Comment From The Capital NO STABILISATION OF SOUTH ISLAND SEATS BEFORE 1969

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30830, 16 August 1965, Page 12

Comment From The Capital NO STABILISATION OF SOUTH ISLAND SEATS BEFORE 1969

(From Our Own Reporter!

WELLINGTON, August 15.

When the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) called for “urgency ’ last Tuesday to expedite the passage of the Electoral Amendment Bill, the impression may have been left that some speed was necessary to ensure the South Island should have its extra seat by November, 1966.

This is not so. The cen-l sus. on which the new calculations will be based, will take place on March 22, but it will be some months before the results of it will be ready so it will not be possible to prepare the new boundaries in time for the General Election. Tbe Boundaries Commission may sit briefly next year, but it will be 1967 before it has the population figures of the South Island on the night of March 22, 1966. Only then will the electoral' boundaries be redrawn. The new boundaries will be ready] for the General Election of. 1969 —unless the successfuli party in the 1966 election] varies the procedure. So the “urgency” taken last i Tuesday night related to a measure the fate of which will be determined by a Gov-! eminent not yet elected. A Labour government, for instance, could choose to honour its earlier election pledge by fixing the number of South Island seats at 26. This would mean the 1966 census figure of South Island population would be divided by 26. not 25, to determine the basic European electorate—and that there would be several more North Island electorates contesting the 1969 election.

It would still appear that a less politically biased and more lasting verdict on representation would be achieved by an independent commission empowered to exam-1 ine Parliamentary represen-| tation generally, including the Maori seats. Good Recovery The recovery of the Minis-' ter of Finance (Mr Lake) from the ill-health which has dogged him for some time has been reflected during the last fortnight or so in his demeanour in the House. In earlier years. Mr Lake gave the impression of being a reluctant debater, and some of the younger members of the Opposition took full advantage of this, making him the popular target for questions and interjections. As Minister of Finance. Mr | Lake is still under fire at | times, but today he gives the I impression that he enjoys it. I What has accomplished the! change may be a medical I rather than a political secret I—but Mr Lake’s return to. health must help to offset the 1 | rumours of retirement from the political scene which have been current for so long. Legislation Delay Mr M. A. Connolly (Opp. I

Riccarton). who last year; sponsored the first legislation] on tractor safety, will ask the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) this week if he can indicate when the proposed amendment to the Machinery Act will be introduced. This amendment, announced in the Speech from the Throne, will provide for the approval of safety frames for farm tractors. The background to the question is that while tractor deaths are continuing, the delay to the legislation is preventing some tested safety devices from reaching the market. A Sockburn manufacturer has built a basic safety frame which has passed tests at the Agricultural Engineering Re-, search Institute at Lincoln.! The frame, which has stood up to a rigorous testing programme. is ready for manu-[ facture. Housing Programme The Cabinet will decide in November whether to revive the National Housing Council, according to the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Marshall). The need for some sort of a controlling authority, capable of setting housing targets well ahead, has been recognised by the building industry as an assurance of steady development and the Monetary and Economic Council supports this view. Btq the Government differs i sharply. Appeals were made | at various times last year, but

the Cabinet decided to defer the question for 12 months. Cabinet thinking is dominated bv the following points: 1. The Government has already taken steps to restrain activity in the commercial sector by appointing a building programmer. This should relieve the pressure on the industry. 2. Last year the number of permits for houses and flats was a record, 25,357. The resulting completion of dwellings in the present year will not be far short of the Government Statistician's forecast of the number required by population growth. 3. The first two months of this financial year—April and May—show no reduction in pennits compared with April and May. 1964. The value of the permits is up 5 per cent While supporting the idea of the over-all control of building by the National Housing Council or some other body, the Monetary and Economic Council has also called for a brake on housing construction. It has also recommended a temporary reduction of the Government’s own housing expenditure, and a cut in finance made available for housing by the State Advances Corporation. The Government has not heeded this advice either. The Estimates just approved will enable the calling of tenders for the same number of Stale house units as in each of the last four years. The State Advances Corporation expects to be able to finance all eligible borrowers applying for housing loans.