WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1920, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE LABOUBER AND HIS HIRE.: POLITICS AND PAY. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Sept. 24. There is little doubt that the increase in the jay of Ministers and members recommended by the Joint Committee of the two Houses of Parliament will be adopted by the not altogether disinterested representatives of the people. Long before the increase in the cost of living began to press heavily upon the whole community, it was generally admitted that members of Parliament, particularly those occupying seats in the elected branch of the Legislature, were inadequately remunerated. For thirty years past people acquainted with the facts have realised that parsimony in this direction is the very worst kind of extravagance. Hundreds of young men of the right type, capable beyond their fellows, keen and ambitious, have been prevented fijom entering Parliament simply by a sense of duty to those dependent upon them. The result, speaking broadly and with many individual exceptions in mind, has been the perpetuation of a Parliament that is not fully representative of the brains and the ideals of the country.

THE U'PPER HOUSE. But while public opinion here appears to be practically unanimous in approving of the proposed increase to the salaries of members of the House of Representatives, it is distinctly divided in regard to the £l5O a year it is proposed to tack on the pay of the gentlemen of the Legislative Council. Wellington, perhaps, ij too close to the personnel of the revising chamber ts> see it in its proper perspective. Of course the Council, even in these decadent times, contains two or three of the brightest intellects to be found in the public life of the Dominion. Sir Francis Bell and the Hon. O. Samual are equipped by knowledge and experience as are no two members of the elected Chamber, and in spite of their advancing years they remain among the most forceful figures in Parliament. Then the Hon. G. Jones, the Hon. J. McGregor, the-Bon. J. Barr and half a dozen others that might be mentioned represent very capably .different schools of thought that have 'a right to be heard in the Council. But after these shining lights comes an eclipse that seems hardly worth the additional money.

A CONGESTED DEPARTMENT. But whatever may be said disparagingly of the rank and file of the Legislative Council, it must be admitted a revising body of some kind or another was never more sorely needed than it is at the present time. Ministers themselves are complaining that legislation they have promised cannot be introduced because tlie measures they have outlined cannot be prepared by a sadly overworked Law Drafting Office. Only the_other day Sir William Herries stated in the House that he had two or three Labour Bills on the stocks, but doubted, on account, of the congested condition of the Law Office, if he would be able to launch them during the present session. Then in the House on Wednesday during the discussion of the Masters and Apprentices Bill introduced by the Minister of Agriculture it was discovered that tho measure revived legislation of more than half-a century ago which rendered apprentices liable to solitary confinement, imprisonment and other penalties which the Government never can have wished to see inflicted. LEGISLATIVE REFORM.

These facts taken in conjunction with the movement for saving' the Council from the sacriligeous hands of the electors have drawn renewed attention to the question of legislative' reform. Probably the Council has never fulfilled its main function, that of a revising' chamber, better than it is doing now, but its efficiency in this respeil. is entirely due to the presence of Sip Francis Bell, the Hon. 0. Samuel and the Hon. J. McGregor within its walls, tbe analytic minds of these three profwsior.al gentlemen rendering an invaluable service to the country. But this being the case, it has occurred to many people that the reform needed is not the creation of an elected Upper House, but the abolition of the second Chamber altogether, and the appointment of a revising committee, with no, power of vote, to overhaul the legislation passed by the elected chamber anil, when necessary, to send it back for further consideration and revision by the people's representatives. It is on these lines the new leader of the Liberal Opposition would proceed with reform.