POLITICAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2230, 24 October 1908, Page 2

POLITICAL.

GOVERNMENT VOTERS' IN PARLIAMENT.

Tke “Auckland Herald” lias the following reference to the course followed iir Parliament by many of the members:—lf we examine the situation, we see .at onoe, that the great majority of members do not dare, to force the Government to the dissolution which is held over their heads, or to expose themselves to the “party” outlawry which would follow their refusal to submit to- the “party”decrees. They regard themselves as. elected to' support the Government whenever the Government demand their support, and to draw their salaries for three years upon these humiliating terms.' They do not regard themselves as having any definite responsibility as representatives of the people of New Zealand, or as owing a first duty ,tp their constituencies. They neither insist upon consulting their constituencies before consenting to legislative experiments' suddenly sprung upon the'in, nor upon having tlie repeated and notorious wishes of their constituencies and of the general public carried into law. They are “Government voters in Parliament,” not- representatives of public interests and critics of administrative doings and of Cabinet proposals. This should cease, and it can only be made to cease by .the revival of political intelligence on the part- of the electors. Not- party men, but good representative men, are wanted, and wanted badly, at the - present time, and every -elector knows well who is the mostrepresentative and least party-tied' man of those candidates now soliciting his suffrages.

THE DUTY OF THE ELECTORS

The official announcement that the general election is „to be held oil Thuesday, November 17 (says the “Now Zealand Herald”) should bring home to "every elector in the Dominion a sense of patriotic responsibility. For never in the history of New Zealand was it more necessary and more 'imperative that the electors should take action to recover for Parliament the control of public business and the direction of legislation. This cannot be affected by any adherence to party lines, for during the past few years “party” lias ceased to have any feal_ meaning in our national politics. J By a sj'stem of compromise and con-" cession upon questions, involving profound and far-reaching differences of opinion, the Government lias held together an overwhelming mojority, and lias succeeded in establishing an oligarchic form of administration by which the rights and prerogatives of Parliament have been largely usurped and obliterated. That these compromises and concessions, such as those affected between freeholders and leaseholders in laud legislation, have usually been illogical, is only what is to be expected, and were this the only result there might be little cause for complaint, but the ultimate outcome of tiiis Governmental policy of avoiding every issue which might lead to a dispersal of a Parliamentary majority has been to rivet upon members in Parliament—and thiough Parliament upon the country—the shackles of a peremptory domination by the Cabinet.

ABSENT • VOTERS PERMIT

Those who will he absent on-election day should see that they obtain an Absent Voters’ Permit, as provided by tho Act. If a person is away from tho city at the time arranged for the vote to be taken, he can record his vote at the polling booth in which ever town, he mav be. The returning officer telegraphs these votes to the"electorate which they concern, so that.there is no delay in the compilation of -the totals.

THE SECOND BALLOT. At tho General Election of 1905, sixteen of the candidates elected 1 failed- to secure' an absolute majority of the total number of votes-polled, .and there would thus have been sixteen second ballots necessary had tho present Act been- in operation. Of the sixteen constituencies thirteen were represented by Government members, and the remaining, three by Oppositionists. The list is as follows: —Bay of Islands, Auckland West, Auckland East, Parnell, Taranaki, Hawera, Patea, Wanganui, Oroua, Wellington East, Newtown, Avon, Christchurch East-, Lyttelton, "Ellesmere and Ashburton. THE TARANAKI CONTEST. There is every indication of an interesting contest for the. Taranaki seat. There are three candidates in the field, Messrs Okey (Opposition), "Bellringer (Government), and Malone (Independent). Mr 'Malone lias been electioneering energetically for months past, and it is probable that a second ballot will bo necessary. It will be remembered that Mr Okey, the sitting member, entered Parliament as the result of a by-election, and since then he has greatly improved his position. He has done exceptionally good committee work, especially when concerning the dairy industry were under consideration, and was .also successful with a New Plymouth local Bill, in spite of difficulties arising out of the conflicting interests of an adjoining district. It is considered that Mr Okey need not fear tho result, even if a second ballot -is necessary. JOTTINGS. Thus' Dr. Chappie, at Nascby, on the question of free school books: “If free school books, why not free pinafores and free food? "It comes to that.' Why not let us have Statesupplied pipes and State-supplied tobacco, and let us smoke the State pipe of idleness iii Naseby and elsertdiere? No; if the (State wants to help us, let it do so by teaching us to help ourselves.” "When speaking at Lawrence during the bye-election campaign Dr Chapplo strained the risible faculties and incidentally the credulity of his hearers in telling them of a trade—that of the raspberry pip makers—which, lie said, flourished at Home. He had held ..a still more weird calling in reserve for the electors of Naseby, says the Otago “Daily Times,” and he told them of the wormborers —men whose trade it was to make worm holes in furniture to make it look historic. Such were some of the workers being sent to New Zealand.