COUNTRY'S BUSINESS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 296, 10 September 1919, Page 8

COUNTRY'S BUSINESS

WORK OF THE SESSION STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER LEGISLATION PROMISED Statements regarding tho probable duration of Ithe. session, the business to be done, and the (Late of tho elections, were made to the House of Representatives by the Prime Minister yesterday. The statements were made in reply to questions asked in the House by the Leader of the Opposition and other members.

■ Sir Joseph Ward asked tho Prime Minister to inform/ the House what business he intended to take during tne whole of this session. It was now within six or eight weeks of the usual date for tho elections, and the'people had not been appealed faj -for live years. This being so,- ho. thought complete frankness from tne Government was desirable. So far-as he could speak, for his side of the House, members were anxious to help to put through the business of J.iho country. The Prime Minister and his associates must have made oip their minds as to the business to bo done, and in tne circumstances as they were there should be no such thing-as, taking paiijy arivan* •tage of this knowledge or /withholding it from members generally. Ho thought also that the Prime Minister ought fro inform the House and the country as fo when the general elections would be held. He' admitted that this was not usuai, but the circumstances wero un. usual and in view of the fact thai; both sides of tho House would be willing to help to put tho necessary legislation through, the country should not be kept many doubt as to when the elections would take place. Ho declared that members of the House had a right to this information. Was tho election to be held in the last week of November, oi the firtf; week in December, or was if to be in the second week of October. If the Prime Minister would give this in, formation, it would .be for honourable members to assist him to put legislation • n)u ? 1 /; ■, Th S Prime Minister might aiso tell ifche House when the Financial btatement would coma down. He might also say when the proposals, of the Government for the payment of gratuities to soldiers would be declared. 'This was a matter in which hundreds of thousands of people were interested. Mr. Massey said that the Leader of Sl^ 031 "?? Iras <t uite within, his rights in asking such questions* He wished to assure the Leader, of the Op™, eition and members of tho House tfat tiff 6 * on > PMt of members of the Government to-take anv Dartv fave D ofeV h ? *""M*>$ r S$ nave of the; business to be done during the session. He hoped that never again iZ nu hey f° in Nfw Zealand to l/he old system of party warfare tn which they had been' acoustoSb\ ys irtW H i T"r d difiouf 3 this matto? Sir Joseph Ward: Hear, hear. ''Cfeho ettt^V^ feifeugn: a = ment.should h7 «",, • Fmailoi al StateWired before ?hoTlof bmet ,^ 0 - uld be »■ fc the well faction to th ß S nl2° UW .? lve safe nrilS which was already K& S nd for elation,Td rithwmf 4 t0 lntr S duce " .in the wkhth }l° Umst *» WMtom dealing • M» i? fut uw government of Samoa. Mr..Myers:'You, haven't got the niw-

hJ.>^ e L Sald *¥* the QOTHTWMmt .nffi™ £ <*M«*mni farm, and tbisicvald suffice for present requirements. Tho legiskto he had mentioned should not prove contenfaous, and he did not Anticipate that .it ; would be delayed in its doubtless be M mo discussion ou tho ]?£ nanoial Statement. . He hoped that it I would be short, although Cere was no reason why members should bo/ denied t7 of freo The gneral election would have to take place g» «da of Christmas, and it mus not bo too near the holidays. Mr. Witty: Can't you carry on for another year? (Laughter.) ■ Mr. Massoy: "We are only gettin» acSft to '™?W« on without "dec ™T f S ,au » ht ? r -) As soon as the-bust f!u<T I? 6 eesslon IS completed I shall tell the House as nearly as possible when the election will bo held. It is not possible to fix a date until tho business is over. As a matter of fact the date ot election is never fixed until about three weeks before the election is held.-He added that he was quite willing-to take the House into his confidence, and as soon as there was any further information he would be only too glad to lay it before the. House. . Sir Josoph Ward asked the Prime Minister to tell the House whether in the legislation dealing with Samoa it wns intended to deal with the' delicate and intricate labour problem. Ho referred to coloured labour which, he said, was essontial to the industry of the island Mr. Massey: It isnot intended to deal with the labour difficulty in the legislation now being prepared. Thero is nothing in the Bill up till the present with regard to tho labour difficulty at Samoa. Mr. Wilford: Are we bound to take the mandate? ■ , Mr. Mas=ey: As loyal citizens of the Empire, I hope there will bo no objections to our accepting our responsibilities so far as Samoa is concerned. Mr. P. Fraser usked the Prime Minister whether 'among his non-contentious measures he i would introduce another non-contentious measure to bring -widows' pensions up to tho rato paid to women widowed by tho epidemm, also whether ho proposed to increase old ago ponsions, Mr. Massey: The whole subject of pensions is under consideration at the present moment. • Mr. Fraser: Will the legislation be introduced? Mr. Massey: I am unable to answer that question. ' Tho Hon. Q. W. Russell asked the Prime Minister whether he did not think that after four years of nothing but. war legislation it was the duty of tho Houso before it faced the electors to put in three months of solid work, to make this session a working session. Unless this wns done ho thought this Parliament would go down in shamo and dishonour, as a Parliament which hnd surrendered all its prerogatives to the National Government while tho war continued, and which, as soon as the war was over, scuttled to get to the polls. Mr. Witty: That is not a question; it is a speech. Mr. Speaker drow Mr. Russell's attention to the faet that ho had gone farther . than was' allowable in asking a question. Mr. Massoy said that thero was no intention of making this session anything bat c working session, but it could not

bo a long session. The honom'ablo member had suggested that it should be of three months' duration. This could not bo done unless tho elections were postponed. Mr. Witty: That is what some of them WiVUt. Mr. Massoy said that a three months' session would bo impossible without postponing tho elections. He did not think that this should be necessary, as members generally were anxious to assist the Government to get on. with the work. Ho hoped that when the end of tho session was reached members would be ablo to look back on a satisfactory programme of work douo. Mr. Jennings made a suggestion that the Washing-up Bill should be circulated early, and that if necessary a supplementary list of clauses could bo added later. Mr. Massey said that although this had not been tho custom in the past ono or two sessions, it would have to be iindeistood that this session there could be no contentious clauses in tho Bill.