EVENTFUL PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21029, 13 November 1931, Page 6

EVENTFUL PARLIAMENT.

UNUSUAL SITUATIONS,

•HANGES IN THREF YEARS

MINORITY RULE EXPERIENCE,

COALITION AS A SEQUEL

The most eventful Parliament in recent years has run its course. Its formal dissolution has yet to be announced, but, for practical purposes, the close of the session marked the end of the life of another Parliament. With the rising of the House, the triennial excitement of another general election is brought a definite stage nearer and the decision of the United and Reform parties to appeal to the constituencies as a Coalition entity gives the approaching campaign a unique character. The power to dissolve Parliament is in the hands of the Governor-General, and is set forth in the instructions given to him on his appointment. Theoretically the Governor-General may dissolve Parliament when he likes; in practice he does so only on the advice of his Ministers. The Electoral Act, 1927, provides that the House of Representatives shall continue for three years unless sooner dissolved. It is customary for Parliament to be prorogued as usual at the end of its last session, and for Parliament to be dissolved a little later at the request of the Prime Minister. As the present Parliament was elected on November 14, 1928, its term has in any case almost expired. Procedure For Election. The Governor-General, by a warrant, appoints a clerk of the writs, by whom writs for the election of members of Parliament are issued, and to whom such writs are returnable. For every general election the Governor-General must, not later than seven days after the dissolution or the expiry of the last Parliament, as the case may be, by warrant under his hand direct the clerk to proceed with the election. "Within three days of the receipt of the warrant the clerk must cause the writs to be issued to the returning officers, each of the writs being returnable in 40 days. In accordance with the Civil List Act, 1920, members of Parliament receive payment for their services from the date of their election until the date of the ensuing general election, oi until the seat otherwise becomes vacant. Although there is no express provision in the Act, Ministers receive their salaries up to the date of resignation. It may happen that a Minister may be defeated at the polls, or may decide not to contest Ins seat, but his resignation would probably not take place until some days, or even weeks, after the general election. For instance, the resignation of the last Reform Ministry was not tendered until December 7, 1928, over three weeks after the general election. Parties' Changing Strengths. History will attach some importance to the Parliament now dying. The fact that no party could command a majority on the morning after the last general election was in itself unusual in New Zealand politics. At the dissolution of the previous Parliament the party strengths were:—Reform, 53; Labour, 14; United, 10; Independents, 3. It was in the nature of things that some should fall in the election battle, that parties should be strengthened or depleted, that Reform could not expect to retain such an impressive majority. But few prophets were sufficiently bold to predict that nc> party would emerge from the test with an absolute majority. A stalemate seemed to be the result of the election, for the 80 seats were allocated among the parties as follows: Keform, 28; United, 28; Labour, 19; Independents, 4; Country, 1. Events showed it was possible for a minority Government, leaning in turn on one or other of the parties in opposition, to survive for almost its full term, for it was not until September 23. 1931, that the United Government gave way */o a Coalition Government as a result of the alliance of the Reform and United forces, deemed expedient on account of the extraordinary economic conditions. Seven By-Elections Held. Taking no account of the spirit of revolt which has marked the attitude o several United supporters since the Coalition was formed, the party position - dav is as follows:—Reform, 27; United, 25; Labour, 20; Independents, 7 ; Comtry 1. The unusual crop of seven by-elections occurred during the Hie of this Parliament. Four were caused by death, two by resignation, and one owing to the general election decision being upset. Ihe Baj oi Islands by-election was the fii'st. and it resulted in Mr. H. M. Rushworth, the solitary Country Party member, retaining the seat captured by him a few months earlier. / Then the Hon. T. M. (now Sir Thomas) Wilford resigned the Hutt seat on appointment as High Commissioner, and Mr. W. Nash (Labour) wrested the aeat from the United Party. The resignation from Parliament of Mr. H. R. Jenkins because of his disagreement with the United Party resulted in Mr. W. P. Endean winning the seat for Reform, Next came the Invercargill byelection, caused by the death of Sir Joseph Ward, who had resigned the Prime Ministership six weeks earlier. His son, Mr. Vincent Ward, retained the seat for the United Party. The death of Sir George Hunter (Reform) necessitated a by-election in Waipawa, and Mr. A. E. J nil won the seat for the United Party. On the same day Mr. Taite Te Tomo retained for the Reform Party the Western Maori seat, rendered vacant bv the death of Sir Maui Pomare. The last by-election was caused by the death of Mr. A. W. Hall, Reform member for Hauraki, and the success of Mr. W. W. Massey enabled the Reform Party to hold the seat. Three Prime Ministers, Although normally only three sessions are held during the life of each Parliament, there have been five sessions since the last general election. Members received two emergency summons to Wellington, the first being to resolve the party position immediately after the election, and the second, issued early this year, being to' deal with legislation relating to the abnormal economic conditions. A point of interest is that a different Prime Minister led the House at the opening of each ot the first three sessions. Mr. Coates was in charge at the beginning of the first short session when the United and Labour Parties combined to oust Reform, Sir Joseph Ward was Prime Minister when the 1929 session opened, while Mr. Forbes had succeeded to the leadership a month before Parliament met in 1930/ In the dying hours of the short session of this year Mr. Forbes promulgated the idea of a national government being established. The invitation was not accepted by the Reform Party, to which it was particularly addressed. Similar overtures were made early in the session now ending. No immediate developments followed, but in August, on the initiative of Mr. Coates, an inter-party committee of ten members was set up " to decide what remedial steps should be taken to adjust the national expenditure." That conference had a sequel in the decision/of the United and Reform Parties to enter temporarily into a Coalition Government under Mr. Forbes as Prime Minister. Portfolios were redistributed, and the reconstructed Ministry comprised five Umteds and five Reformers. A postponement of the general election to enable the Government to put into effect its full emergency programme was under consideration, but eventually a decision was made to hold the election in December, which is a month later than has recently been OSUJiI. t