The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 11, 1913. UPPER HOUSE REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1801, 14 July 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 11, 1913. UPPER HOUSE REFORM.

The Minister for Internal Affairs has mado so clcar the changes in the Legislative Council Bill introduced this session as oompared with the measure of last year, that members and the public will have little difficulty in forming an opinion as to the relative merits of tho two Bills. It must be conceded that the latest effort on the part of the Government is a very considerable improvement in somo material particulars and tho Hon. H. D. Bell and his colleagues are to be congratulated on the advantage they have taken of the delay afforded by the action of the Legislative Council last year in laying aside the original Bill. The result, however, must also, in some degree, be taken to support the view expressed last week by the Hon. 0. Samuel. It will probably be recalled that Mr. Samuel, in the course of an able criticism of tho Government's proposals, submitted that-tho manner in which the Council should be "reformed" was a matter which should not be decided in a hurried fashion, and that the Government should not consider itself pledged to carry out any particular form of change. We need not go into the reasons advanced by Mr. Samuel, suffice it to say that he made out what is no doubt from the point of vie\v of the opponents of the Bill a very fair case. But while one must pay tribute to the ingenuity with which the honourable member marshalled all the possible objections to the measure, the plain faet remains that the Government is not only pledged to the reform of the Upper House, .but it is pledged to amend tho law so as to make tho Upper House an elective body. We are quite in agreement with those who

hold the opinion that a better class of revising Chamber might be secured than will be possible under the Bill now introduced; but such body would be a nominative one,—and its members would, be composed of men of proved experience and public service; and their tenure of office would bo for life, or for at any rate a period long enough to afford a surer guarantee of independence than is given by the existing term of seven years. Moreover, such a system, to bo completely satisfactory, would necessarily presuppose the existence of Governments which would always rise superior to party considerations and appoint the best men available. This ideal not being attainable, and the evil of the existing nominative system having been generally admitted, the Government decided to at least remove the demoralising inlluence of political patronage—tho practice developed under the Continuous Ministry of appointing men to the Legislative Council for reasons othe.r than their qualifications and fitness to servo the nation. Under tho Bill now introduced the Government proposes to rob itself of a power of patronage which its predecessors turned to profitable uso as a party device, and, instead, to place tho duty of choosing the Legislative Council on the people by ballot. That that step will not be wholly satisfactory we have not the least doubt. It will, under the existing provisions of the measure, open the door to men who are quite unsuited to perform tho public duties which should belong to this branch of the Legislature. There is practically no restriction as to who may be a candidate, and yet, obviously, those who sit in that Chamber should bo possessed of some knowledge of affairs and have some experience of public servioo. But despite these and other objections the proposals embodied in the Bill are an improvement on the existing system and afford evidence of a genuine desire on the part of the Government to place the Legislative Council, which has sunk largely in public esteem under the methods of tho Continuous Ministry, on a footing which will ensure for it a greater measure of public confidence. That the Bill can be improved in some of its details is beyond question—although the amendments in tho Bill of this session rcmoVo several of tho objections raised to the original in this particular it is satisfactory to note that the Leader of the Council has frankly stated that his Government do not wish to take up a "hidebound" attitude. But while tho measuro is open to amendment, the Council must faco tho fact that the Government is in earnest in its intention to secure its passage on to the Statute Book, and that the country has been led to expect this reform to be given effect to before the next general election.