The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1934.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 June 1934, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1934.

THE UPPER HOUSE Jhk Government has been hesitating, for seme tune as- to whether to end, mend or reform the Legislative Council. That important section ef the legislature had been al.owed to dwindle down in numbers till practically inoperative. In the meantime, there has been talk of' an elective council, anti certainly of a limit to the ■'membership. 'Actually dormant legislation is on the statute book fo. ■aSelective 1 ‘tipper House, placed there by Mr Massey when the party posed for reform, but its ope.ati.on-' has remained . suspended. The nominee, system which has prevailed over the years, has given the party in power the right to nomina^iffii.,.... anti- often the kissing went by favour. For a prolonged period the Upper Heusu was distinctly Conservative, and the like atmosphere still lingers within its walls des-ptv l the fact that recruits f.om the more radical parties have been added to the strength of the House- In the early days of colonial histo y, two distinctive parties composed the Parliamentary complex,-.and it was not till the Liberal-Labour regime that “sons of toil"’ found a political haven in the Legislative Council. That was in keeping with the best tenets of the democratic age, and certainly no harm lias. come of widening the sphere of choice. ■ Ndw ilium it was imperative to do something about the second chamber, the- Government has not overlooked Labour representations, and two worthy representatives, one from the north and the oilier from the south, are selected. The list as a whole is not an unworthy one. ExMinisters of Reform in Sir Heaton Rhodes and the Hon. G. J. Anderson are included. The latter with his acquired kowledge of mining should bring useful information to the House when dealing with the important industry of mining. The Returned Soldiers have direct representation in ex-comrade lion. IV. Pony (also an ex-Westhuider) and the Hon F. Waite. The Hon. L. M. Isitt, despite his career in the Lower House, is now Ueing dubbed a Reform champion which is rather surprising following his early political history. Rig business and the law apd even sport, are represented in other, nominees, so the Government has dealt as adequately as it could with the delicate task in hand. There are complaints that tlm Reform element is overdone in the selection, and that only two pronounced Liberals are in the selection, which suggests that despite tlva need for eo-opei’ative political action at this juncture, party feeling still prevails somewhat bitterly in places where a- better example might he expected from a national critic. On the 'otlrar hand, ia pronounced Dunedin reform journal scoffs at the appointments an inadequate for the occasion. Otago has not fared liberally in the list perhaps, blit tire line bad to be drawn when the total to be appointed was restricted in number. Most districts have been favoured with direct representatives, the exceptions being Nelson and Westland, which is an omission worthy of attention. Belli districts are Targe in n.i’oa, and the elective member in each instance has a considerable task to dispose or in attempting to cover bis responsibilities. Additional support for the two districts mentioned would, therefore be in the practical interests, and -such worthy claims should have consideration. The now members should bring renewed life and activity to the second chamber, grown rather somnolent of late.

' -The recovery of Europe’s mtf-a.l health will be very slow. To rule and to be ruled by fear degrades .ruler and ruled alike,” writes Count Carlo Sforza the Lilian statesman, in the Aryan Path. “The mental prostration under dogmas, formulae and men yexaltcd today by order, forgotten to-morrow by order, as happens all the time in Germany, Italy and Russia) is, in the long run, morally lowerinng. And it ends by creating habits of thought so deeprooted as to remain after the causes have gone. The very experiment of dictatorships has already proved that liberalism and democracy are. the only ideas still worth saving in European civilisation. Their work durng the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth has been only the initial prologue of human liberation. Liberalism, and democracy are still to be, with changed methods, the instruments of human freedom—political and moral. What, in fact ails Europe to-day? Th’- her bounds, are t G o strait for her economic and inte’iictnnl potentialities, dlrrty years ago one could be English, French or Italian. Nowadays one cannot. Those very writers who furnish the gospels of nationalistic hatreds would be desperate if their books were not read, translated, commented on beyond their frontiers. Our needs, intellectual and 'economic- run over our frontiers; "German problems, Italian problems, become at once European problems. Before this novel fact one has ;a right to wonder whether agitations for formulae of hatred which can he catalogued according to' the colour cf the shirts are not like unto the growing violence of bombardments on a ftent several miles -long during -.the v.ar—t’-e terrifying but glad announcement of an imminent retreat cf the enemy. Tt is joy to feel that th‘3 future will vindicate our loyalty to the idea’s without which nothing would be wrth saving in European civilisation.”