THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1418, 19 April 1912, Page 4

THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

A bather : useless duel over the future of the Legislative Council under a Reform Government has been proceeding between the two Christchuvch morning papers. The Press suggested that a first step of a Reform Government would have to be the securing, by whatever appointments might be nccessary, of a passage through the Council fcfr the reforms (including Legislative Council reform) that the nation has unmistakably demanded. The Governmentorgan promptly garbled this reasonable enough: suggestion and represented the Press as having demanded tlio appointment of thirty odd new Reform Councillors. The discussion has ended in indignation on the part of the Press and an obstinate refusal to be honest on the part of the other paper, which is very deplorable and very useless. The controversy, however, provoked a very interesting letter to the Press from the Hon. H. "Wigram. In 1005 Mr. Wigham introduced a Bill to reform the Council by making it elective—we need not enter into the detailsof the measure—and a second reading was denied by 22 votes to 2, tho Hon. J. D. Ormond alone vdting with the mover. Mr. AVigram ought to be in a position to know the chances of the present Legislative Council accepting a Reform measure from a Reform Government, and he is quite frank in his opinion that the old guard of "Liberals" in the Council will firmly say no. The Press had suggested that a Reform Government would not find the Seddon and Ward nominees so utterly-irreconcilable as to require swamping in the method that Mr. Asquitk would have adopted had the Parliament Bill not been accepted by the House of Lords. Mr. Wigram disagrees. Recalling his 1905 speech, in which he forecasted the necessity that might arise, on a change of Government, for "a large batch" of new appointments, he adds tf\at "since that day the position has been further accentuated, for the life members have been passing out, and the proportion between the Liberal Government appointees and the total strength of the Council naturally increased." "I am still of opinion," he concludes, "that the Council should be elective in a democratic country, and I also think that you [the Press] underestimate the force required to make it _so." The problem of the Council is one that will require to be dealt with very soon, and there certainly appears to be some prospect that New Zealand may shortly have to face a position verylike that which arose in England over the Parliament Bill. Should it be found necessary Jjy a Reform Government to appoint Councillors sufficient to carry political and administrative reform over any barrier of wanton prejudice in tho Council, those appointments will have to be made. And they can ho the more easily and safely made because there is no disagreement between tho two main parties as to the need for Upper House reform. Two things, however, are quite certain. The first is that the _ present Ministry cannot without violently' flying against the principles of government and against public opinion appoint any new members. The second js that nothing must be done which will curtail the Reformed Council's powers of review.