Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1920. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1717, 7 January 1920, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1920. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Now that tho Reform Government is firmly established in authority it becomes possible for it to put into force the Legislative Council Act, 1914, under which the Upper House of the New Zealand Parliament ceases to bo a nominated and becomes an elective body. It is not Mr Massey’s fault, nor that of his colleagues, that this reform, which marks a distinct advance in democratic government, has boon so long delayed. But for* the opposition the measure received at the hands of the Liberals in both branches of the ‘Legislature, the Act Avould have been in operation at tho 1914 elections, and we should' now have had 40 elected members in the Council itself, with, probably, a distinct improvement in tho personnel of that body. Tho first Reform Bill was introduced in the Legislative Council on tho Bth of August, 1912. It provided that no fresh appointments should bo made to the Council, and that, when the nominated members dropped out by efflukion of time or other causes, only members duly elected by the constituencies it proposed to set up, should hold seats in the Chamber. It was calculated that, by 1914, tho membership of the Chamber would have been so far reduced that it would bo possible to elect twenty- out of the forty members of which the House was to be ultimately composed, without seriously increasing the membership, and that, by tho time tho next General Election came round, tho remaining twenty could l>o elected, the term of election being for six years, with twenty members retiring at each General Election. The members were to be elected on the pioportional system of representation, two electoral divisions being created for the purpose—one for the North Island, returning 11 members at each election, and the other for the South Island, returning nine members. The second reading of the Bill was carried on the 28th August, 1912, tho principle of election being thus agreed to by 24 to 8. The Bill was, however, held up, on the motion to go into committee, an amendment moved by tho Hon. -Mr Ormond being carried declaring that it was inadvisable to proceed with the Bill until the electors of the Dominion had been given an opportunity of considering its proposals. On October 4th. 1912, Mr Massey introduced a series of resolutions in the House of Representatives, and the House affirmed tho principles of the measure, which hao boon thus practically rejected by the Council, by 40 to 17, the only members of the Liberal-Labour Opposition who voted with the Government being Messrs Davey, Myers, Robertson, Sidoy and Veitch. Amongst those who cast their votes against the elective principle affirmed by the resolutions were tho fob lowing ex-Liberal Ministers—The Rt. Hon. Sir J. G. Ward, the Hon. W. D. S'. Mac Donald, the Hon. G. W. Russell, the Hon. J. A. Hamm, the Hon. H. G. Ell, and the Hon. A. T. Ngata. Mr Massey subsequently introduced a compromise measure, ]n - oviding that any future appointments to the Council should be for three years only, the idea being not to embarrass either the Council or the Government by retaining the nominated members. longer than necessary, and also to obviate the extfa expense that would be caused by their retention after the full number of elected members had taken their scats in the Chamber. The Bill passed through the House without either amendment or division, but was rejected by the Council on its second reading by 21 votes to 13. the majority including most of the members holding their scats by the grace, of the Liberal Party.

ELECTIVE AT LAST.

The Reform Government, while pledged to the elective principle, found itself compelled, by ibo Liberal oppo-

sition to its contemplated reform, to make appointments to the Council for the full term of seven years, but it did not take advantage of its powers in that respect until after it had made another attempt to get the Reform measure through the Upper House. The new Bill it introduced in 1913 was, however, shelved by the Liberal majority in the Chamber. In making its appointments the Government introduced quite a new principle, and one which led to the .Dunedin Star describing its “political doctrine” as “true Liberalism—Liberalism in action”—by including political opponents amongst those whom it .“called” to the Upper House—Sir William HallJones, the Hon. J. Burr, the Hon. J. T. Paul, the Hon. Dr. Collins, and the Hon. 0. Samuel being of the number. It was not until these appointments were made that Mr Massey was able to get the Legislative Council Act through the Upper House, and it was finally placed upon the Statute Book on November 5, 1914, and should have come into force on January 1, 1916, so that it would have been operative at the General Election of 1917 had not the life of Parliament been prolonged by the war. So great, however, was the Liberal distaste for this measure of reform' that, when the National Government was formed, one of the conditions insisted uponrby the then Liberal Leader, Sir Joseph Ward, was the postponement of the Act, with the ultimate View to its repeal, should tlie Liberals return to power, three amending Acts being passed at Sir Joseph Ward’s behest, to defer its operation—the first in 1915, a second in 1917, and the third in 1918. Under the latter, section 23 of the principal Act, ’providing that any person appointed to a seat in the Council after the passing of the Act should “hold his seat therein until the first day of July, 1921, and no longer,” was repealed, and provision was made that all appointments should be for the full term of seven years. The defeat of the Reform Government at the polls, had such been secured, would have meant, so far as the Liberals were concerned, the repeal of the measure, and a reversion to the old system of political patronage. The Attorney-Gen-eral now states that the necessary proclamation bringing the Act into force will bo gazetted within a few days, and, while it will bo still possible for the Government to make appointments to the Council —Sir William Fraser, for instance, has recently been appointed—