MEN FOR PARLIAMENT

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 April 1943, Page 8

MEN FOR PARLIAMENT

CHOICE OF CANDIDATES

The responsibility of electors in selecting candidates to contest Parliamentary elections, the qualities and capabilities of the men offering and ultimately chosen, and the ties and associations between members and their constituents and party were reviewed in an address by Mr R. M. Algie, of the New Zealand Freedom Association, at Auckland recently.

“The men we send to Parliament at the general election will have to lead the country through the war and the critical period in the early days of the peace,” said Mr Algie. “We shall need statesmen, not mere party politicians, but men of character, courage, ability and vision, of tolerant outlook and breadth of judgment who can think in terms of the spirit and ideals of democracy and who can rise far above the greed and ignorance of sectionalism and of pure materialism.

“The people themselves are the only foundation upon which the grand edifice of democracy can be raised and built, but the brains and hands of those who plan and build it are those whom we send to Parliament. If the foundation is weak and shifty nothing of value will long endure upon it, but no matter how good the foundations may be the structure erected will be no finer and 1 no better- than the ideals and ability 1 of the brains and hands that erect it.”

It rested entirely with the people to search for and elect the best men ,and women as candidates. The critical date in any election year and the really important time was when the official candidate was being selected from the number offering. Electors, therefore, should leave no stone unturned in an effort to bring forward the candidates best fitted for Parliamentary service. The man selected must be permitted on election as member, to regard himself as being the servant of the electorate as a whole; he must feel that as a member of a party he was bound to it, not by' a steel chain, but by a bond of allegiance to a common ideal.

MEMBERS’ DIFFICULTIES Referring *to difficulties which deterred men from offering their services for Parliament, Mr Algie said that the type of members wanted were the busy and successful men of the community who could not give several months a year to Parliamentary sessions. The speaker asked whether it would be possible to reform Parliamentary procedure, whether more work could not be entrusted to Standing Committees, and so shorten debates and proceeding;;. There was also the question of financial loss on election as-a member. The present salary offered no attraction to the type of member which the speaker had in mind. The simplest solution might be in Parliament itself increasing the salary to £750 or £lOOO a year, but the speaker doubted if this would be acceptable to the public. Another method would be for political parties to raise a capital fund and to employ the interest to supplement the salaries of their

members, Mr Algie continued. There were, however, some solid objections to this course. A third and better] way might be for party members in each electorate to establish a fund to I increase their member’s salary. It might be vested in three trusfees, who would merely control the fund without having any control over the member himself. It should be made clear that large contributions would not be received, the amount being possibily limited to one guinea a year. Such a plan had many advantages, and no suggestions of the influence of “big business” could be made, Mr Algie said. Such a method would strengthen the bond between the member and his constituents.

Another consideration facing the prospective member of Parliament was that of re-establishing himself in his calling when he left Parliament. Mr Algie asked whether it would not be a wise plan for the State to provide a pension of a certain amount according to the length of service. On the question of party ties, Mr Algie said that men of the type he had mentioned would not readily bind themselves to accept slavishly the rulings and commands of an organisation. They had gained success in business or eminence in their' profession because of their independence and individuality and their initiative and personality.