THE COMING SESSION

Otago Witness, Issue 4032, 23 June 1931, Page 27

THE COMING SESSION

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME. CONFINED TO BARE ESSENTIALS. WELLINGTON, June 21. Members of Parliament will start to assemble in Wellington from Tuesday in readiness for the session which will be opened on Thursday. With the political situation as it is there is every reason for believing that the Government will not bring down a great deal of legislation, and that it will confine its programme to bare essentials. This being so the session should not be a particularly long one, but there is little doubt that what it lacks in length it will gain in interest. The Prime Minister (Mr G. W Forbes) stated last week that the pres ent time was not regarded as oppor tune for making legislative experiments He had already decided not to introduce legislation to give effect to the recom mendations of Sir Otto Niemeyer con cerning banking currency and exchange problems, and there is every indication that other proposed measures wil* also be shelved during the coming weeks Mr Forbes will carry to its last stages his economy campaign aimed at bal ancing the Budget. A paring of the estimates and taxation increases will unquestionably be the most important of the Government’s proposals during the session.

It was stated in Government circles on Saturday that the work of the Economy Committee had been brought t<. a close so far as its attempts to assist this year’s consolidated revenue wer<concerned. Having investigated every aspect of the State’s activities and probed into the departmental expendi ture with particular thoroughness, th' committee will now await the im portant part of its work to be reflected in a substantial reduction in depart mental spending. It is stated that practically the whole of the committee’s recommendations .will be carried out and that a surprise awaits the country in the disclosure of the extent to which the cost of the State services has been reduced. Any proposals to extend de partmental activity have been regarded with undisguised disfavour by the com mittee, and members of the Ministry have received a plain indication that the present is not the time for under taking schemes that would otherwise have been sanctioned. An instance of this is provided by the air force vote. It was proposed some time ago that this should be practically doubled, and that the air arm of the defence forces should be built up to greater strength. This proposal has been abandoned in view of recent developments. The opinion of Cabinet is that the cost of maintaining even the existing services is too high. The first few days of the session are certain to be particularly busy. Formal business will be disposed of on Thursday, and it is understood that the House will proceed to the question of granting supply the following day. This must be granted before the end of the month, and the House will probably sit on Monday in order that the unemployment question may be dealt with as soon as possible. The Government is drafting legislation providing for additional funds for the Unemployment Board which has come to the end of its resources. There is also a possibility that a measure wjll be introduced early to extend the special powers given to local bodies in 1926 to raise money for unemployment relief. In view of his recent statements on the question it appears to be the wish of the Prime Minister that local authorities should do as much as they can toward relieving the Unemployment Board of part of its financial burden, and the Bill is apparently being brought down to encour-

age them to raise more money for relief in their own districts.

One of the first steps to be taken by the Prime Minister will be the appointment of a select committee to investigate the highways finance. The legislation passed last year rearranging the alloca tion of the highways revenue was made operative until the end of next August, and Mr Forbes has undertaken that the whole position will be reviewed before that date. At present the whole of the proceeds from the Customs duties on petrol and tyres, together with certain license fees and fines, are ear-marked for roading expenditure.

Mr Forbes is of the opinion that the ear-marking of any tax for a particular purpose is unsound in principle, and that the amount the community can afford to spend on roads should be determined in relation to the relative urgency of all other calls on the public purse and the financial position of the country generally. As the ear-marked revenues are at present considered to be more than sufficient to cover the maintenance expenditure on the highways it is likely that the Government will seek to make some alteration in the present system.