RESERVATIONS ABOUT OMBUDSMAN’S OFFICE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30536, 3 September 1964, Page 17

RESERVATIONS ABOUT OMBUDSMAN’S OFFICE

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) MONTREAL, September 2. Lord Denning, the British jurist, said yesterday the ombudsman principle might have merits but it should not do anything to undermine avenues for redress already available for citizens nor the tradition of ministerial responsibility. Lord Denning and the New Zealand Ombudsman, Sir Guy Powles, took part in a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Canadian Bar Association. Lord Denning said that until he met Sir Guy Powles, he had thought from stories he had . heard that an ombudsman was “a sub-relation of the abominable snowman,” but that the discussions convinced him the idea might have merit in Canada.

Nothing should be done to undermine avenues for redress already available —such as inquiries or tribunals nor to the tradition of ministerial responsibility. Lord Denning said. He referred to the Vassal spy case and, indirectly, to the Profumo affair. “These cases were most properly dealt with by our system of ministerial responsibility and questions in the House,” he said. Lord Denhing said that should an ombudsman be appointed, he must be independent of any party in power, must have full access to every file, and must have the same security of tenure as a judge. “If you are to . have an ombudsman," he said, “you must be very sure to get the right man.” He said that while the system might work in a small

nation such as New Zealand, or in a province, it could well be impractical in a more heavily populated country. Sir Guy Powles said his procedures of investigation are by design left as informal as possible. “If the office developed the formality, trappings and traditions of a court, it would, I think, fail in its object,” Sir Guy Powles said. In a speech preceding the discussion with Lord Denning, Sir Guy Powles said he would not suggest for one moment that the omsbudsman is the complete answer to all the problems of administrative justice. “He is but one tool—a good one, 1 think—but just one, and mankind needs many tools in this technological age,” he said. Sir Guy Powles is the Commonwealth’s first omsbudsman.