A NECESSARY MEASURE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 380, 15 November 1932, Page 4

A NECESSARY MEASURE

} The member for Timaru (Rev. Clyde Carr) has introduced before the House of Representatives his Orders-in-Council Con- ! firmation Bill. In common with ! the remainder of private mem- ; bers' bills, this measure appears ' to have been shelved in order to I make way for Government busi- ; ness which was lagging sorely until it became apparent that un- : less the business of the House | was eonsiderably aceelerated members would be called back afI ter Christmas. It is to be hoped, I however that Mr. Carr's bill will ; be pushed f orward for it embodies proposals most urgently required. Under this bill, it is proposed that Orders-in-Council which affect existing acts, before becoming law, should be not only confirmed by the House as a whole, but outlined so that members may be cognisant of the terms of the enactment to which they are setting their hands. We have on previous ocj casions, stressed the abuse to | which the present system of leJ gislation by Order-in-Couneil is ! open and experience should give j the measure support from all i sections of the community. At I the present time, Cabinet by Order--in-Council, may impose the most arbitrary restrictions j and regulations upon the public i without the House as a whole j being afforded any proper op- | portunity of discussing or amending the proposals. In actual fact, Orders-in-Council too often do not even reflect the con- ; sidered opinion of Cabinet as a whole but of the Minister imme- | diately concerned. This country : at the present time is enmeshed ; and bewildered in a network of | regulations on every activity un- | der the sun. In the general rule, these regulations make their first and entirely unheralded appearance by way of the Gazette which proclaims them the law of the land. The man in the street, \ 7 who endeavours to exist as best he can without coming into confliet with authority usually has his first intimation of their existence when he offends or when he reads a precis of their import in his daily newspaper. This system has been responsible for a great deal of hastily eonceived and ill-considered legislation and it has also removed from the

peoples representatives the right which they should possess of determining what should and what should not becomeTaw. There is, of course, a stock excuse to defend the policy. When this matter has been raised on previous occasions, the Government has claimed that if Parliament as a whole had to give its attention to all matters of regulation and legislation, the business of the session would never be concluded. Recognising this fact, Mr. Carr's measure proposes only that confirmation should be given by the House when the terms of any order-in-council modify or alter the effect of any existing

act. This is manifestly a most necessary provision and one which must be made if the basic principles of representative and democratic government are to be maintained. At present, regulations by Order-in-Council are drafted by the departments of State concerned. They are then laid more or less prefunctorily before- Cabinet and duly gazetted to become law. In effect this means that Government departments are making the law which they are concerned with administering. Whatever effect this system may have in accelerating the business of Parliament, its obvious disadvantages make it highly undesirable. It provides opportunities not only for further entanglements of beauracratic red-tape but for politicians who may desire to use them as a means to an end. It is not only wrong in principle, but quite.unwise, to provide this loop-hole.