TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 20496, 26 May 1928, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

In the history of the nations, sixty years is but a small space of time, and even in the cities of the old world, six decades only represents a couple of generations. But in this new world of the South Seas, the passing of sixty years is an event of some moment. To the visitor to Christchurch, the city has an atmosphere of solidness that seems to come about from centuries of progress, an atmosphere that many older cities on the other side of the world have not yet attained. So, from to-day until Tuesday next, the citizens of Christchurch will mark in various ways the passing of two-thirds of a century of municipal government. For a few years before 1868, a town board administered the affairs of the small settlement that was destined to become the principal city of the South Island, but the full powers of city management were not conferred on the council until May 28, 1868. For many weeks now, committees of citizens have been working in order to arrange suitable celebrations for the occasion and the four days’ programme that has been evolved has in it appeals to every section of the community, so that one and all may take part in this historic event. The initial function takes place to-day at noon, when visitors to the city will receive a civic welcome at the Council Chambers. The Mayor (the Rev. J. K. Archer) will speak on behalf of the citizens, and the Deputy-Mayor (Councillor D. G. Sullivan, M.P.) and Councillor J. W. Beanland will also join in tendering a welcome to those who are to visit the city in order to join in the celebrations. The Government is to be represented by the Hon. W. Nosworthy and the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, while the Mayors of Auckland, Dunedin and Wanganui will also take part

in the ceremony. From then on until Tuesday there will be a round of events, one of which will be the laying of the foundation stone of the new art gallery. The celebrations will be brought to a close at 10.30 on Tuesday evening by the ringing of the Cathedral chimes. Mr Sidney Webb, who has decided not to seek re-election at the next general election, has contributed an article to the London Observer, in which he discusses the attitude of the public to Parliament. He considers that it is quite a mistake to imagine that people have lost interest in its doings, asserting that actually more people hear about them, think about them, have some comprehension of their significance, and are interested in them, than at any previous period. “What proportion of the population of the England of the eighteenth century read what Burke said, or understood Pitt’s policy?” asks Mr Webb. “How large was the middle-class electorate that was thrilled by the combats of Gladstone and Disraeli? How many readers (or, rather, how few!) read the newspapers of my boyhood, which every day reported the Parliamentary speeches at what we now consider an intolerable length? My conclusion is that the House of Commons now enters into the thoughts, not only of a greater number of Britons than ever before, but also actually touches the minds of a larger proportion of the contemporary population of Great Britain than at any previous date. I have an equal suspicion that those who lament the degeneration of the House of Commons, whether in capacity or integrity, in education or manners, are talking nonsense.”

‘What the House of Commons secures for the people of Great Britain is the paramount advantage of being able, every few years, to change our Government lawfully, peaceably, without loss of its strength and without social disturbance,” Mr Webb adds. “The fundamental purpose of a general election is not to choose the most capable legislators or the most forceful exponents of our particular fancies, but to declare which among the immediately available sorts of Cabinet the nation prefers. Thus, the House of Commons is far more important when it is approving the King’s nomination of the Prime Minister and his colleagues, or supporting them against their opponents, or defeating them when it has had enough of them, than in its aspect as a legislature amending the law (which it does not do particularly well), or in its function as a critic of the Government’s administration (which it does imperfectly), or in its duty of securing financial economy (which it does not do at all). To my mind the least important function of the House of Commons is that to which some people give most weight, namely, that of a debating society, in which every point of view can find expression. This is one reason why lam not impressed by the advocates of the system of election called proportional representation.” He considers the existence of more than two political parties as abnormal for the two-party system enables the electorate, as a whole, not only to indicate which Cabinet it prefers, but also by a decisive vote to put that Cabinet into power. If England loves, not coalitions, so, too, it loves not a third party—once it has decided which is the third party! In this intuitive dislike the British elector exhibits a sound appreciation of the British Constitution.