“CARAVAN PASSES ON”

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 10

“CARAVAN PASSES ON”

March of Government Legislation NO ORGANISED FIGHT IN COUNCIL A theory that pre-election appointees to the Legislative Council might be expected to offer some form of united front against the Government has been dispelled by an analysis of the vote on every piece of legislation yet received from the House of Representatives. It is true that six or eight of the earlier members have consistently recorded their opposition, and have shown fight. But any doubt that the Government may have felt as to the allegiance of the Council as a whole disappeared after the reception accorded the Reserve Bank Amendment Bill, which passed all stages with a facility comforting to the Leader, Hon. M Fagan. Since then he has presented successive measures, supremely confident that no effective impediment will intrude upon the smooth passage of any legislation on which lie may henceforth invite the opinion of his colleagues. Protest has been reduced to a nullity. There are several reasons. First, nearly all Bills considered up to the present time have been declared money Bills, and not within the province of the Council to amend. The only exceptions were the Labour Department Amendment Bill (purely a machinery measure reorganising the department) and the Alsatian Dog Bill, a private affair of the Hon. C. J. Carrington, Auckland. Secondly, certain appoint•nients of some years’ standing are presently due for revision. Again, some members have found a way out from embarrassment in the plea that most of the measures transmitted from another place have been concerned with policy, and having been endorsed by rhe electorate, ought not to be interfered with by a nominative body. The small band who have assumed the status of an unofficial opposition have thus found no opportunity for other than formal disapproval. In denouncing the Primary Products Marketing Bill this week, the Hon. F. Waite, of Otago, emphasised the futility of opposition to the relentless march of the Government’s legislative programme by quoting an Arabian proverb, "The dogs bark, but the caravan passes on.”