SELECT COMMITTEES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 19 July 1929, Page 9

SELECT COMMITTEES.

| THE PARTY MIXTURE!. i i PROBLEM for. government. ' toy Tolegrapn—Special to the Star.; \Y ELL IN G TON, July 18. If is taken for granted in the appointing of select committees of the House of Representatives that the party in power carries its advantage into the- seventeen important bodies which do most ojf the machinery and detail work of Parliament. When, as in the past Parliament, there was a Government with an impressive majority, the constitution of the select committees involved no complications. The Public Accounts Committee, for instance, was constituted by appointing six Reform members and four Oppositionists, and there was n.q eompliiaint. Similarly another important committee, t'lvait of education, comprised seven Reformers, two United members and two Labourites. The chairmanship as a matter of course, would be held by a, Government .representative. This week there has been .some hard studying of members’ lists in the hope of making asatisfactory distribution among the select ooiniyittees which will give a fair representation all round without breaking the unwritten rule that the Government should have, a majority on every (committee. With a. Government in the( minority as compared with the whole/ House, it is more difficult than usual to- secure the recognised balance with the tilting of the scale towards the ruling power. However, it is reported tbait after consultation between the representatives of all parties, the solution has been found in the application of the formulai 5—3—2. which interpret- . ed means, that on the average committee which totals ten members, five , Government supporters, three of the official opposition, and two from the Labour Party wifM he nominated. Independents have generally such strong Government leanings that they are being regarded as belonging to that party i for the purposes of committee constitution. The House of Representatives) will soon reach the business .of appoint- \ ing sessional committees, and there 1 should be an interesting debate on J personnel under the peculiar political < conditions which prevail. 1