SESSION'S HIGH-LIGHTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19044, 18 June 1936, Page 11

SESSION'S HIGH-LIGHTS

SIX BOARDS DISAPPEAR

TASKS FOR MINISTERS

MUCH WORK INVOLVED

(Special to tliu Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. No Parliamentarian of the present generation remembers a session so crowded with innovating measures as that which ended—only 'for a breathing respite—last week.' More than halt the, usual measures submitted to Parliament constitute amendments of former law, or.consolidations when amendments have readied unmanageable proportions. Hill last session the Acts were generally new and sweeping in their results. One of the outstanding features of the new policy has been the complete reversion of the method of delegating some oi Parliament's powers lo boards. Six boards have either disappeared, or will have gone into the discard by July 1, and this article will summarise the great changes thus effected.

First to go was the Railway Board. It had general control of the railways, and an over-riding influence on public works construction, for no railway which had been suspended could be completed, nor could any new venture of that kind be undertaken without a favourable recommendation from the Railway Board. It is replaced by the Minister of Railways, who according (o the Government Railways Amendment Act. 1936, will exercise control over the department, having under him a general manager oi railways, who under the control of the Minister, is charged with the administration of tho railways. The public works functions pass, more by inference than direct statutory authority, back to the Minister of Public Works.

DELEGATION OP POWERS ables the Minister to delegate to suitable officials tho functions he. may exercise luuler the Employment Promo! ion .Vet of 1936.

On July 1, the Mortgage Corporation Board goes out of existence, the organisation 'being now the State Advances Corporation. Private shareholders' capital is being repaid, and the control of the department passes to the Minister of Finance and a board of management, comprising the two managing directors of the corporation (no change in personnel is involved) one or more

Tho Unemployment Board is replaced by the Minister of Employment, and a reorganised Department of Labour endirectors appointed by the Government, and a Treasury officer ex officio. The Executive Commission of Agriculture- finds its powers taken over completely by the Minister of Marketing, with authority to delegate any of them. In a legal sense, the Executive Commission has disappeared. One of its members, Mr. O. A. Duncan, is actingDirector of Marketing, and he has associated with him in the organisation of this important new department his Iwo colleagues of the commission. The final authority on transport licensing being now the' Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. Seiuple, there is no transport Co-ordination Hoard or Central Licensing Authority. July 1 will see the last of the New Zealand Broadcasting Board, which twice in its existence has been remodelled. The future administration of radio broadcasting is a matter of Ministerial responsibility, and it is expected that a Minister of Broadcasting, in terms of the latest Broadcasting Act, will be appointed, having under his direction a Director of Broadcasting, and if deemed necessary, an Advisory Council of not more than five 'persons, appointed by the Government.

LARGER CABINET NEEDED When six important boards cease to exercise administrative functions, there is necessarily. a great transference of work to the Ministers who take their places. Labour has a hard-working Cabinet, which is not permitting itself any respite because the. Parliamentary se.'sion is over for the moment. All-day-Cabinet meetings have been Ihe rule so far since the adjournment, and the Prime Minister has explained that much of the time has been taken in administrative matters. It is intended, before relaxing the pace, to discuss further policy measures and reach decisions wluch will'enable the Crown law draftsman to commence framing legislation which will be waiting when Parliament resumes on July 21. I Ministers have probably not realised until faced with the day-Jo-day realities of their task, how much lime has to be taken in considering administrative questions, and giving important decisions involving, in many cases, heavy expenditure. On top of this baa been the framing of the Labour policy in Statute form, and the burden has grown so heavy that the Prime Minister foreshadows an increase in the Cabinet.

It is the general opinion of members that at least two new appointments will be made, but inquiries since the session closed show that this important question has not yet been decided. Nothing will be done without consulting the whole party represented in tho House, and when the most urgent tasks of framing the next series of Statutes has been completed, it is likely that a caucus will bo called with the, object of discussing rearrangement of portfolios and appointment of additional Ministers. It was pointed out to the Herald correspondent by a member of the Cabinet that when the 'Government is ready to deal with the matter, a caucus can be called_ without waiting for the resumption of Parliament.