PARLIAMENT’S PROGRAMME

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24911, 26 June 1946, Page 5

PARLIAMENT’S PROGRAMME

PUBLIC INTEREST IN BUDGET

JJSGISLATIVE PROGRAMME MAY BE SMALLER

(From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON. June 25. The third and last session of the ♦uzenty-seven th Parhament of New Tealand will- be opened tomorrow. but to inany people its business will hardly seem to have darted until the Minister of Finance (the Rt. Hon. W. Nash) has introduced his Budget weeks later. However important the other business of §ie session, it is hardly likely to draw attention away from taxation reductions, whether greater or smaller -than C3 TheHjeneral Election at the end of ♦he year will make this session much shorter than the first two of the nresent Parliament. Although the prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) has indicated that the election ' will be earlier than those of recent years, the House of Representatives inll have to rise about the end of October if members are to be satisfied with the time left for electionwill be relatively little time for legislation. The opening of the session and the usual preliminary business, including the passage of the Imprest Supply Bill, will take much of the first week, and the Address-in-Reply debate is likely to take a fortnight There will then be an interval before Mr Nash can present the Budget and this will be an opportunity fo consider part of a slender legislative programme. Once Mr Nash is back in New Zealand and the Budget has been presented, there will be little time for bills for at least a month. Practically every member will want to speak in the financial debate, because of the chance radio broadcasting gives him of ‘ talking* to bis electors. There will be substantial topics for members to discuss, quite apart from the Budget, such as the primary produce price discussions in London. After the Budget debate the Estimates will take up two days a week for some weeks The House will have made good progress if it has three weeks clear for dealing with bills at the end of the session. Bretten Woods One of the important decisions to be made this session is whether New Zealand will ratify the Bretton Woods monetary agreement. For nearly two years the Prime Minister has talked of arranging for the House to discuss this ticklish question, but somehow the opportunity has so far. not occurred. This may have been due to opposition, in the Government’s own ranks, to ratification. Mr C. Morgan Williams (Kaiapoi). for instance, said in 1944 that the object of Bretton Woods was laudable, but was in conflict with the objective of the Labour Party’s policy. He said it was not essential to the success of the Bretton Woods scheme that New Zealand should join, and he argued against it Mr Nash said in his report on Bretton Woods that, whether the proposals commended themselves in their present form to governments, there could be no gainsaying their basic ideals, the happiness, prosperity, and well-being of all peoples. An interesting factor that has now been introduced into the Bretton Woods situation is the decision of a group of National Party members to exercise their privilege of differing from a caucus majority. This group will support ratification of the agreement. If the Government decides to ratify the agreement a bill will have to be introduced. The House should be able to find time to discuss the report of the select Committee on local government, but it will be more difficult to get a bill embodying some of the recommendations through Parliament this session.

Features of ’ this report were a nrn. posal to establish a permanent comreori»V,i^t SUPer X ise iocal government ‘ n: the optnion that the ?«?' tra! .government should meet a larger share of the costs of such authorities as hospital and fire boards; and a recommendation that the powers of local authorities be increased in some respects. Another report of a select committee which sat during a recess, that investigating population, will be presented during the session. Licensing Commission The Royal Commission on licensing . WI H report during the session. The hcensing question has been such a difficult one in Parliament for so many years that the introduction this year of any legislation based on the report would be surprising. Another Royal Commission will inquire into the gaming laws, also a subject that Parliament treats tenderly. The report in this case is not likely to be ready before the dissolution. Mr Nash will bring back an outline of the part New Zealand will asked to play in British Commonwealth defence. Members are likely to seek some information on this phase of the London discussions and on the Government’s policy. One of the most complicated tasks of Parliament this year will be a review of the emergency regulations which are still in force. The Prime Minister has suggested that all these should be revoked this year, and that any, that should be retained should be the subject of legislation brought down in the ordinary way. Both the Prime Minister and Mr Nash have suggested that the Government may introduce legislation dealing with the use of empty houses during the housing shortage. There has been no indication of the details of the Government’s proposal. A consolidation of the Factories Act, incorporating new amendments dealing with health provisions, was contemplated by the Government last season, but it was not possible to get it ready in time. Probably an attempt will be made to deal with it this session.

Another piece of industrial .legislation in prospect is a Workers’ Compensation Bill, forecast by the Acting-Min-ister of Labour (the Hon. J. O’Brien) last session. Mr O’Brien strongly advocated a State monopoly of workers* compensation insurance, saying that it would save a good deal in administration charges. .