LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL REFORM

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1816, 31 July 1913, Page 4

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL REFORM

A SERIOUS ISSDE. (To the Editor.) Sir,—Any measure to reform tlio Legislative Council which does not maintain that body in a position, to effectively discharge the duties of a Second Chamber must bo a first 6tep towards its destruction. Is this clearly realised by all who aro charged with the responsibility of rebuilding our Constitution P _ In these times of unrest, is a stable body no longer wanted ,as a trusted bulwark against temporary impulses outside Parliament—to defend liberty and rights impartially and with firmness against all assailants; to guard against the effect of sudden gusts of passion or sudden clianges of opinion of the peoplo?_ Is the outlook so reassuring that this is tho tini© to weaken tho branch of Parliament whoso duty it is, in tho interest of the people as a whole, to check hasty legislation? Surely 110! Is there to exist no check upon tho competence of tho peoples Chamber to propose, and without appeal to the people themselves to pass into law. schemes involving the most fundamental and revolutionary changes? Such a probability makes men think; and tho closer lvo get to the heart of such a proposal the more the danger must bo seen. Hie Hon. Mr. Balfour in a recent ilebato said: "No machinery, however imperfect, for securing this chock should be fibfindoncu until a better has been devised." There must bo security against the establishment of arbitrary power. There is no such security—thero cannot be in a Second Chamber chosen by the same constituency as the people s House, i here cau be 110 real appeal from one branch of Parliament to the other under such conditions. Plausible support may bo offered by somo to suggested difference 111 bodies so chosen, but, disguise it as they may, there is 110 real security. Is it ot second-rate importance to-day that there should exist a Second Chamber chosen under conditions which will constitute it a 'real check upon hasty legislation ? lo answer the question- in the aßirniativo spells revolution. For a Second Chamber cannot continue to exist unless it. can effectively do its work. It would have to go. Such a proposal may have no terrors for some. Tho position is 0110 of great seriousness, for in the long run it is the rights of the people themselves that are threatened. Heavy responsibility rests to-day upon those who aro laj mg hands upon a- Constitution which, whatever its defects may be, has legislated fairlj, and ]ns held the balance evenly between all sections of the etc.^