POLITICAL REFORMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 159, 8 July 1935, Page 6

POLITICAL REFORMS.

Several important political reforms were suggested at the Empire Society's luncheon to Parliamentary delegates. Fiveyear Parliaments, an interchange of civil servants between the Dominions . and the Homeland, and the appointment of Cabinet Ministers Avithout portfolio were proposals put forward for consideration. There is no uniformity fet present in the life- of Empire Parliaments. In Britain elections are at intervals of .five years. The Federal Parlia r ment in Canada and a number of the State Parliaments are elected every five years. The Australian Federal Parliament and the Parliaments of the States are elected triennially; in New Zealand, until' the recent extension to four years, there was an election every third year. The three-year term has drawbacks: there is only one "working" session; Parliament spends the first session getting down to business and the last in electioneering oratory. A four-yearly term is a compromise. The suggested exchange of civil servants has much to commend it. A broader knowledge and a better training would result. The third proposal follows an old British practice. Ministers have no time to think, and Dominion Ministers are probably as muck overworked as those-atJHomc