LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22835, 20 March 1936, Page 10

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

MR CONNELLY’S APPOINTMENT VALIDATION NECESSARY (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 10. There lias been a technical hitch over the appointment of Mr Michael Connelly as a member of the Legislative Council. As an oflicer of the Railways Department. Air Connelly is ineligible for the position. An official statement was made on the subject to-night by the Prime Minister, Air Savage, who said that one of the first pieces of legislation to be submitted to Parliament for consideration would be a measure to validate the appointment of Air Connelly as a member of the Legislative Council. “At the time the appointment was made,” Air Savage said, “it was overlooked that Air Connelly was an officer of the Railways Department and was therefore ineligible for such an appointment by reason of Section II of the Legislature Act, 1008, which provides that no person shall be summoned to the Council who is, or within the next preceding six months was, a civil servant. In these circumstances, Air Connelly having resigned from the Railways Department, it is considered desirable to validate the appointment from the date on which it was made and the proposed measure will provide for such validation. Air Connelly will, of course, not sit in the Council until the validation has been completed.”