The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times MONDAY, MAY 15, 1933 THE 'REFERENDUM.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 May 1933, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times MONDAY, MAY 15, 1933 THE 'REFERENDUM.

The .referendum in New S ou th Wales on' Saturday regarding th e reform of the. Upper House, disclosed interesting features. The second Chamber n* me Mother State has been a lionirnared one, without limit to numbers. It will be remembered that during the Lang regime there was a palpable abuse of powe r by the Premier in the ‘‘swamping” of the Chimber with his life nominees. Thi s scandal led to a demand for a measure of reform, and in point of fact was one of the chief sins of commission levelled at the Lang Government when. it next went to the polls. The Government was swept from office, and the incoming party had a plank in policy for the reform of the Upper House. The stage was thus -set for .the Government to carry out it s promise. The bill produced was to reduce the number of the existing Upper House by practically half, limiting ft to a total of 60 members. These were to be elected by a joint poll of the existing two Houses, for I’mited periods ranging from three to twelve years, all life appointments being terminated. To give the Government a complete mandate in the matter, the r ei'erenee of- the proposal bo the' people w's decided on, and the referendum poll took place on Saturday; throughout the State. Considerably over ,a million votes were polled, but when counting stopped on Saturday night the majority in favour of the bill wus only a little over 20,000 votes with 70,000 votes (mo s tly from country districts) still to come. It was estimated however, when the final figures were available that the majority would reach 25,000 votes in favour of the reform. Looking back to the time when the Stevens’ Government went into office sweeping the country practically, the recent voting comes as a surprise. Moreso because in many pro-Labour constituencies where Stevens’ followers won isoats. Mr Stevens’ measure was now vetoed. The city and large towns, notably the Newcastle area, gave large majorities against the proposal, and it was the country district which helped the Government to carry the day. Another aspect is that in the course of the contest party [made it a point ’of fighting the-' ■ , is?ue on party grounds—what one party had fdone as against the other. If the poll is considered in this light, then the result may be credited as a big swing over to Mr Lang. But it is not as serious as that. Probably the people did not dike the terms of the measure. ■lt was not ,a,n ideal measure of reform, for it took the selection of representatives from the people, and gave the choice of selection to the peoples' representatives for the time being and that might mean a predominance of party. Be that ,a B it may. the New South Wales has secured the opportunity for a reform, the character of which ran be built on as experience shows. There is the veto to the ,norn ' mated Chamber, and the form of election can he varied as circumstance* may warrant in the future. The Stevens’ Government has fulfilled ifs P ro ' mine in the matter rnd givQn U P power to nominate friends to the second Chamber. That at least is some train to national government. When the final figures rre reached it will be 1 the Government to romnlete it' tnd to create the new' Chamber (restricted in members) in the manner proposed in the measure.