The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17,1888.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8270, 17 September 1888, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PU BLISHED DAILY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1888.

" The Australian working men," said Sir Henry Parlies, the Premier of New South Wales, recently at a meeting held in connection with the strike, " oan afford to abuse privileges which they do not know how to value." If suoh is the case, then Sir Henry ihould seek to oontraot their privileges. The majority of the unprejudiced thinkers are beginning to view with alarm the present state of affairs in New South Wales and Victoria, and state openly in the Australian papers that manhood suffrage as at present applied is responsible for much of the evil of our politioal.'life. The fault lies, says one of these writers, in giving a man a vote on attaining tho age of 21 years. At that age the vast majority of young. men are . utterly ignorant of anything political, yet they are placed on a par with those" of maturer years and cultivated understandings. But ignoranoe and presumption go hand-in-hand, and the young fellow of 21 will hasten to the polling-booth to reoord his vote without the slightest idea of the mighty issues involved. One cannot blame these youngsters. It is not evil intent, but want of thought which impels them to employ, j and too often abuse, powers which they are not able, however willing, to exercise aright. Good candidates have very little chance of getting elected, because they will not, or oannot, stoop to please the young bloods, who, being the youngest, form &uoh a very large proportion of the voters. The remedy is certainly to limit the number of voters,' not by a property qualification, nor by registration, whioh would gather thousands of young faggot voters for oorrupt purposes; but by raising the age oi political manhood to 30. This is the age at which the Jews— the shrewdest people on carth — considered a man beoame fit- for the full rights of citizenship, and most men of 30 will be found 01 opinion that they might well have done without political privileges till that age. It is not till about 80 that the majority of young men sit down to praotioal thinking, though they certainly do a great deal of most impracticable theorising long ere that time, often commencing early in their teens. It is the giving of the suffrage to men at 21 that makes the promulgation of visidnary social reforms so very dangerous to the future of democracies, and these young voters in their twenties provide the vast majority of the windbag demagogue's thoughtless and impetuous following. Even if the age for suffrage were raised to SO, there would still remain ... a small proportion of thoughtless individuals who would misuse their voting power, but misuse would probably be less common, for the suffrage acquired at 80 would be more highly esteemed than if obtained at 21. The limitation of the age of voters might allow for the abolition of plural voting, which is at present a means of safeguarding the interests of the more prudent in the community, but really a man at SO might, by his political knowledge, be worthy of ten times the voting power of a man of 21, so plural voting is not in itself a wrong notion. Another reform required is the better understanding of vote by ballot, which, if anything, means secret voting. Suoh being the case, all canvassing, treating, oab-hiringr, and advertising, save by the candidate's published address and speeches, are emphatically attempts to unduly influence voters, and- therefore, contrary to the spirit of vote by ballot. Canvassing as ordinarily carried on, whether by individuals of a -partionlar class who receive mysterious remuneration, or by unpaid volunteers, as a matter of fact stultifies to a considerable extent the advantages of the secrecy of the ballot. It leads to intimidation and to bribery, both by bringing the oanvassers into direct contact with the voter, and is thus distinctly demoralising. Personal canvass by a candidate implies a waste of time and energy without any compensating advantages of real intercourse with the eleotors. By means of frequent meetings and deputations a candidate could give tbe eleotors much better opportunity of beooming acquainted with him and his opinions. But an election is not carried on with a view that the best man shall be chosen j but rather that 7 the greatest demagogue in the place shall prevent the honest politician from being returned. The result is that intelligent, businesslike men deoline to stand for seats to be scoured only by adopting subterfuges unworthy of a representative of the people. Our electoral laws want amending if we wish to get economical and respectable representatives ; but we fear that suoh will not bo attempted whilst the House is constituted as it is at present.