PARLIAMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 78, 31 July 1915, Page 7

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Pur P,.»:«■•« C-soci.vnON. Wellington. Julv 30. Replying to the Hou. .1. Dutliie’s question, as to the reason why the mails were not despatched by the steamer Mamma, from San Francisco, on July 22, the Minister for Internal Affairs said that no mails were despatched from Home to meet the vessel. These mails are now expected to arrive in .Melbourne on August !•>, and

to reach Now Zealand five <n six days later.

The Sporting Laws Continuance Bill nils received Irom the Lower House, and committal was made on the order paper for Tuesday. The Marriage Amendment Bill and Settled Lands Amendment Bill wore read a second time, and referred to the Statutes Revision Committee, and the Birth and Deaths Registration Amendment Bill was read a second time.

Further leave.of absence, on account of illness, was granted the Hon. H. K, Simpson for three weeks, .and the Council rose. NATIONAL CABINET PROPOSALS ■Apparently there call he no further development in connection with the National Government proposal until the further conference suggested b.V his Excellency the Governor has been hold, probably on Monday. The conference does not seem at all likely to produce any change in the attitude taken up by the two parties, and one gathers that the party leaders do not look forward with any enthusiasm to the, re-opening of a difficult subject that they had regarded as closed; out the suggestion—perhaps request would he the better word—made by Lord Liverpool could not be disregarded. It is understood that at least six men will attend,the conference, three Ir .m each side, and that the Governor himself will preside. The proceedings wul be entirely informal and non-commit-tal. and naturally they will be entirely confidential. The impression in political circles is that these new negotiations will not he protracted. Ihe Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have stated their minds fully already, and the rank and file of the parties are anxious for a quick and final settlement one way or the other. If this last effort to bring a “National Cabinet” into existence fails, as it appears almost certain to do, the Government'will be faced with a situation of exceeding difficulty. The Opposition will renew its offer to assist the Ministry in all matters connected with the war, and tlfls-'coui si of business up to the present stags 01 the Parliamentary session is an assurance that the offer is not an empty ope. The. Ministers have had every possible /facility in passing their war Bills, and they .have been (spared a vast- amount of intrusion that they would have been required to face under normal conditions. But the Government’s difficulties are internal rather than external; the members of the Reform Party in the Hmike want a rearrangement of portfolios, and may insist upon having it. Even that point is overshadowed by the piessing needs of the Finance Department, which has got to find additional revenue to the tune of son“' f blni>- like a million sterling. There has got to he new taxation on a large scale, and a Government with a majority of one vote, and representing a party, that includes widely diverse inte-esK has to devise a taxation Bill to fit the case. It would be a miracle, under the circumstances, if the Bill suited every member of the Government party, and the Opposition’s undcitaking with respect to war Bills does 1 not apply to such a question of domestic concern and principle ns the incidence of taxation. What will the country members say to the increased land tax. or the city members to duties on articles of common use?