The Press MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1934. The Free State Senate

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21123, 26 March 1934, Page 10

The Press MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1934. The Free State Senate

i The Senate of the I"sh Free Slate, bavins rejected Mr de Valera's bill •<j make the wearing of political; ~,.;;l !rms illegal, is now in danger of ' Mention- I"- C:1 ingenious statement i , v;;i . r ted in iMC cable news on Sat- : -"'tiav. Mr do Valera manages to eoni rev the impression that his proposal | :.-; abolish the Senate does not preju- ! dice the wider issue of whether | \ single-chamber legislatures are pre- ' t'erable to two-chamber legislatures. \ He has, I'e says, already tried to ] '. reform the Senate by making it. I I ■ a chamber with distinctive char- i • "acteristics, giving an independent j ; -judgment on public matters.'' But j | (he Senate has shown itself "an ! /•'absolute menace to the country"! ' and therefore " whether there snail ; "be a second chamber or not. the ; "Senate must go." No one v. ho : has watelied the course e: Iris!; ' politics in the last three years wid : be in the leas' deceived by tins ! devious explanation. Abolition ot ' the Senate was one ot the main planks of tlte Republican paity's: platform during ;ne election car - : paign of 1031: and it is char :;.:.:; Mr cie Valera's half-hearted, attempt ; tit reform was nothing more than .< tactical mo-ce to strengthen the case j for abolition. His motives tire easy j to understand. lie is a dictator :n , his party; and. since the last genera; ; election," he has made himself vir- : tuaily dictator of the country. ' Moreover, to abolish tlte Senate will : be te> strike another blow at the : treaty of 1P2I: and it I:as been Mr do Valera's consistent ana since hell to make the treaty molYcciive ami. unworkable. The ''Daiiy Tcic- " graph's"' comment tnat " :' Mr de "Valera succeeds in his purpose : "he will raise ti:e grave qacstimi '■ whether any word or line of the: "treaty or the constitution has any; ■'value'' is very much to the point. , It must be said, however, that it', the Senate is abolished the blame! will he partly with Mr Cosgrave's ; Government. The original consl:tu-; lion of the Free State provided that : members of the lirst Senate should j be nominated by the Governim.nl i and that afterwards members should i be elected, the whole of the Free I State voting as one electorate and i the candidates being chosen by the; Senate and the Dad sitting to-i gethcr. When, the experiment was! tried only a ludicrously small pro- i portion of the electors voted, since . most of the candidates were un- i known outside their own districts. I In order to prevent a recurrence of [ the farce, the constitution was j amended to provide for filling | vacancies on the Senate by com- j bined voting of the Dail and the i Senate. The inevitable result of j this arrangement has been tu put j the Senate at the mercy of the domi- j nant party in the Dail. It will be } difficult to arouse any substantial j body of public opinion in defence j of an institution which has for ten j years been content to register the | decisions of Mr Cosgravc and his i friends. There is u lesson in the ] situation for New Zealand. j I