UPPER HOUSE REFORM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19303, 16 April 1926, Page 15

UPPER HOUSE REFORM.

NEW SOUTH WALES DISPUTE. MANY SCHEMES PUT FORWARD. [FROM our own correspondent.] SYDNEY. Anril 8. The efforts of the Labour Party to abolish the Legislative Council of New South Wales have served at least one good purpose. They have driven home to the Nationalist and Country parties, which have appointed a committee to formulate a scheme, the urgent necessity for Upper House reform, for it is generally felt, not only by the great bulk of the community, but also by members of that chamber themselves, that a nominee House under present-day conditions is an anachronism. Marty schemes of Upper House reform have been advanced, but they have come to nothing. The committee, if it bases its reform on/any one of them, will certainly have plenty to choose from. Sir George Fuller, for example, proposed a reform in 1922 limiting the membership of the Upper House to numbers fluctuating from 50 to 65,. with tenure for a term instead of life. Sir Joseph Carruthers, who was leader of the Legislative Council in the Fuller Administration, concurs in this scheme broadly, with an implied right to renewal of membership according to service and with some obligations in respect to attendance.

A scheme which impressed members of his party was that advanced by Mr. Ley, now a Federal member, when he was Minister of Justice in the Fuller Government. His object was to end the system of life tenure, and by dividing members into three classes to fill vacancies at the end of each seven-year period by the Legislative Assembly voting for its elect in tho Upper Tlonso on a proportional basis. His aim of course was to provide that each party,in the elective chamber should obtain its full share, of representation in tho Upper House. These schemes, however, all preserve in some form the principles of nomination, as far as the electors are concerned, and until the people themselves arc given a say as to the constitution of tho Legislative Council the position, it is generally felt, will never be entirely satisfactory.