The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] A Guaranteed Circulation of over 8500 Weekly. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1908.

Waikato Argus, Volume XXV, Issue 3944, 24 November 1908, Page 2

The Waikato Argus [PUBLISHED DAILY.] A Guaranteed Circulation of over 8500 Weekly. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1908.

The elections will be over this evening with the taking of the second ballot. The people will have exercised what, in current phrase, is termed the greatest privilege and safeguard of their right to govern themselves through the agency of the candidates they have elected. Is this the case? Jt is manifest that the people cannot govern themselves. To rule is a function involving executive and directive control. When a Parliament is elected the people arc subject, almost without recourse, to the members they have elected for a term of three years. They have thus created a power which, under ordinary conditions, they are unable to control, whether it be exercised wisely or badly. It may be true that politicians are afraid, with a view to future elections, to incur the displeasure of the people, but all politicians are aware that the memories of electors arc defective. In turn, Parliament is dominated by the Ministry with a majority at their command. In this country this has been glaringly the case. During the past ten years Parliament has become little short of being simply machinery to record the will of Ministers. In theory, every member has the right to introduce a Bill, but unless that Bill is endorsed by Ministers and facilities given by them, it has not the remotest chance of becoming law. This being so, representatives of the people who go down to Wellington for the first time soon discover that it is impossible to carry out the intentions upon the strength of which they secured election ; they find themselves helpless to influence the course of legislation or to modify administrative methods unless they can invoke the sympathy of Ministers. The larger the majority at the back of Ministers the more pronounced are the evils. By means of their large ! majority they have wrenched from the people adequate control over the expenditure of public money. Vast sums are voted for public, works without the objects to which they are to be applied being scheduled. This gives enormous power to bribe. When Sir.Julius Vogel introduced his public works scheme and proposed to borrow enormous sums to carry it out, he suggested that the allotment of the money should vest in a competent non-political body. The party

out of power recognised that if his Government were relieved of direct responsibility in this respect it would be impracticable to remove them from office. On the other har.d, it was perfectly clear that a dozen railways would be applied for for every one which could be coi strucled, and that this meant many votes against tl.e Government at the next election. He bent to the will of Parliament, and ever since that time this country has been very largely governed by the manipulation of the publi : works fund. It is more so today than ever before, and under these conditions Parliamentary Government is not the success which theoretically it should be.