The New Zealand Legislative Council by William Keith Jackson

Author:William Keith Jackson [Jackson, W.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 1972-04-07T05:00:00+00:00

Squabbles and complications that could arise after the periodic revision of electoral boundaries were also sometimes solved by using a place in the Legislative Council as a consolation prize. One example of such a use occurred after the boundary revisions of 1938 when Archibald Campbell, representative for Port Chalmers 1935-8, lost his seat in the rearrangement and was promptly translated to the Council.25 Political considerations of another sort were also, no doubt, important in the nomination of the Liberal party deserter, J. A. Millar, to the Council by the Reform government in 1915, or the veteran parliamentarian and important financial supporter of the Reform party, Sir Walter Buchanan.26

With the arrival of the Labour party in power in 1935, there was an important change from the appointment of ex-Members of Parliament and unsuccessful candidates to the appointment of trade unionists. Only seven of a total of 36 labour nominees between 1935 and 1949 had had parliamentary experience,27 a drop of 34.68% from the average for 1891-1935. At the same time, the proportion of nominees with local government or trade union experience increased from the earlier average of 37% between 1891 and 1935, to 81.82% from 1935 to 1949. Appointees now included such people as the National Secretary of the party, David Wilson, in 1937, and the National President and Trade Union Leader, James Roberts, in 1946. Both these men already had the right to attend caucus.

It seemed possible in 1936 that the change of emphasis in nominations might play an important role in the internal politics of the Labour Party, for the exercise of the power of nomination by the Prime Minister appeared to offer an opportunity to appoint his supporters to the Council and so gain support for his policies in caucus. The emergence of a left-wing within caucus could thus have provoked severe strains. At a meeting of the Labour Party caucus held early in 1936, however, it was agreed that the Labour Legislative Councillors—most of whom attended the meeting—should have a right to attend caucus without the right to vote.28 In effect, this decision prevented a Prime Minister from building up a solid bloc of votes within his own caucus by the use of nominations to the Legislative Council, but it also virtually eliminated any real influence that Councillors might have had in that body. J. T. Paul recalled being told by the then Leader of the Council, Mark Fagan, that although he agreed with the motion at the time, he bitterly regretted it later because of this complete loss of influence within the party.29 New Zealand was also spared the controversy over caucus control of appointments to the upper house that developed in New South Wales in 1912, a controversy which resulted in a victory for caucus in 1916. In Queensland, the only other state in Australasia with a nominated second chamber, the Ryan-Theodore Labour Governments always left the selection of nominees to caucus and the names were also endorsed by the Executive.30 There is no evidence

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