LIFE OF PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 393, 27 March 1937, Page 3

LIFE OF PARLIAMENT.

TRIENNIAL SYSTEM. Government and the People. We now know definitely that a general election will be held wards the end of next year, for the Prime Minister (Kt. Hon. MJ. Savage) gave a pledge to that effect in a recent address, and this is all to the good for it relieves the people Of all doubts on the matter, writes a correspondent. This involves an amendment of the Act, which could be undertaken in the session of next year. The Government has the legal right .to remain in power for four years, until the end of 1939, and even if it extended its life—which it could easily do with its great majority—it would be merely following the precedent set by the previous Government. For the Labour Government could claim, and with just as much justification as the previous Government, that it requires another year to fully implement its policy. If the Labour Government desired, it could prevent an election being held before the close of 1940, and that it is refraining from taking adventage of its strong position is a matter for commendation. The return to the triennial Parliamentary system will be regarded by many as a step in the right direction, and-distinctly in the interests of democracy, while another body of opinion undoubtedly favours a four-year term. But the time seems opportune to consider the problem in its modern setting. Can we not improve upon a three-year system? It does happen that even after a year in office a Government may be out of touch with the people. We have the Prime Minister, in his reading of the political barometer, claiming that the people are in favour of the Government and prepared to endorse the policy that it has already implemented. On the other hand, the Leader of the National Party, Mr. Adam Hamilton, reads the barometer differently, for as he sees it the needle is swinging away from the Government- Obviously both the P'rime Minister and the Leader of the National Party are guessing, and their guesses Cannot be described as sound, as in. each' is the element of unconscious bias. At the same time it would be an advantage to the Government and the country if by some means the opinion of the people could be obtained periodically. In the United Kingdom every year there are a number of important byelections whieli serve as reliable indicators of the trqpd of public opinion, and a British" Government which found the by-elections going against it would resign or appeal to the coutry. We have no such indicator here, for our Parliament is too small. Moreover there is no chance of an appeal to the country. The Labour Party has put into operation a revolutionary policy in the opinion of a great number of electors, but how does the mass of the people regard the matter Of course, we will know this after the election next year but it would be advantageous to the country to know now, and how to get that information is the problem.