The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1931. A SUB-PARLIAMENT OF EXPERTS.

Hawera Star, Volume L, 5 February 1931, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1931. A SUB-PARLIAMENT OF EXPERTS.

Delivered every evening: by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Kaupokonui, Otakeho, Oeo, Pibama, Opunake, Normanby, Okaiawa, Bltham, Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Mahoe, Lowgarth, Manutahi, Kakaramea, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Whenuakuva, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara. Ohangai, Meremero, Fraser Road, and Ararata.

During the last quarter of a century the question has been asked over and over again in England: Is the House of Commons equal to the ever-increasing tasks of legislation and criticism which are thrust upon it in modern times? A few weeks ago Mr Winston Churchill raised this question in a specific form. The field of government, based at cvery ( stage on the consent of the legislature, has broadened beyond the most extravagant expectations of those who built up the parliamentary system. Foreign affairs, becoming ever more complicated, can no longer be disposed of at the will of an autocratic foreign minister. Dominion and colonial matters demand far more attention than j ever before. Factory laws, public works, pensions, poor law* and unemployment, transport, electricity, and education are among the great questions which require continuous examination and revision; and recently vast fiscal and economic issues have sprung up on the horizon, sufficient in themselves to occupy the whole time of a body of experts. Many and various are the proposals which have been put forward for enabling the House of Commons to concentrate on its most urgent national tasks. -Some have suggested larger responsibilities for existing local authorities which administer towns and counties. Others have proposed local parliaments for large provincial areas —like the state legislatures in America —three or four for England, one for Scotland, and one for Wales. Mr Churchill's plan differs from these in essence as well as in method. For he not merely thinks that Parliament is overworked; he also thinks 1 that it is not expert enough, and that it is too much under party influence, to do justice to the complex economic issues which constitute the most important and debatable public questions of the day. He asks, for example: "Can you "imagine anything more foolish than to "seek the verdict of this immense uni- " versa 1 suffrage electorate upon wlic- " thcr tariffs on foreign manufactured "articles should be imposed or not. or "whether our treatment of the "monetarjP problem has been right or "wrong, upon how it would be best "to euro or reform our incomparable "social services, upon how a rigorous "measure of public economy is to be "attained?" Mr Churchill would set up by statute an economic sub-Pa.rlia-ment. consisting mainly of experts, but including a few politicians, chosen by the party leaders in the proportion of their strength in the House of Commons; and to this body Parliament would be bound to submit economic measures for expert examination and report. Most parliamentary leaders share Mr Churchill's feeling about, the inadequacy of the legislative machine for dealing with its complex job. Mr i Lloyd George has criticised it on the ground that " there is too much talk and too little work." But the merit of Mr Churchill's proposal lies not in the suggestion that it would relieve Parliament of its duties—it could not do that—but rather in the indication of the need for a permanent statutory "thinking department," for a body which could look ahead in regard to economic matters, which could sift, them to- the bottom, armed with the fullest information, and free from party prejudice or considerations of votewinning. The Liberal Party at Home has gained much kudos (though not material reward) from the expert reports cii the greatest economic questions of the. day. Those are now public property, and are treated with respect by all parties. The reports of an equally expert body, representing not one party, but all parties in the state, would surely have profound influence in determining the course of legislation. For this reason, rather than for the economy of time sought by others, Mr Churchill's proposal deserves attention.