Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1941 THE UPPER HOUSE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 25 October 1941, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1941 THE UPPER HOUSE

WE have become so accustomed to, the mild decorum which characterises the proceedings of the' Legislative Council that the Hon. Thomas Blood worth’s vigorous out- j burst last week seemed almost a sacrilege. Mr Bloodworth was moved to wrath by the action of!, the Government in sending to the Council a Statutes Amendment Bill of 77 clauses on the last day, and almost at the last hour, of the session. As it was quite impossible to give the Bill adequate consideration in the short time available, he felt that the dignity of the House had been seriously affronted. It was | common knowledge, he said, that many matters which came before the Council—allegedly for consideration I were decided long before they reached it. If the Council was not lo be allowed to exercise its revisionI ary functions, he saw no reason why 1 it should continue to exist. Mr Bloodworth’s strictures drew a ! ; sorrowful rebuke from the Leader of i i the Council, the Hon. David Wilson,! but it is probable that they will find' ) a ready echo outside the House. The i Legislative Council is not the body it ! used to be. When it was created by ! the Constitution Act of 1852 it was intended to be the counterpart of the ! House of Lords, and its members were appointed for life. It had a high measure of vigour and ability, and its debates often attracted more attention than those of the House of , Representatives. But, as the years ; went by, the average age of members rose and the activity of the Council [ declined. In the nineties it encount- ; ered two crises in close succession. In 1891 the term of membership ' (except for Councillors already sit- j ting) was reduced to seven years. In the following year the Cabinet, after i a stormy contest with the Governor, vindicated its right to appoint Coun- j I cillors in such numbers and at such , times as it thought fit, and placed beyond question the subordination of the Upper House to the Lower. Since that time appointments have been made mainly on the score of political affiliations, and Mr Bloodworth did not exaggerate when he said that, looking round the Legislative Council! Chamber, he almost felt that he was 1 back at a meeting of the Federation j of Labour twenty years ago. Liberal,!, Reform and Labour administrations I have successively tended to fill the I j Council with their own supporters,;, and have proved the fallacy of the saying that there is no gratitude in politics. In 1912 the Massey Government,!; embarrassed by the number of Liberal members in the Council who' had some years of their term still to j 1 run, passed a measure to reform the' Upper House on an elective basis. < This Act is still on the Statute Book , waiting to be put into operation. The; Labour Party has also on many occasions indicated its disapproval of! a nominated Upper Chamber, and the continued existence of the Council in its present form is due; mainly to its unobtrusiveness. If it, ever took up an attitude of serious I obstruction to the Government of the. day it would probably bring about its) own extinction. The necessity for a two-chambered Legislature has frequently been called in question. The chief argu- , ment in its favour is that a second | House can revise and correct hasty j legislation sent up from the first. Against this it is pointed out that the j stages through which a bill normally passes give ample opportunity for careful consideration; and that, where a further verdict on it is necessary, it may be better obtained by a : referendum. Moreover, as Mr Blood- j worth points out, the Upper House in New Zealand is frequently debarred from exercising its revisionary powers, and any Government measure of importance is pushed through regardless of opposition ini' either chamber. Logically the case for a one-chambered Parliament may | be regarded as convincing. Neverthe- i less, most countries prefer the bi-; cameral system, and in New Zealand objection to the Upper House is based

mainly on the fact that it is a nominated assembly and thus not directly under the control of the electorate. For this reason it is more likely to be reformed than abolished. One suggestion is that it should be constituted so as to represent a crosssection of the occupations of the people, on the ground that there is more community of thought among members of a trade or profession than among the inhabitants of a particular district. Many people. however, would sa.v that such bodies as Chambers of Commerce, the Farmers’ Union and the Federation of Labour are \ociferous enough in politics already. More acceptable, to many, probably, is the proposal to choose members of the House from large electorates similar to the old Provinces, returning several members under a system of proportional representation. However, no change seems likely in the immediate future, and no doubt the Councillors will continue, for some years to come, to enjoy a modest degree of eminence in return for duties of no very exacting kind.