UPPER HOUSE NEEDED.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18927, 22 April 1933, Page 6

UPPER HOUSE NEEDED.

PROTECTION AGAINST EXTREMISM LESSON OF AUSTRALIA. “Now Is the golden opportunity for the people of this Dominion to strike a blow for constitutional stability." said Mr F. S. Goldingham, of Palmerston North in an interview, when stressing the need for reforming the Upper House In the New Zealand Parliament. Mr Goldingham has just returned from a visit to Sydney, where a considerable amount of attention is being given to the question of reforming the Upper House. Mr Goldingham said he understood that there were 22 members in the Upper House, which should be reformed before any new appointments were made. “Anyone who cares to recall the extremist legislation placed ■on the Statute Books must unhesitatingly endorse the principles of Upper House reform on democratic lines," said Mr Goldingham. “Some of the Bills struck at the very foundation of the social and industrial order, and upon them there was little debate. Some of these measures had neither the authority nor the approval of the great body of the people. “Until recently the case for the retention of the second chamber rested mainly on the need of having a legislative body which could revise the legislation of the elected House, from a more or less non-party standpoint," continued Mr Goldingham—“a body which could secure that measure of delay which is requisite for a full and dispassionate consideration of the effects of any proposed legislation in which there was any ground for thinking that the legislative proposals have not received the endorsement of the people. Need For Retention. “The political events of the last, few years have not only strengthened the case for the retention of the second ■chamber, but have given rise to the development of a stronger case than previously existed. The political events of the past, few years therefore indicate the necessity for a second chamber. They also give us a guide both as In the way it should be oon■stiluled and the powers it should possess. If you examine carefully the purposes for which a second chamber exists, you have, the key to the method by which it should bo constituted and te power sit should possess.”