WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1926, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

LEGISLATIVE COUNCILLORS

SUPERPLOUS APPOINTMENTS

(Special to “ Guardian.”)

WELLINGTON, August 11

The appointment of Sir Robert Stout to the Legislative Council has revived the criticism which assailed the three appointments made to the Second Chamber only a few months ago. To begin with, so the critics says, it has created a very undesirable precedent. If every successful lawyer who has served twenty-five years on the Supreme Court Bench, and passed the allotted span by more than a decade, is to lie given a supplementary allowance to eke out an already generous pension, then, they protest, the public is not being given a square deal. In the ease of the Hon J. Hanan, one of the previous appointees, there was the excuse that the retired member for Invercargill had borne the “ heat and burden ” of the elected branch of the Legislature for many years and while still a young man, as politicians go, had gathered information and experience which could he turned to the advantage oi the community. As for the other two recent appointments they frankly were party rewards given and Deceived in recognition of services rendered. But Sir Robert’s appointment can be classed in neither of these categories. '1 ne retired Chief Justice had been out of polities for more than a quarter of a century and could return only as a lay figure of the picturesque fields oi the past. LEGISLATURE- AMENDMENT. Tim whole of the present Government's appointments to the Council—those of Ai r I sit t and Mr Witty, legacies received from the preceding Government. and those constituting the quartet just completed—emphasise the need for the resurrection of the Legislative Council reform initiated by Sir Francis Bell and temporarily interred by the war. Had the Bill passed in 191.4 been allowed to follow its intended course tlie Council by now* would he entirely an elected body, with eveiw considerable body of public opinion in the country holding its fair share of representation within its walls. To realise how far this is from being the ease at the

present time it is necessary, only to glance down the list of names that constitute the roll of the chamber to-day. To say that all the. parties are to blame for the existing state of affairs—to contend that Mr Seddon did not better than Mr Massey, and Sir Joseph Ward lio better than Air Coates —is simply to beg the question. Recriminations between tlie parties simply add to the strength, of the case. At present the Council has reached the pretty pass of not having a single member of the Official Opposition among its members. Labour is absolutely unrepresented. -Mr John Barr, originally appointed as a stalwart of the party is now loudest in its denunciation. MEM IIER S’ SAL All IKS.

It may now he stated positively, though without ministerial authority, that an increase in their salaries will not be among the good things that may come the way of members of Parliament this session. Tbo Minister of Finance was not in the House when tlio member for Hurunni suggested that a rise in the pay of the people's representatives was over-due, and, consequently, he did not hear the stentorious “ Hear, hears ” with which the suggestion was received. Rut since then Mr Rownie Stewart lias made it absolutely clear that there is no money in tho Treasury for luxuries, and that members may consider themselves lucky in being so well remunerated. Tt is the larger salaries paid to members of some of the Australian Parliaments that have aroused the cupidity of the Dominion’s legislators, not any addition to their labours nor any increase in their expenses. As a matter of fact a. member can live Cheaper in Wellington than ho can in his own home if his various perquisites and concessions are taken into account. 'Maybe lie thinks it necessary to maintain a. higher standard of living in Wellington than ho does in his own neighbouring town, lmt this is a matter entirely within his own control and mere style is not an item to bo charged to the State.

'LICENSING. Many inquiries are being made in re-i-fl to the foreshadowed Licensing Amendment Hill which appears to lie agitating mertibers of Parliament even more than it is the Trade and Prohibitionists. The Bill certainly is one the Prime Minister could not leave behind him for his colleagues to put through • after his departure for the Imperial Conference. For tllis reason, rather than any other, it is being assumed that the Bill will not he introduced. or, at any rate, seriously discussed until next session. Mr Coates himself will he the driving force behind the measure and none of his colleagues would be eager to take the job off his hands. The Trade, however, is anxious to have the matter settled one way or the other as speedily as possible, and it would rather see the question, so far as Parliament is concerned, put to the test now than a year hence. It fears that pledges given during the election campaign may slacken with the passage of the months and that Ministers mayfind tlieir big battalions less amenable to reason with another licensing poll only a year away. Meanwhile Mr Coates is keeping his own counsel and not betraying any misgivings concerning the. fate of his proposals. Tt is not his habit to go out of his way to meet trouble.