we cannot forecast the effect of any general system of Government neither can we foresee the ultimate issue of any special legislation. A few leading minds may see a little ahead and anticipate certain results, but these will seldom come to pass. Take a glance at Hew Zealand politics. The Labour Party desire to better the condition of the workers —a most ladable desire no doubt. They send members to Parliament specially to attain that end. In five years they enact 16 so-called Labour Laws— Factories, Shop Assistants’ Employers’ Liability, Workmen’s Wages Acts, etc. Truly a millennium for the working men might be expected; but what happens P At the end of the five years there is a numerous body of unemployed provided foi* by the Government, and outside of these there are more people looking for work than before. Again, to benefit the working man and to provide employment for him, high protective duties are levied on imported goods, so that he has to pay more for everything he wants, and is thereby impoverished, while on the other hand not a single new industry has been inaugurated, and old ones, instead of being expanded, are sensibly contracted. Again, to benefit the working man,

and lo protect his interest, a vast number of inspectors and agents of various degree have been appointed, whose salaries are raised by increased taxation, two-thirds of which the working man pays. Socialism is perhaps the beat and highest ideal state that the active human brain has yet conceived, but we can no more bring it about by legislation than we can develop our industries by excessive import duties. The trend of the age and of each successive age seems to be in that direction, and it is quite probable that by the higher development of the best qualities of the human race it will slowly and surely make its way toward some such social millennium; but this will be brought about not by the reckless legislation of advanced theorists, <but because the mind of man will have attained an elevation which will render no other condition possible. At present Socialism pure and simple is unattainable, and halfmeasures simply mean increased taxation. Mankind in the mass has no freewill. Causes over which they have no control “ shape their ends, rough-hew them as they may.” Therefore cut-and-dried schemes of

Government or of Legislation generally break down from their own inherent weakness. But the individual is a free agent, his action or inaction as a member of the body politic is potential for good or evil, and he cannot shirk his responsibility in the matter. The abuse of power has been the great bane of, all ages. In former times kings and kaisers, dukes and barons, seized the reins of Government and ruled the people with rods of iron. Then the middle classes grasped the power and by peaceful legislation, always in the interest of their own order, they strengthened their position till the multitude of toilers were worse off than under their former despots. The masses are now beginning to realise that if they choose to exercise it they have the power to place the government of the country in the handsjof whomsoever they will, and they send members to Parliament tied hand and foot by the Labour Unions to legislate solely in the interests of their class, ignoring every other consideration ; and they no doubt anticipate therefrom great benefits. But it is the unexpected that happens. The more benefits they seize the more injury will be done to their own class. They may go —in some respects perhaps have already gone—too far. If so, reaction will set in ; the pendulum will swing the other way, and the steady and substantial progress of the country, in which every class of the community should share, will be retarded. We urge our readers to consider these matters and to bring forward men at the next election who are above the petty consideration of class interests, either agricultural, pastoral, financial, or industrial, but who will look to the welfare of New Zealand as a whole, whose main object will be to increase the earnings neither ot this or that section of the community, but to develop our industries, increase our exports, and thus find remunerative employment for every able person in the colony.

A Liverpool money-lender named Marfcland sued a commercial clerk named Jones for £9 14s, for money lent and interest. The judge asked the plaintiff if he would make a substantial reduction in his claim. Plaintiff replied that he would accept L 7 2s but his Honour said that was not a sufficient reduction, and asked the plaintiff if he would accept L 5. The plaintiff declined the suggestion, and his Honour said an order would be made for payment of L 7 2s at the rate of Is per month, and his Honour added, ‘ Your promissory note is allowed by the law, but I have a discretion as to what order for payment I shall make, and that is my order.’ —Under the order as made it will take the plaintiff about twelve years to obtain the money comprised in his claim.

At the Tramworth Petty Session, John Dodd, inspector of police, was lately summoned upon his own information for having allowed a chimney at the police station to be on fire. • In pleading guilty, the defendant said he was away from home at the time. The chimney became alight through his servant throwing paper on the fire. He laid the information because he thought it would not be fair to summon other people for a similar offence and let himself off.—The Mayor observed that the usual fine was Is and costs Bs.—The inspector asked for the police fee not to be included, as he had served himself with the summons. —The Mayor: It is rather a unique case. —The Clerk said he did not know of a precedent in that court in which the defender was also the informer. He believed there was a record that a former Mayor of Tramworth —many years ago —fined himself 10s for having been drunk (laughter). He believed that that Mayor was consciousstricken at meeting a man whom he had fined for a similar offence on the previous day, and placed half-a-sover-eign in the poor-box (laughter).— Defendant handed the fine and costs to the clerk amidst general laughter.