The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1934. THE UPPER HOUSE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 151, 28 June 1934, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1934. THE UPPER HOUSE

yiiE comment on the appointments to the Upper House of Parliament is a mixture of surprise and laudation. For those who have some semblance of right to be appointed to the Legislative Council, laudation lias been forthcoming. For some of the nominees there has been, in evidence a discreet silence. It will be kinder not to rend the veil as to why some appointments were made. Suffice it to ask the question whether the new appointments have been of such a character and kind that the prestige of the Upper House has been strengthened in the minds of the public? Is the answer in the affirmative? If so, then all will be well; and in the stormy days that are to come the Upper House will find a large measure of support in the electorate should it take action in conflict with the representative chamber. If, on the other hand, the answer is in the negative, then the appointments will have been in vain; for the public will not rally to the support of an institution, no matter how venerable, that has not very real claims to a full measure of usefulness. If a member or body does not function/ then it will atrophy, and an atrophied member or body is likely to fall into a state of dissolution and pass into indiscernible dust. As with bodies human, so with bodies corporate; and the Legislative Council is no exception to this rule. Each commenter is entitled io express his own opinion as to whether the appointments of the Government to the Upper House will revivify that body or will accentuate its morbidity. The Chronicle has studied the appointments but has been unable to come to a decision as to their character as a whole, and therefore is unable to express any opinion concerning them.