AN EXAMPLE WORTH FOLLOWING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 107, 2 April 1930, Page 6

AN EXAMPLE WORTH FOLLOWING.

A sensible example, and one which might well be followed with beneficial effect by other Legislatures, is being set by the Victorian Premier, Mr Hogan, who has decided to dispense with an Address-in-Reply, thus doing away with the time-honoured and time-wasting debate, which has usually followed the opening of Parliament. It has long been cause for complaint in New Zealand that much time is wasted at the opening of each Parliamentary. session by floods of useless talk which, generally speaking, get nowhere except into the pages of Hansard, and serve no useful purpose, unless it is to delay the presentation of Government measures, which an unready Cabinet has not fully considered, possibly not even prepared. Debates which might well have been concluded at a couple of sittings have been known to occupy as long as three weeks, the country ! deriving little or no benefit from the confused medley of opinic/hs advanced and the contradictory statements, assertions and denials, made by politicians, whose greatest concern appears that of impressing the country with a sense of their own importance. Were any good purpose really served there would be an excuse for such debates; but such is not the case. If our Parliamentarians agreed to cut out half, or even a third of the useless talk that monopolises so much of the time and attention of the House of Representatives, while the Upper Branch of the Legislature is merely marking time awaiting their pleasure, a very considerable saving could be effected in the vote for the Legislative Department. That vote has increased by over £50,000 since 1914, from £43,743 in that year to £95,191 in 1928-29, and it is likely to. be well over £IOO,OOO for the year closing on the 31st inst. Members have ample opportunities for expressing their agreement, or otherwise, with the Government, and for ventilating their grievances when Imprest Supply Bills are introduced by Governor-General’s message, or on the days given up to private members’ business. It is further always open to them, if they are dissatisfied with the existing state of affairs, to challenge the existence of the Government on a noconfidence motion. Added to that there is the opportunity given to each member to take part in the financial debate, which, as often as not in the case of many members, is merely taken advantage of to enable them to reiterate the opinions they may have already expressed 1 on the Address-in-Reply; If that

were abolished, the usual parliamentary session would be shortened by a fortnight at least, and more time would be available for the consideration of Government legislation, which '"is pushed through at high pressure towards the close of each-session. With a surfeit of talk over less important matters, it is almost inevitable that there will follow a surfeit of ill-digested legislation. Why should it be considered necessary to rush Bills through Parliament at a few hours’ notice, and sometimes even before members have found time to grasp their contents, much less estimate their probable effect on the community generally? If the Government acted on businesslike principles it would have all the measures it intended placing beParliament ready at the commencement of each session, instead of allowing time to be wasted on futile debates on the formal Address-in-Reply. Mr Hogan, by the way, in cutting out the latter when the Victorian Assembly meets to-day, is not making a new departure. Precedents in that direction were established in Victoria in April, 1866, and on May 13, 1903, when Hon. W. H. Irvine, now Victorian Chief Justice, was Premier. The Governor’s Speech, on that occasion, which was the shortest on record, comprising only 62 words, was devoted to the railway strike, then in progress.