The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1921. EXAMPLE FROM BRITAIN.

Southland Times, Issue 19257, 22 June 1921, Page 4

The Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1921. EXAMPLE FROM BRITAIN.

Since the days of the armistice there has been apparent in Britain a determined effort to secure a revival of parliamentary authority and in the empire the Mother Country has displayed the greatest earnestness in this matter. Of late there have been examples in New Zealand of the introduction of restrictions by Order-in-Council with slender, if any, legal authority for the act. The recent instance of the censorship is not the only one, and the present .government is not alone in its tendencey to use the powers of the Order-in-Council unduly. This practice has been growing for some years and it has been the result of the diminishing authority of the parliament and the rise in the power of the executive. Statesmen in the Old Country have drawn attention to this retrogression, notably Lord Robert Cecil who sees in the continued ascendancy of the cabinet a menace to the democratic system of government. Members of the House of Commons, Liberal, Unionist and Labour have condemned this modern practice and there have been cases where the House has given signs of its eagerness to assert its rights. The Party blight is still on the country, but in all quarters of the political system in Britain there are evidences of rifts, suggestive of the breakdown of the organisations as we know them at present and a revival of the independence of the popularly elected chamber. This tendency to turn back to the parliament is due in a large measure to the tremendous expansion of the power of the Prime Minister. From being merely the principal of a number of ministers, he has become the ruler. He dominates the political situation and he has become more and more like a President. The elevation of the autocracy of the Prime Minister in the political organisation of the Old Country was a result of the war, and now that ’the war is over the nations in the empire are looking to the rank and file of parliament to assert their right to control the destinies of the country. In the coal strike in Britain, the members of the House of Commons acted independently of the government and were largely instrumental in preventing the miners using the Triple Alliance from plunging the whole country into industrial warfare. That act by the House of Commons was a great victory for commonsense and it permitted the other sections of the Triple Alliance to see whither the miners were leading them, but the most important feature of the incident was that the House of Commons had intervened without the authority and without the knowledge of the government. This assertion of independence did not go very far, of course, but it has been shown with abundant clearness since then that the coalition and the old party organisations are not as powerful as they were. Dominance by the Cabinet is, of course, the logical outcome of party government and it will remain with us so long as the government of the day can turn any motion before the House into one of No Confidence and use the Party Whips as drill sergeants. If the House can once assert its right to defeat the government on motions without im- ► perilling its position on the Treasury benches a great step forward will have been taken. This would mean, of course, that the government of the day could be turned out of office only by a direct vote of No Confidence, based on no particular issue. A return to constitutional principles is earnestly desired in this as in other countries, but it will come slowly and only be the actions of courageous and independent members of parliament who will strike down the party system and give us back a self-reliant popular chamber ready at all times to assert its right of government, instead of living on as an expensive .rubber stamp for the purpose of satisfying the formalities when the government of the day desires to extend its authority. In the Old Country the cabinet has lost a lot of its power, although it is still mighty, but in nther parte of the Empire the system that <

| advancer to its greatest extent during the war is still in existence and we have govi ernment by regulation proceeding almost ’as merrily as if the Germans were still I hammering at the gates of Paris. In her , eagerness to divorce herself from this war j burden, the Old Country has set the do- • minions a good example and it is to be hoped that we in this part of the Empire will not be slow in following in her footsteps.