REFORM OF PARLIAMENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 January 1939, Page 9

REFORM OF PARLIAMENT

POWER OF RENOVATION FROM WITHIN. ‘T still cling to the belief expressed by Burke in 1778, in his 'Thoughts on Present Discontents,’ that there ever is within Parliament a power of renovating its principles and affecting a self-reformation such as no other plan of government has ever possessed." said Sir Arnold Wilson, speaking in the House of Commons. “Burke went on: — ‘Public troubles have often called upon this country to look into its constitution. It has ever been bettered by such revision? I believe these words are true today. Public opinion calls upon us to revise our constitution, and I do not doubt that we should better it in the process. It will certainly mean a vast amount of legislation. We have to clear away the rubbish and the deadwood of centuries, what St Paul calls ‘hay and stubble? That is why I feel that the consolidation and amendment of the Statute Book should be pressed forward and the tempo of our Parliamentary life changed. To quote Burke again, this time from his address to his constituents at Bristol:—‘lt is impossible to imagine how much of service is lost from spirits full of energy, full of capacity, who are constantly pressing forward to great and capital objects, when you compel them continually to be looking back. Applaud us when wc run. console us when we fall, cheers us when wc recover, but let us pass on—for God’s sake let us pass on? ”