The Press THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1946. Parliament Opens

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24912, 27 June 1946, Page 4

The Press THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1946. Parliament Opens

The session which began yesterday, notable as the first to be opened by his Excellency the GovernorGeneral, Sir Bernard Freyberg, and as the last of a Parliament which has bridged war and peace, promises many opportunities to bring its life to a climax of usefulness and to a worthy close. There is much work to be done, less in the legislative field than in that of the debate of large national and international issues, where there is little to accentuate party division and should be nothing to provoke partisanship. The more soberly and seriously these issues are discussed, the more likely Parliament will be to settle into the temper of constructive debate and, even when its business takes it, as some of its business must, into the arena of sharp controversy, to preserve its essential steadiness. And if this is the last achievement of the present Parliament, it will have invaluably influenced the character of the electoral campaign that will follow and of the Parliament that will succeed it. Among the issues that offer the clearest opportunities of this kind, as the Speech from the Throne discloses them, are those of the proposed trusteeship agreement for Western Samoa and the proposed administrative change in the Cook Islands; the lend-lease settlement which the Minister of Finance is expected to complete in Washington on his way home; the Prime Minister’s report on the first session of UNO’s General Assembly; defence policy, including the constitution of a new Council of Defence, and the furtherance of the Government’s policy for “ the mutual use of island bases ” in the Pacific region; New Zealand’s renewed contribution to UNRRA and, beyond that, the Government’s measures to save and grow more food for famine relief; and, finally, the reform of local government. It would be too much to say that none of these issues cuts across the party line, or can be made to do so; it would be too much to say that Government policy, as suc.h, need not come under strong and sustained fire. But it remains true that all of these are issues—even those on which party difference is most likely to develop—to which the collective wisdom and energy of the House can so significantly respond that difference will strengthen rather than weaken the response and the level of debate never be in danger of falling to that of all-in wrestling. The Speech, of courts, reveals only in spare, unrevealing outline the Government’s intentions in regard to finance and to new expenditure. It may be noted, as perhaps a calculated distinction, that, while the full range of direct and indirect taxation is said to be under present review, “ with the object of afford- “ ing further relief as circunv- “ stances permit ”, the promise of “ considerable reductions in the sales “ tax ” is specific. The Speech suggests, in its silence on the subject, that the Government sees no reason to develop a full employment policy beyond the rudimentary form now administered; that industrial policy is to remain formlessly experimen-

tal; that the Government is determined to see difficulties large and advantages small in immigration: that stabilisation -nd price control have receded in interest; that the pursuit of positive economy has not caught the Government’s attention; and that the future of international trade and economic relations and the Government’s jiolicy in regard to them are alike indistinct.