LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 91, 14 October 1926, Page 12

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

MEMBERS' QUALIFICATIONS

SOUND JUDGMENT, NOT LONG SPEECHES.

The usefulness of the Legislative Council a-s it is at present constituted under the nominative system is often adversely commented upon, especially when it rejects a popular measure transmit tod for its concurrence liy the House of '.Representatives. In 1914, an Act was passed designed to make the Legislative Council an elective body under tlio proportional representation method, "but, so far, there has been no indication that the Government proposes to issue the necessary Pro<elamation making the 1914 Act effective. At his meeting in the Trades Hall last night, Mr. V. Fraser, M.P., amidst laughter, said that last, session the Keligious Exercises in Schools Bill seemed to revive the Council, .so much so that for the first time for years people had gone along to listen to the councillors' speeches. Speaking at the unveiling of a memorial to the late Hon. ]?,. K. Simpson, M.L.C., at Bonny C4len, Martou, on Sunday, the Hon. Edward Newman, M.L.C., mentioned the qualifications which he said were necessary to make a good Legislative Councillor. "The Legislative Council," Mr. Newman said, "is a small body, composed mostly, of elderly men who are entrusted with the revision, of legislation passed through the Lower House. There is no party in the Council, and members have no object but to promote the public good. Only men. experienced in public affairs and of proved judgment are wanted in such an assembly. A member's usefulness is not gauged by the length of his speeches in the Council ; the real work is done in Committee j where soundness of judgment, impaf- ' tiality, and a determination to do juslice to all classes regardless of anything but the public weal, are raquiri cd.''