Wellington Independent "NOTHING EXTENUATE; NOR SRT DOWN AUGHT IN MALICE." SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1870.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3086, 17 December 1870, Page 2

Wellington Independent "NOTHING EXTENUATE; NOR SRT DOWN AUGHT IN MALICE." SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1870.

Closely connected with the Post-office Savings Banks system — considered in our last issue — is the scheme of Government life assurance and annuities, propounded by the Hon. Mr Yogel when in Opposition, and now inaugurated under his administration. Before proceeding to consider it, it may be useful to endeavor to remove an objection that is common to both. This objection is variously stated. Sometimes we aretoldthatthe Government are entering into competition with existing companies, and trying to crush them. Sometimes it is alleged they are interfering with vested rights, &c. ; but however set forth, all these 1 objections resolve themselves into the old exploded doctrine which may be formally stated thus, " Individuals are the proper guardians of their own interests, and Government owes nothing to them but to save them from being interfered with by other people." A southern contemporary goes even so far as to misrepresent John Stuart Mill to the extent of making him support this doctrine, the fallacy of which in several passages of his works he has most clearly shown. Our readers need not dread any recondite discussion on the laissez-faire or non-interference principle of Government. The objection we have referred to is generally pointed with this insinuation, that the present colonial Executive are interfering in matters which the British Government would leave alone ; and sometimes it is rather broadly hinted that' they are taking action even beyond the sanction of the Assembly. If we show, then, that the doctrine stated above is systematically ignored by the British Parliament, and that they hold a wider view of the functions of Government, we shall take the sting out of the objection, in the opinion of all those who believe that the British Parliament, with all its faults, is a high-minded and intelligent body, whose practice as a legislative assembly is as worthy of being followed as its old-established forms. As to those who are mere sticklers for an abstract theory, we leave them to their own cogitations. The second insinuation, sometimes developing into a positive assertion, that the Government are taking action beyond the sanction of the Assembly, might be disposed of by a simple denial; but perhaps it would be more satisfactory to answer it in detail. The new work lately undertaken by the Government has all been sanctioned by the legislature. The offices necessary to carry it out have air been created by statute, and the manner of filling them up has also been determined by law. It is somewhat amusing to hear of cavils being made as to the appointment of a Minister of Works, a Land Registrar, an Annuities Commissioner, an Examiner of Titles, an Agent General, &c, &c, when the necessity for such appointments flows from the legislation of the Parliament, and the very nature of their duties, and the amount of their emoluments, have all been fixed, after mature deliberation, by the Assembly itself. That the present Ministry have made many new appointments is only another way of saying that they have faithfully carried out the wishes of the Assembly. Even the postal contract, which two New Zealand journals condemn, has been made in exact accordance with a resolution arrived at, after long debates, by an overwhelming majority. "We may safely assume, then, that any Government interference that has been complained of is only the enforcement of the wish of the Assembly, and therefore presumedly of the whole colony. That the recent legislative action of the Assembly (so opposed to the laissez-faire doctrine we have stated) has the warrant of the British Parliament, it will not be difficult to show. That a man should pay or receive what interest he pleases for any advance made to or by him on security, one would think perfectly proper. "He is the bes*; judge of his own interest." But a recent Pawnbrokers Act of the British Parliament has interfered with this right, and provides that " where the sum lent does not exceed 2s 6d one half-penny for not exceeding one calendar month" is the interest allowed, and an arbitrary table is given of what the law allows for larger sums and longer periods. That a man should have his apprentices work for him at any hours he pleases, seems perfectly fair, provided they are willing. " They are the best judges of their own interests." But the Bakers Act of 1863 would fine him for the first offence £20 if any person under the age of eighteen was employed in his bake-house between nine o'clock at night and five in the morning. That baker A would do a better business by keeping a clean bake-house than baker B, who kept a dirty one, seems very evident, and that they might both be left to their own conclusions as to " what is best for their own interest," seems very reasonable ; but the British Government does interfere, and says to both, " You must keep your bake-honse perfectly clean, and every passage leading thereto must either be painted with oil or limewashed." A elects oil paint, B whitewash ; A must once in seven years at least give it three coats of paint, and B must whitewash once every six months if each would escape the pains and penalties of the law ! ft is needless to multiply illustrations showing how very defective is this theory of Government. The Government, it may be further remarked, provides for those who are incapable of "judging of their own interests," providing masters in lunacy for idiots and insane, schools and laws of inheritance for children, and protection against cruelty to animals. Under this theory how could the law be justified that«fines a man two pounds for yoking a dog to a cart or barrow ? No, the functions of Government are not, and cannot be, thus circumscribed. The interest of the individual is often disregarded for the general policy of the state. The Government compels one man to perform his contract, frees another from his engagement, defines how he can hold property

in the earth, its forests, its waters, its metals, &c, suppresses fraud, prevents it as far as possible, decides disputes, provides for the poor, tries to reform the criminal, makes harbors and lighthouses, prescribes weights and measures, claims monopolies, &c. In short, it assumes powers and executes functions for which no reason can be given, except that it thereby provides for the public convenience and advantage. Only in this way can the monopoly of coining or of the Post Office be defended, or the recent expenditure of the British Government of seven millions sterling for the purchase of the telegraphs. The difficulty of passing new laws for the general good is in exact proportion to the strength of vested interests created under thia laissez faire doctrine. How much easier, for instance, would it have been to pass the Torrens Act when the present Premier proposed it than now ! How much more difficult would it have been, after the non-interference of Government had allowed local life assurance companies to spring up and acquire vested interests, to have passed the present Government annuities and assurance scheme. The legislation of colonies should always be in advance of that of the mother country, because non-interference has not had time to develop vested rights or sanction vested wrongs. The Government savings banks scheme had much to contend with at home, because it had to encounter the opposition of all the banking establishments then existing, and in order to pass it some, ot the provisions which make our system so popular and so useful had to be abandoned. So, too, Mr Gladstone tells us, was it with his scheme of Government annuities and insurance. A large number of the insurance offices, and they are a powerful body in the United Kingdom, instituted an organised opposition to the measure, and when he had succeeded in carrying it through and received congratulations on all sides, he recounted his struggles with a pardonable pride — " This bill was met by a powerful, concerted, and organised opposition. I certainly never remember a case of a bill which was the subject of such an opposition out of doors, but there has been a remarkable development of public opinion in its favor. I appeal to the opponents of the bill as well as to its supporters, and I ask whether the opinion of the press has not been delivered in a very singular degree in favor of the measure, irrespective, as far as I know, of party interests and opinions. Certainly, in my public life of thirty years, I have never received so many letters on any one measure as I have with reference to this bill, expressing approval and even gratitude from all classes of the community." But not only is it more difficult to pass such measures, the influence of this laissez-faire policy is often so strong as to compel their promoters to strip them of their wisest and most beneficial provisions — and so make a compromise with existing interests disadvantageous to the . general community. Notably this has been the case with the Post Office Savings Banks and the Government annuities and assurance scheme of the British Government. If, therefore, our system of Government savings bank, and insurance is superior to that in the mother country, the colony owes a debt of gratitude to those who had the courage to undertake, and the ability to carry out measures which a little longer delay might have rendered difficult, and perhaps almost impossible to pass, in the face of an interested and organised opposition that would surely have sprung up> ______