Review of Reviewi, I/lo/OS. 



POLITICAL POWER Plus PROPERTY 

 Versus PUBLIC INTEREST. 



The Victorian Chief Secretary, Sir Samuel Gillott, as Judge of His Own Interests to the 

 Detriment of the People's Interests — An Unconquerable Bias. 



It is recognised as one of the essentials of good 

 government that a man in a public position shall 

 have no financial interest in an\thing concerning his 

 administration. It may be in some respects an un- 

 written law, but it nevertheless runs everywhere. It 

 is recognised that a man's hands should be per- 

 fectly free from the opportunity to do wrong. Thus it 

 is that it is decreed that members of Governments, 

 municipal councils, etc., should not contract for pub- 

 lic works carried out under their authority. If a man 

 has a financial interest, it is such an easy matter for 

 corruption to creep in that the door as far as passible 

 is kept closed. Temptation is kept out of the way, 

 seeing that " the sight of means, etc." This does 

 not presuppose that every man is a scoundrel, eager 

 to take advantage of every opportunity for personal 

 gain, even at the risk of defrauding the public. It 

 simply means that the public determines to keep out 

 of every mans hand a weapon that might in some 

 cases be used against it. It is not the question of 

 the man's safety as far as he, separated from the 

 community, is concerned. The provision is not 

 made in order to avert a danger to the individual's 

 morals. It is not in his personal interest that the 

 effort is made to keep him uncorrupted. The pro- 

 posal is made wholly and solely and entirely in the 

 interests of the people. In many instances the re- 

 moval of such a restriction would simply mean put- 

 ting into the hands of an enemy a sword that might 

 afterwards be used to cut the throats of the people. 



FACILITIES FOR WEONG-DOING. 



It is simply a question of facilities for wrong- 

 doing. If a w'ay be blocked, it is hardly likely that 

 a man will bother his head about op>ening it. If 

 an open gate lies before him, w ith gain further along 

 the track, and he be unscrupulous, the open gate 

 will give rise to suggestions of WTong that will pro- 

 bably soon materialise into actions of wrong. If 

 an unprincipled man knows that money will buy 

 votes and influence, he is likely to use it to get 

 both. It is therefore well to close up every opening 

 through which men might creep to the injury of the 

 public, be they ever so well intentioned. It is pre- 

 cisely because of the determination of the public 

 to protect itself that members of Parliament are not 

 allowed to hold offices of profit under the Crown. 

 It is necessan^ that public position and private in- 

 terest should be kept as far apart as possible. How 

 much the public may suffer from unscrupulous men 

 is evident from the way in which in America polili- 



cal votes have been bought, and political power used 

 to further private interest. It is evident, also, from 

 some instances — few and far between, fortunately — 

 in which in Australasia public power has been used 

 to serve private ends. To our everlasting credit be 

 it said, our Governments have generally been quick 

 to condemn any instances of this. It is not so very 

 long since a Victorian Minister of Lands tumbled 

 into political oblivion for a private-political blunder 

 of this kind. The present lands scandals which are 

 engaging the attention of the New South Wales 

 Courts, and which provoked the suspension of Mr. 

 Crick, formerly Minister of Lands, in the House, 

 arose from the allegation of some that he used his 

 position as Minister of Lands for personal gain, and 

 that he sold for money his power to grant land con- 

 cessions. Whether this be true or not, time may 

 tell. It is certain that if the matter be not probed 

 to the very bottom, New^ South Wales will both lose 

 prestige in the eyes of the other States, and make 

 the way easy in the future for a culprit to work his 

 own will. The honour of the whole State is at stake 

 over the matter, and any blurring over of the crime, 

 if there be one, or even any slackening of the in- 

 vestigation, will leave an unpleasant taste in the 

 mouths of people for many years to come. But 

 that mav be wrongly anticipating matters. The 

 whole of the Commonwealth looks to Mr. Carruthers 

 to sweep this Augean stable perfectly clean, and 

 after that even give it a good scrubbing out. 

 America, in its upward growth, in its advancing pros- 

 peritv, in the pushing of unprincipled men into 

 office, has afforded some dolefully great illustrations- 

 of the ill-use of power. 



THE POWER OF CORRUPT PERSONAL IKTEKEST. 



What are the revelations in connection with the 

 American Beef Trusts, with the Railroads, with the 

 Insurance Companies, but proofs of the fact that 

 some men regard public position merelv as a step- 

 ping-stone to personal gain, as a means of serving 

 their own interests, of blocking legislation that 

 would curtail their privileges, of building up a bul- 

 wark to protect them from an invasion by the 

 people to assert their rights. Indeed, one need not 

 go to America for illustrations of that kind. We 

 have them here. Can anything more hopeless be 

 imagined than the position which lies before us in 

 connection with some of our State Legislative Coun- 

 cils. In some of the States, notably South Australia, 

 Tasmania and Victoria, it is next to impossible for 



