The Editor
ELECTORS
AND ELECTED
Sir,--Many
thinking people support the recommendation by a general committee of the
Constitutional Society in Wellington a few months ago for inclusion in a
written con-stitution for New Zealand of a system of initiative and recall
similar to that operat-ing in Switzerland.
This would enable a specified number of electors to bring to the notice
of Parliament the need for any special legislation or delay the pas-sage of
legislation to which objection was taken; also by the power of recall the
elec-tors could recall a Parlia-mentary representative who did not honour his
election pledge or whose actions were contrary to the interests of his
constituents.
The evident
decline in prestige of Parliament during recent years in New Zealand may have
resulted from the fact that domination by cau-cus destroys a sense of
re-sponsibility on both sides of the House.
Politicians are aware that with a politically lazy-minded people, such
as we are, the old Roman tech-nique of government in pro-viding “bread and
circuses” for the masses ensure the givers popular support.--I am, etc.,
L. C. SMITH.
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