LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23086, 31 July 1940, Page 14

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS

TO THB EDITOB OF THB FBESS. Sir,—The letter of July 24 written over the pseudonym, "Industrial Vigilance,” criticising recent appointments to . the Legislative Council calls for some reply. Surely the suggestion that a seat in the Upper House should be the reward of party service is not seriously advanced. The Minister for Labour (Mr Webb) gave this an apt answer in the House recently in reply "to criticism about recent appointments to important positions in our war effort. He stated that even if it was not acceptable to the Public Service Association, he was the best judge in the matter. It has always been the timehonoured privilege of our chief statesmen to select for legislative honours someone who has rendered meritorious service to his country. That the Upper House is a necessary safeguard to our liberties has been proved by long experience. Many hasty and illdigested acts have to be amended and regulated to suit our circumstances by the Upper Chamber. To-day we have captious and disgruntled critics who under any pretext are ready to disrupt the Government. Recent events in the Parliamentary Labour Party prove this. It is up to Labour Party members to use their utmost vigilance to frustrate 1 their efforts. The acceptance of positions in the War Cabinet by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. A. Hamilton, and the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates shows the good spirit prevailing, in the country. Former opponents of the Government are working m. HMKoa«a«

same applies to most of the press of New Zealand.—Yours, etc., POLITICAL VIGILANCE. Hokitika. July 27, 1940.