4                                                 8 The reason that New Zealand was late in setting up such an agency lies in the fact that it had already devoted serious effort to the topic and set up a Law Revision Committee  in  1937.    By  the  1960s  we  had  a  series  of  part-time  Law  Reform Committees  which,  working  with  the  large  and  extremely  able  law  reform division  in  the  old  Department  of  Justice,  produced  a  lot  of  worthwhile  law changes.  There was resistance to changing the structure but the open Government election  manifesto  commitments  of  the  4^th  Labour  Government  promised  to establish a full-time Law Reform Commission.  It was one of my most pleasant duties  as  a  member  of  that  Government  not  only  to  write  that  portion  of  the manifesto  before  the  1984  election,  but  also  to  design  the  legislation.    Not surprisingly,  therefore,  I  regard  the  legislation  as  satisfactory  -  the  statute  itself achieves  both  substance  and  readability.    As  Minister  of  Justice  I  was  also responsible  for  recommending  the  appointments  to  the  new  Commission  and providing references to it.³    9 Since the Law Commission was established, the policy making framework of the New   Zealand   government   has   changed   and   expanded.      Most   of   the   core government departments now promote legislation and have policy advisers.  The issue becomes what is the comparative advantage of the Law Commission?  What can it do that government departments cannot?  What sort of projects should be referred to it?  Where can the Commission add value most?  These are not easy questions.  Some think the Commission should concern itself only with lawyers’ law.    I  think  myself  the  emphasis  needs  to  be  on  larger,  and  more  profound projects  that  demand  intensive  research  and  break  new  ground.    These  are  the projects  the  Commission  is  best  equipped  to  handle  and  are  consistent  with  its statutory mandate – departments have difficulty with such projects because they have so many other responsibilities and demands on their staff time.  It is difficult for  them  to  focus  their  resources  on  large,  long-term  projects  that  straddle electoral cycles.   10 The criteria used to select project topics for the Law Commission are where they: 3   Geoffrey Palmer “Systematic Development of the Law: the function of the Law Commission” [1986] NZLJ 104, and Owen Woodhouse “The new Law Commission” [1986] NZLJ 107.