POLITICS IN QUEENSLAND

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1929, Page 11

POLITICS IN QUEENSLAND

FREE RAILWAY PASSES. WITHDRAWAL OF A NUMBER. To procure the abolition of the Legislative Council in Queensland the Labour Government swamped it with new members. In 1915 14 were added; in 1919 three were appointed; and in February, 1920, 'the Labour Party made 15 nominations. When the Chamber was abolished members were given the right to free railway passes and to the use of the Parliamentary buildings. The Moore Ministry has introduced a constitutional amendment withdrawing these privileges from members appointed since 1915 —that is, from members who at the time of the abolition of the Council in 1922 had not been members of the Chamber for seven years.

The Premier said in the Legislative Council recently that -he was not going to have the Chief Secretary’s department paying £5O a year for a lot of railway passes which were granted in return for services rendered. He had declared at the time that the nomination of men to the Legislative Council to procure its abolition was immoral and wrong. Personally, he would like to go further in the withdrawal of railway concessions, but it appeared to be a recognised principle that passes should be granted to men who had served a certain number of yeans, and he did not wish to assail that principle.

After a somewhat warm debate in which the Opposition accused the Ministry of vindictiveness and lack of good faith, the amendment was agreed to.