Greymouth Evening Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1946. A Haven for Veterans

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 September 1946, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1946. A Haven for Veterans

Lady Astor visited America early this year she had some comment to make on the British Labour Government and the House of Lords, “They will not alter it,” she said. “Too many people want to get in there.” That remark applies with equal force to New Zealand. There was no public need for the recent increase by two in the membership of the Legislative Council. Nor was the appointment of additional members warranted by political considerations. There are close on 40 members, of the Council at the present time. Everyone of them owes his or her presence in that Chamber to the fact that he was nominated by the present Administration and with only a few exceptions the entire membership is favourable to the Government. When the Council is thus constituted, the acceptance by it of proposals transmitted to it on behalf of the Government from the Lower House is a mere matter of form. In fact it has become a useless excrescence on the body politic. Only the other day one of the members of the Council was warmly congratulated by a fellow member for discovering some anomaly in a Bill passed by the House of Representatives. Apparently this was cpiile a notable occasion in this Chamber where it seems alwavs. afternoon.

Present members of the Government once used to speak with approval of single-chamber government. In fact they never seemed to tire of thundering against the nominative system by which the members of the Council are selected by the Government. There is no sign whatever that the. present Administration is likely to repeat its thunderings. The Upper House is noav a comfortable haven for many of the party’s veteran stalwarts, whose presence there is yearly costing the country many thousands of pounds. This is just one more example of how public considerations have become subordinate to party interests and hoAV promises once made have remained unredeemed. It may be confidently asserted that if a poll of the electors tvere taken on the subject, it would be found that the majority of them would, in the light of the experience of several years past, hold that the Chamber as at present constituted represents sheer Avaste of public money. Nobody really concerns himself to knoAV what it does. In fact unkind people have suggested that if by some mischance the Council should cease to function no one Avould notice the difference. Defence Policy Required pROM October J, it has been announced, only those Avho Avant to serve Avill be retained in the Ngav Zealand Army. That means, in effect, that the Interim Army Avill begin its duties on that date; but the indications are that this organisation is little more than a facade to conceal the real failure of the Government to cope with defence needs. That the term “farcical” Avliicli Avas applied to the scheme by a speaker in the House of Representatives is not inappropriate is clearly shown by the meagure number of volunteers Avho have come forward.

In a scries of articles recently published, a, staff correspondent of the Ncav Zealand Herald gave bis impressions of a 30,000-mile tour in the East since Japan surrendered. He wrote: I have found conflict and strife almost everywhere. I have seen little real peace or promise of it. . . . Not all these disputes are likely to rouse Avorld-wide conflagrations but there are some that can, and may. New Zealand and Australia are at the fringes of this many-head-ed Eastern volcano, and, as has been urged, they must in their oAvn interests, prepare themselves for any eventuality. They must be ready to accept greater responsibilities and to spend more money on defence than in the past.

It is obvious that Noaa’ Zealand must face up to the need for defence on a scale much greater than that before the Avar. Heavy expenditure on such activity Avill, of course, not be popular, particularly as it Avould come at the conclusion of a long and costly Avar. The duty of the Government is, liOAvever, clear, and no political considerations should be allowed to enter into the matter. It is true that no hard and fast policy can be decided on until such time as the Dominion is macle fully aAvare of its Imperial commitments, but this does not provide a valid reason for delaying the creation of a nucleus of a force.

The sloAvness with which applications to join the Interim Army are being received suggests that there may be major reasons why potential recruits are finding the conditions of service not sufficiently attractive. The opportunities for tradesmen, in civilian life at present are numerous and it is only to be expected that many young men with qualifications that suit them for army posts are naturally unwilling to gn e up their present employment for the lower rates of pay offered in the service. New pay proposals and improved conditions are known to have been under consideration for some time. They should be made sufficiently attractive to ensure the acceleration of recruiting. It is little use building up an elaborate scheme of social ■security if at the same time national security is neglected.