NOT ELIGIBLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 68, 20 March 1936, Page 5

NOT ELIGIBLE

APPOINTMENT OF MR. M

CONNELLY

TO BE VALIDATED

In order to overcome a technical barrier, Parliament will have to provide legislation to validate the appointment of Mr. Michael Connelly to the Legislative Council. Mr. Connelly was one of the fourteen members recently appointed by the Government, but as an officer of the Railway Department he is not eligible. . j

The Prime Minister (the Hon. M. J. Savage) stated last night that one of the first pieces of legislation to be submitted to Parliament would be a measure to validate Mr. Connelly's appointment. "At the time the appointment was made," said Mr. Savage, "it was overlooked that Mr. Connelly was an officer of the Railway Department and was, therefore, ineligible for such appointment by reason of Section 2 of the Legislature Act, 1908, which provides that no person shall be summoned to the Council who is, or within the next preceding six months was, a civil servant. In these circumstances, Mr. Connelly, having resigned from the Railway Department, it is considered desirable to validate the appointment from the date it was made, and the proposed measure will provide for the necessary validation. Mr. Connelly will, of course, not sit in the Council until the validation has been completed." j