DEMOCRACY, PROBLEMS, AND PARTY GOVERNMENT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 12984, 27 January 1910, Page 4

DEMOCRACY, PROBLEMS, AND PARTY GOVERNMENT.

Mr Balfour, the British Tory leader, regrets t hat tile Navy cannot he put above I’arty, ami opines that a democracy, governed hy ■‘•organised parlies” cannot put any problem above. Tarty, lie is right in his opinion. Under the system o! Government which at present obtains in British. commnnitie.s, every problem, no matter how large the issues involved, becomes a centre of Tarty si niggle. The Govprument is jealous of Opposition suggestions, ami no matter how good the latter may lie, it fears that to accept them means points for the Opposition. The Opposition wants to get the Government out, and in its turn, it feels hound to turn down every proposal the Government makes. To approve, them would be to confess the Government to he right, and under the silly Tarty system, the duty of the Opposition —as well of the Government—seems to lie in proving the other side always in the wrong. The only remedy appears to lie in the abolition of what Mr Balfour calls “organised parlies,” and this can only bo done by the adoption of the Elective Ministry system. Then, as the Ministers would he elected for the term of Parliament to carry out Parliament’s wishes instead of furthering Party intrigue, there would be some chance of big problems being dealt with on their merits. As Ministers' seats would be safe, it would he obnoxious measures, not the Ministry’s existence, which would be attacked. South Africa has adopted Elective Ministries for her State Parliaments, and they should afford a valuable object lesson. It would be too much to expect that they would prove perfection—no human contrivance is ever perfect—but their advantages should bs found ’ to far out-weigh their disadvantages.