The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1914. UPPER HOUSE REFORM

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2278, 12 October 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1914. UPPER HOUSE REFORM

When the Legislative Council Bill | came up for second reading in the House of Representatives on Friday night, i the Opposition Party found itself upon tfio horns of a dilemma. Its own record, where the Council is concerned is as black as it can be. During twenty years of power, the Continuous Ministry made no effort to democratise the Council, instead it did its best to make that Chamber a mere tool, of the Ministry of the day by substituting a seven-year terra for life membership. It is not . wonderful that the inheritors of such a record should be roused to anger and alarm by the spectacle of a new Government pushing ahead with the reform of the Council on lines that are at least bold, enterprising, and democratic. There may be room for honest difference of opinion as to tho form of Second Chamber best suited to a country like New Zealand, but upon the merits of the case, as between the present Government and that of its opponents, there can be prily one opinion. In the circumstances, it was natural enough that the Leader of the. Opposition should far, absent from his post in Parliament when the Government Bill came.up for second reading, and we should think that the cooler heads uponhis side of the House must now be sorry that , some of Sir Joseph Ward's principal followers did not follow their Leader's' example. ' The only wise policy for the Opposition where reform ■ of the -Legislative Council is concerned, is one of discreet silence. Even adept wordtwisters like Mr. G. W.' Russell canriot get away from the fact that the Council under .the '"Liberal" regime was reduced to such a state that a cry was raised from end to end of the country that it must be mended, or ended, and that the reform projected by the Government, whatever else it may accomplish, will at least put.'an end to the- abuses of the vicious system which its predecessors left in vogue. No' one can follow the speeches Friday ni,pt's debate without realising ' that the arguments advanced by tho Opposition speakers were drawn rather from experience ■of their own party's indefensible dealings with the Council than from anything that the Massey Government has done. No frontal attack was made upon the Bill itself, but MR. Russell and othors took the peculiar line that the Government, under pretence of reforming the Council, is seeking to entrench its own party as the dominant power in that Chamber for. a long term of years. It is not a little amusing that such a charge should be made by the spokesmen of a party whose record, where the Council is concerned, is bad beyond defence, and that tho charge ehould bo directed at a Government which set about the task of reforming tho Council as soon as it attained office, and is- now within measureable distance of placing the reform upon the Statute Book. JJven when they are considered apart from surrounding and related facts the, fantastic charges and dolorous prophecies of the member for Avon and his associates in the debate are lame and unconvincing. Elaborating his congenial theme, Mr. Russell pictured the possibility of the Council being increased, three years hen*, to a strength of 04 members (40 a,ppointed and 24 elected), ignoring the plain provision, in the very clause from which he was quoting, which limits the Council to 40 members, oxclusivo of Maori members who are not to exceed three in number. Again, he unblushingly ignored the fact that of the nineteen present members of the Council who have been appointed by the Government, four at least are its political opponents, three of them being members of the Labour Party. Instead of giving the Government credit for adopting a correct and constitutional course of postponing the coming into opmtipn of tha Bill until 1916, ho saw io the delay only an.

other device calculated to facilitate the stuffing of the Council with Reform nominees or supporters. . Tho imaginative llights of the member for Avon were to a great extent anticipated by. the Peijie Minister in opening the debate. He pointed out that tho Government nad appointed no more members to the Council' than would ensure the passage of the Reform Bill, the last batch of eleven members being necessary to counteract a possible adverse majority of nine. Until some more credible authority than the member for Avon disputes the fact it may bo taken for granted that the days ot nomination to the Council are now over. It is true that the power a ill rest with tho members of the Council themselves to fill extraordinary vacancies, but in 1917 twentyfour members will be elected, and in the face of it Mit. Russell's spectre oi a. Council dominated by party nominees is sheer nonsense. ■ It should not bo forgotten that the Government did all in its power to hasten the time at which the Council will become- a completely, elective body. A Bill was passed by the House reducing the term of nomination to three years, and if it had not been thrown out by the Council tho way would have been clear for the election of the whole body in 1917. .This fact, like many others, Me. Russell and his supporters conveniently ignored. It was only by ignoring facts that they could make out even the shadowy semblance of a case. As a whole, the Opposition effort did nothing more than rake up somo ghosts from a particularly discreditable past, which it would have been wise to leave alone. So far from weakening the Government's position, Me. Russell and his friends merely succeeded in placing the ill record of their own party i/i striking contrast to the reforming spirit which animates its successors on the Treasury benches.