Sept. 22, 1967

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of VUWSA.

Bursaries must rise

Inflation in recent years and the current employment prospects for students during the coming vacation call for an immediate increase in bursaries, and for the long term, the establishment of a mechanism to regulate bursary levels.

New Zealand must start to grow out of the haphazard government which it has tolerated to date. If universities are worth having and students are of some use to society, then society must be prepared to pay the price.

As students are coming more and more from the lower income groups it is unfair to expect these parents to support their children at university. If bursaries are not increased in the near future this tendency towards greater egali-tarianism will be reversed and the institutions will once more be a haven for the sons and daughters of the wealthy classes.

To date bursary levels have been fixed following a brief power struggle between students and Government. The more impressive the student action the larger the bursary increase. For instance following the great student march of 1965 when nearly 2000 students marched to Parliament in protest over the inadequacies of bursaries, the boarding allowance took a 50 per cent plus rise.

This year some students are not going to get jobs at all—does the Government expect them to sponge off their parents? Those who do gain employment will earn considerably less than usual. This means fewer students will be able to continue on a full time basis next year. This means inferior education as it is now recognised that full time university education is definitely preferable to part time study.

It will also mean some students will be forced to give up university study altogether, thus slowing down the graduate output of our universities. Can the country afford to slow down the production of graduates?

Must this political process of exerting pressure on Government— students marching in parades etc —be acted through before bursaries are raised? Is it not possible for the Government to relate and fix bursaries (and pensions) to the cost of living index, to avoid the necessity of large irregular rises?

If the Government, does not wish to slow the output of the universities then it must adjust bursary levels, in order that students are not prevented from returning to university next year because of the employment situation, which has occurred because the Government failed to heed the many warnings of economists during the past few years.

B.G.S.

Loss of esteem?

Parliament has declined in prestige almost to the point of disrepute during the post-war era. And a four year term is not going to recapture the lost esteem, though of course it will help. Other more pressing reforms beckon.

It is a fiction to talk of Parliament "governing." As Professor Aikman has recently argued, Parliament's modern function is to scrutinise, investigate, criticise and advise. This demands that the backbencher be well informed. And a not-so-docile public is aware the backbencher thirsts for reliable debating material. This accounts in some degree for Parliament's (the gas chamber's) loss of prestige. For our own sakes some steps need to be taken to inject integrity and purpose into the House of Representatives.

Steps like:

• Increasing the number of members.

• Emphasising committee work.

• Extending parliamentary sessions.

• Providing more research facilities and personnel.

• Increasing salaries.

On comparison with Scandinavian countries of similar size, New Zealand should boast something like 120 MPs. At the moment there are too few members serving on too many committees and trying to represent too large electorates. About half the members hold some sort of office — surely an absurdity.

In the committees, party lines are bridged — there is no need to score debating points. A true scope exists for investigation and analysis. But too often committee work is shrouded in secrecy and there is insufficient authority for a committee to demand evidence from public servants or other men of power.

If the committees are to work more effectively they must become more than the sandwich between chamber debates. An extended session could provide the framework. Adequate short adjournments during session time would allow committees to meet and consider an issue in reasonable depth. The stop-go nature of present committee work is unsatisfactory, based as it is on the hope that a committee may meet on a Wednesday morning — there's only one Wednesday in a week, and it is not enough.

Members are greatly hampered by the lack of research organs Generally if research is done the member has to do it himself, and he just does not have the time. Improvements are drastically needed in the provision of facilities and independent personnel. Only when a member can draw on researched material is he in a position to scrutinise Cabinet policy, let alone advise on alternative lines.

Parliamentary salaries are geared to comparative civil service salaries. It is a comparison that doesn't apply. Salaries should be adjusted so as to attract our potential best.

Let our system of Government grow to the maturity of informed debate and tough questioning of Ministers and Civil Servants. We have an arduous journey to undertake — the administration of a modern state.

G.P.C.