WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 September 1932, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

■ THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. I ITS FUTURE. «-■ (From our own Correspondent). v- !. WELLINGTON, September 14.. % When the twenty four.th Parliament §of New Zealand is opened for its second session eight days hence' there 't will be only twenty-five members of the Leglisative Council t<y’ greet His . Excellency the Governor-General at 5 this time honoured ceremony, even if they all are able to be in attendance. . On May 7 last the seven year term of nine members of the Council terminated, their ages ranging from seventy 'years to eighty-four, and next month 'three other veterans, all of whom have rendered service in both branches of the Legislature, will have run their course. The Hon. W. Eatnshaw passed away at the close of last year, and the Hon. E. H. Clark, the Chairman of Committees, who had filled his of- . fice with exemplary care, also was lost "to the Council. The removal of these two memebre, who had three years to run, and the completion of the terms of three other's next .month, will reduce the strength of'the Second Chamber to twenty-two occupants.

WHAT NEXT? . In view of’these facts it is interesting to recall that in April 1856, when ibis country first took hold of the advantages of representative institutions,

thirteen members were appointed to the Legislative Council by Governor Thomas Gore Browne and thirty-eight members were elected to the House of Representatives on- a franchise which in those days might he regarded as a. reasonable basis. By 1887, the Stout Government and Atkinson Government between them had increased the number of the members of thfe Legislative Council to forty-nine and the members of the House of Representatives to ninety-five. Since then there have been variations both in the number of members of the Council and in the number of members of the House? but th.e present Government seems, bent upon extinguishing the Nominat- j ed Chamber altogtber, av as an alternative, creating it into a refuge for elderly politicians who wish to avoid the asperities of party controversy.

THE SURVIVORS. Of the three members of the Council' who will retire next month one is-seventy-seven years -of age, one seven-ty-six and one seventy, all having served in the House of] Representatives and the youngest of them having figured creditably in ,"a Cabinet. Three other members of iLe Council will retire next year, one at tin) ripe old, age of eighty-two—now as alert mentally as the youngest of the trio—another at sixty-fivej and athird who has not disclosed his, years. In 1034, five Legislative Councillors will retire, one at eighty-eight, another at eightythree, d third fit eighty, a fourth at seventy-nine aid a fifth at seventytwo. In there will be six re-

tirements, one- at eighty-six, one at eighty-two, one at seventy-three, one at seventy-two one at sixty-five and a comparative youth of fifty-four who' was born in Scotland where the years pass slowly. The figures of a later period need not be recited.

THE FR ANCHISE. Wlien Sir Francis Bell, instigated by Mr Massey, framed the Legislative Council of 1914 he set about his task with perfect good! faith and obvious enthusiasm. That the measure was placed upon the Statute Book of the Dominion during then progress of the Great War was one of Sir Francis’ memorable achievements, and it is a poor compliment to him that it has been kept in abeyance, as it were, ail these years instead of being thrust altogether into the oblivion of the Dominion’s wastopapej; basket. The truth of the matter is that no majority in Parliament wished to see a system of election that would ensure an equitable method of voting placed .upon the Statute Book.. If Mr Forbes and Mr Coates still are averse to such a; system then they should take the opportunity wlucli will bo affoorded dining the approaching session of Parliament to rid) themselves of the nightmare of just representation.