POLITICAL NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1849, 8 September 1913, Page 8

POLITICAL NOTES.

—, ♦ ■ ■ ■ - NEWS & VIEWS. BUILDING UP THE PROGRAMME. i The' notable;event,- in politics this week will bo tho introduction of tho Land Bill, which takes pride of place .amongst the policy measures of tlio . session. Another important addition to ■ tho Government programmo this week will;bo the Bill consolidating and amending tho Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Although a consolidating ■ Bill, it will contain ono or two important amendments. For in-stance,'.it-provides'that a secret ballot of tlio members of a union shall bo ■ taken as a preliminary to the " declaration of,a strike. ; THE SESSION'S WORK. Now that tho programme of work for tho session has been, in great part-, announced, it TiDcomes possible to forecast with some certainty"its .probable duration. Tlio Primo Minister told a reporter last evening that ho considered . it possible to get through -tho work in hand by the third week in November, proi'idod always that the' Opposition 'I'd not resort to obstruction. To a suggestion'that a great deal of work still' hv ahead, -Mr. iviassey replied that tho ■ early'.part of e'vory session was'necessarily taken up with the Addrcss-in-ltcply- Debate-and tlio Financial Debate. In addition to this, lie pointed out, only two days were set, apart for Government business in ■ tho opening aiionths session, ono day in each week being devoted to -private Bills and . another to locftl Bills. Tho timo has now almost arrived when Government business, following the usual practice, .will'tako prccedence-in eacli of .the four Bitting days in tho-week. One more day (Wednesday' next) lias been pro- ' wised for the consideration of private members' Bills, but following upon this the Prime Minister intends to tako the B-.'iiso of .the House upon the quest-ion of• giving. .Government business.precedence for the remainder of tho session. In accordance . with custom,' an 'opportunity ivill bo afforded of putting ' ' through the local Bills that figure on the Order l'aper. , Taking everything into account, the Primo Minister con-siders,-fairly good,progress has been .' J':a{je. The House is now. settling .down to the. real business of the session, 'sind a considerable acceleration of tho irate of progress hitherto attained'may 4)0 expected. The two big Bills, Land and Labour, to . be introduced this week, will impose a good deal of work upon the Lands and Labour Committees, to which thoy. will respectively bo referred, but big as they are, tliey need not take up, any great amount of time before tho House. Tho Labour. Bill,, as ;stated, is largoly a consolidation, but the Land Bill is all new. Tho Railways Statement" is not expected to make its appearance for another week or two, and tho presentation of the Public Works Statement is still'further ahead. .. THE LAND SILL. . The Land Bill which is to present tho Second instalment of tho Government's, freehold policy ( will probably bo introduced to-nWrow or on Wednesday. One promised feature of the measure is a * provision giving lease-in-perpetuity tenants of settlement lands the right to acquire" the freehold. A similar right was conferred upon lease-in-perpetuity tenants of ordinary Crown lands by the Land Bill of last year! Another portion of the Bill, it is stated, will amendvin some- important particulars tho procedure iri connection with the acquisition ofi private estates. It is understood that under the new proposals alternative courses will bo open to a landowner whoso estate is to bo taken for settlement purposes. Ho may either cut up and road tho land and sell it himself, sell to the Government' , 'at a percentage increase upon valuation, or Bell to tho .Government at a price fixed by arbitration.' It is reported that other provisions will extend the period within which a tenant may purchase his holding under the optional tenure, and v jvniend the provisions under which grazing runs and pastoral runs aro leased. Regarding lands, of this class, consider- I i ablo areas of which are at present being Jield back pending an amendment of the law governing -thajr administration,-it is" understood that the areas of tho holdings will be reduced and that proJvision will be mado for compensation for and other improvements. It ..has been-stated of these lands in the past; .that/, owing to. the unsatisfactory tenure under which they have been leased, thev have in some cases tended t rather to deteriorate than to improve in tlio hands of lessees. REFORM PARTY CAUCUS. A Bcform party caucus was'held on Saturday, and all members of the party wero cither present or accounted for. (A-reporter was informed that three policy measures were laid before the meeting. Tho Prime Minister explained the provisions of thei'.ncw Land Bill, which was received ,by- members with great satisfaction. Confidence' was ex- . pressed that'the -Bill; son its introduction to tho House thisiweck, would meet witli .the approval of tho country generally. - - - • ■ , Other matters •' of ■■ policy discussed were licensing legislation and.th« question of Bible-reading in schools. Tlio programme for tho session was outlinod, and it is understood that tlio party is 'determined.that'the various policy measures'.shall 1 receive, full consideration., even though it mav mean i prolongation, of tho session. The Government has distinctly made up its mind, it is stated, that' all 'matters of. imnortanco must' lie- dealt;with before Parliament adjourns. OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP. No definite development has occurred in connection with the Opposition leadership, and Sir Joseph Ward replied in tho negative when ho was asked yesterday whether ho had ; any announcement to make on the subiect. Another Opposition member who was- approached declared himself unablo to say when the leadership question was likely to be settled. "I haven't, received any Whip's notice about-it yet," ho said. Another prominent Oonositionist stated that Sir .Tnsenh Ward had not told tho members of thp partv anything morn about his intentions than he had told outsiders. Tn othor words, he had told them nothing,. Some efforts at consolidation aro undoubtedlv being mado by members of the party, but they do not seem to have . led/as yet to any notable result. THE LICENSING QUESTION. Thero is a strong probability of. a Licensing Bill being introduced this sesj r.ion so that a vote may be taken upon ■ the majority question in connection with licensing polls. , T BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. The-Reform party .caucus on Saturday approved tho announced decision of tho Prime Minister not to introduce this • sossion any measure dealing with the proposal to tako a referendum on the Bible-in-schools question. The passing of the Old Age Pensions Amendment Bill last week was followed by the recoipt by the Minister for Customs (Hon. F. M. B. Fisher) of a number of messages from different parts of r,ho Dominion congratulating tho-Minis-ter and his colleagues on their humanitarian efforts in the interests of aged citizens. ___________ The simplest and most effective reme'Vy for Coughs and Colds is pZOL. JfocoMconrosirt.it. 00 doses in n bottle for Is. 6d.-Adyfc,