Scope Of Ombudsman

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31377, 24 May 1967, Page 1

Scope Of Ombudsman

(N.I. Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 23. The Parliamentary back-bencher was not in a position to investigate cases of personal injustice with the thoroughness of an Ombudsman, because he lacked the necessary authority, said the Ombudsman (Sir Guy Powles) today. Sir Guy Powles spoke to the conference of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Law Students on the role of the Ombudsman in the control of administrative action.

There was a “quite understandable” attitude in some quarters that the backbench could do effectively the Ombudsman’s work, he said. “It is a fact that however active the back-bencher is, he does not have the powers of Investigation vested In the Ombudsman,” he said. “In addition, there are always a number of cases where the persons involved do not want their M.Ps. informed of their difficulties. In other cases, a Government back-bencher is unlikely to be as diligent in investigating alleged Instance* of injustice Involving the Government as would an Opposition member.” The average New Zealander was aware of the existence of the Ombudsman’s

office and its functions, Mid Sir Guy Powles. He did not consider there was a danger of its being accessible only to a privileged minority. He had received complaints from a surprising breadth of society. He warned against regarding the Ombudsman’s office as “the panacea for all evils." “It is just a good, mundane institution which is useful in the hands of the Government to cut administrators

down to size,” Mid Sir Guy Powles.