COST OF PARLIAMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1931, Page 4

COST OF PARLIAMENT

REDUCTION OF MEMBERSHIP.

CHAMBERS OF' COMMERCE SCHEME.

The difficult period through which New Zealand is passing has caused serious consideration to be given to the question of reducing the membership of the Legislative Council and the House of Representatives, on the score of. economy and ■greater efficiency, states a bulletiu issued by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand. The matter has now been ventilated on the-floor of House, which shows that .politicians themselves are becoming alive to the advisability of a reduction in the number of New Zealand’s legislators.

A change in the constitution of Parliament has- been advocated before now by the associated chambers, whose suggestions on the subject have been conveyed to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Labour Party. These suggestions are that so far as the Legislative Council ,is concerned, no new appointments and no re-appointments;- of riieinbers whose terms of office-, expire should be made so long as the number of members of the council exceeds twenty. This would in time effect an appreciable economy, but the saving would be small in comparison with that to be gained by a reduction in membership of the House' .of Representatives. ■ •

At the present time the House comprises 76 members representing European electorates and four representing Maori electorates. It is not proposed to alter the number of members, representing Maori electorates; nor is it intended that any alternation should be made' in the application to districts of the licensing laws. \ . It is proposed that the number members representing European . e ectorates be reduced by half—that is. t 38. This could be achieved at the elee- ( tions this year by each member being | elected to represent an area to be arrived dt by combining two of the pie- ( sent electorates; As the number of existing European, electorates in eaen island is an odd number, one of the new constituencies will need to comprise one of the existing electoral districts yortli Island and one in the South Island. i There is no real objection to the elec-tion-of a member by a constituency situated partly in the North Island and partly, in the South Island. . Great. Barrier Island is at present included in an electorate comprising also part of the South Island, and the Chatham Islands are in a similar position. The communication between the North. and South Islands by way of Picton is excellent,, and each part, of an electorate' divided by Cook Strait could easily -be attended to by one member. Communications generally have greatly improved since the present number of members representing European electorates was fixed in 1900. The method of procedure proposed is that the grouping of electorates be done by the two Representation Commissions already constituted under the Electoral Act, 1927. The North Island and .South Island Commissions together could define the new electorate, and then, s ®P“[ ratel ?2 f £ c . j lec . pairs the remainder of existing eke torate districts in respective islands. In this way t re forthcan be adjusted m in° so elections, and the grouping s fixed can remain in force until the next census. The savings to bo effected by of (; ParJiam.ent on the lines .will not merely be the. salaries and'incidental expenses-of 38

members of Parliament,. There will also be a large saying by, reason of shorter sessions and improved efficiency generally in the conduct of the business of the House. It may reasonably be expected that the length of a session will be half. Parliament in session to-day costs £1 a minute, so that the saving will be considerable. Still further economies should be made by the • consequent reduction of the work of certain Government departments. If members of Parliament themselves will not carry into effect a reeonstitu-.tion-of their numbers, then a referendum could be taken. 'Following is a conservative estimate of the larger savings- to be- effected, by. the. proposed reduction in, membership of the House of Representatives:— Salaries, House of Representatives: ■ Eighty members now receive per annum, two of them receiving- additional emoluments as holders of offices of Speaker and Chairman of Committees. Erisi-eo-arding these latter and' also Ministers’ ’salaries ( £ll3O plus ; £lBO house .allowance), Which includes honoraria .as members, tile salary cost is £33,200. ‘ Salaries of 38. members would amount to £15,770, represritiug a'saving of £17,430. Incidental expenses—Both ' Houses. Voted- 1930-31:—Railway passes and concessions to" members' arid, exmembers of Legislature, famihe),, etc., £°s 03o; steamer passages —members £l2OO, wives, £200; sleeping berths—members, £1100;. railway lounge .seats—members, £150; lounge seats; iii"- berths—wives, £l»05 refund to Post Office, being difference between cbqt of 1 special and ordinary telegrams, £l2OO, total, £29,635. Estimated sating, . 000. ’ . Saving in sessional expenses:—lt is probable that the session .would fee shortened by upwards .of Salaries of permanent , (minimum) staffs of Bellamys (approximately £3oooand Hansard (approximately £6000) would not normally.be affected. For 1930-31 £4600 was voted for sessiohar . messengers, £lOOO .was voted for' '.extra [clerks, and £l9OO was- voted for, extra staff for Bellamys. Estimated saving £3so °- A 4 rar 1 The sum of £5500 was voted for printing of Hansard. Estimated saving £2'°oo. • x , rar An amount of £2OOO. was voted for fuel,, power, lighting arid water. > Salares:—Legislative Council; Thirtyfivo members at present. Normal strength approximately 40, although i lias reached nearly 50 in the .past, reduction to 20, preserving the normal ratio with the House of Representatives, would effect a saving of (Each member receives £^bd s ivs ye annum.) General election:—Cost in 1928, apar from licensing poll (£13,0,00) was approximately £57,000. Of tins amount £30,000 was allocated for the preparation and printing of electoral rolls. Ihe balance included the cost of the estab lishment of polling booths, adverhsing, ballot PW P os r S li r d offi Si’ and i e va io 38 and 20 in the House of Representatives and Legislative Counal respectively, would be, on the basis of the P foregoing calculations, approximately £43,000.