The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1898. PARTY ALLEGIANCE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9387, 14 March 1898, Page 2

The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1898. PARTY ALLEGIANCE.

So long as government by parly continues to exist, so Jong will it be necessary for the members of each party to be true to its interests and active in its service. There are, we know, those who strongly condemn party government, and would replace it by a cabinet chosen from Parliament as a whole ; but most people who have given the subject much attention hold the opinion that a ministry formed in this way would fail to prove satisfactory In the event of such a cabinet being sworn in, how long would it be before the House would be divided into parties, as at present? There would soon be supporters of the Government of the day, as at present, and opponents who would find fault with everything Ministers did. These latter would ascribe all sorts of unworthy motives and wrongful actions to those on the Treasury Benches, whose dismissal from office alone would save the country from bankruptcy and ruin, if we were ti> believe their detractors, who would then, as now, so hunger for place and pay that they would never cease to cavil and condemn until they gained their end and were entrusted with the work of administering the affairs of the country. There would, as now, bn two parties in the House and in the country, and the same struggle for office. Whenever a politician who holds the opinion that he is entitled to a portfolio, if not the premiership of the colony, finds it impossible to imbue a sufficient number of sup porters with this idea, and is passed over by the party he belongs to, he becomes quickly convinced that party government is inimical to efficient and pure administration, and that obedience to party behests is at the root of all independence of character and honesty of political conduct. Such malcontents throw off their allegiance to the party under whose ayis and by whose assistance they first won a seat in Parliament, and pose as "independent" members — most people designate them " railsitters" — whose support can only be secured by a substantial reward. Sometimes a few such disappointed office-seekers will band themselves together as' a third party, like the present "Left Wing," and harass a Government almost beyond endurance ; especially if Ministers have been long in office and their majority naturally becoming smaller through the defections of malcontents and losses at the polls. At the present time there are four or five members of the House of [Representatives, who were elected on the Liberal trcket to support the present Administration, but who have failed to remain true to their platform pledges. One of the same party of malcontents was defeated at the late ganeral election, as a warning to the others, another of whom got in by the skin of his teeth by the help of the Government, to which he promised to give a more loyal support in the future — a promise he speedily broke. Another member of this band of malcontents has so completely turned his back on his election speeches that to be consistent he should place himself in the hands of his constituents, and ask them are they still in favour of his representing them in Parliament as a declared opponent of the present Government? The senior member for Wellington, too, lias soured on his allegiance to the Government and the Liberal party. Mr John Hutcheson evidently forgets that he owes his place in the House to their assistance, and that it his duty either to loyally support the party, or resign his seat and seek re-election, if he desires to remain in Parliament. During the late bye-election in Wellington he refrained from giving any assistance to the Liberal candidate, and was shrewdly suspected of favouring the return of the Conservative supplicant for the seat. If Mr Hutcheson cannot conscientiously support the party he was elected to assist, then he should call his constituents together and place himself in their hands ; that would be the manly, straightforward way, and from what we have seen and heard of Mr Hutcheson it is the course we should have expected him to follow under the circumstances. Perhaps he will do so, as he has not as yet addressed the electors of Wellington since the close of Parliament. If he adopts this manly course, and tells his constituents why he has changed his views he will at least have their respect for his action, even if they are not prepared to endorse his defection from the Liberal party. Of course, like the other deserters, he may declare that it is the party that has left him and not he the party ; but that excuse is too thin and hackneyed to be accepted nowadays. He is, no doubt, a disappointed man, as he expected the Premier to refw to him on most important matters and to treat him as almost an equal in point of influence in the Liberal Party. Mr Seddon did not do so, and no doubt gave the senior mem ber for Wellington grave offence by his failure to estimate that gentleman at his own valuation. As Mr Hutcheson gains experience and a knowledge of his true place on the political stage, he will come to the conclusion that he ought to be content to play minor parts until he has proved himself fit to "essay leading roles, and not take the sulks because he is not treated as a star.